[no subject]

[wagner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Hermann Wagner)]

Institut fuer Biologie I		MPI fuer Verhaltensphysiologie
Lehrstuhl fuer Zoologie/Tierphysiologie	Nachwuchsgruppe Gahr
Prof. Dr. Hermann Wagner		PD Dr. Manfred Gahr
Tel. 	+49-241-804835			Tel.: 	+49-8157-932401
FAX: 	+49-241-8888133			FAX: 	+49-8157-932400
e-mail: wagner@tyto.bio2.rwth-aachen.de	gahr@ss20.mpi-seewiesen.mpg.de

							August 28th, 1997

Dear Colleague,

	we would like to draw your attention to the symposium

The Importance of Behavioral Analysis for Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology

that we shall hold at the 26th Göttingen Neurobiology Conference taking place
on March 26-29, 1998. Please help us to make this symposium well known amongst
neuroscientists. With this letter we invite poster contributions accompanying
the symposium.
	The theme of the 26th Göttingen Neurobiology Conference is
			 "New Neuroethology on the Move".
One aim of the meeting is to "open new ways of linking studies on molecular
mechanisms and principles of neural coding with investigations on the
selective forces that have led to the evolutionary design of an organism's
behavior and its underlying senso-neuro-motor machinery". The scientific
chairman, R. Wehner, has managed to attract many internationally renowned
scientists for plenary lectures, amongst them T. Sejnowski (San Diego),
W. Gehring (Basel), J. Truman (Seattle) and E. Kandel (New York). There will
be 20 symposia with some 100 talks and accompanying poster session and some
1000 additional "free" posters. "Our" symposium will focus on the relevance
of behavioral analysis for the understanding of how genetic manipulation
affects neural function as outlined in a short abstract:
	The understanding of brain function at the level of the genome is
developing rapidly because of the availability of new technologies in
molecular and cellular biology such as gene targeted knockout mutations,
expression of exogenous transgenes, disruption of the cellular expression of
genes with antisense oligonucleotides. With these genetic techniques,
questions can be asked about how genes control neuronal functions and how
manipulations of these genes affect behavior. Although behavioral tests play
a key role for the interpretation of these manipulations, we feel that not
enough emphasis has been put on the detailed ethological analysis. The aim of
this symposium is, therefore, to point out that the quality of behavioral
analysis is very relevant for the conclusions to be drawn from molecular
manipulations of the brain. This will be outlined by the invited speakers:
S. Fuchs (Rehovot, Israel) will explain in her talk how a specialized
	 acetylcholine receptor allows the mongoose to fight the snake;
E. Keverne (Cambridge, UK) will speak about "Molecular genetic approaches
	 to understanding behavior".
L. Fusiani and M. Gahr (MPI Verhaltensphysiologie, Seewiesen) will discuss
	 neuroendocrine mechanisms of song control.
A talk from the lab of G. Schütz (DKfZ Heidelberg) will focus on the
	 induction of normal long-term memory in CREB mutant mice by
	 spaced training.
Last, but not least, M. Reif and M. Heisenberg (Universität Würzburg) will
	 introduce memory mutants and learning in Drosophila.

Posters should cover this, but also a wider range in which behavioral
analysis was essential in understanding brain function, especially in
connection with new molecular methods. In case of interest, please contact
one of us for further information.

Deadline for the submission of abstracts is October 15th, 1997.