Subject: From: Hermann Wagner <wagner(at)tyto.bio2.rwth-aachen.de > Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 09:56:23 +0200Institut 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(at)tyto.bio2.rwth-aachen.de gahr(at)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 G=F6ttingen 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 G=F6ttingen 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. Sch=FCtz (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 (Universit=E4t W=FCrzburg) 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.