Recent Developments in Neurobiology: Introduction to the Symposium1

Integrative and Comparative Biology, Sep 2005 by Satterlie, Richard A

The following papers represent presentations made at the third annual Recent Developments in Neurobiology (RDN) symposium, sponsored by the Division of Neurobiology and supported by SICB's Program Advisory Committee and the National Science Foundation (grant IBN-0352658). We are grateful for support from both over the three years of the program.

The organization of the RDN symposia is open. At the 2002 meeting in Anaheim, we used an eclectic format, drawing papers from various areas of neuroscience rather than having a central theme (Integrative and Comparative Biology 42(4): 705-770). At the Toronto meeting (2003) we switched to a thematic format to honor Professor Harold Atwood on the occasion of his retirement (Integrative and Comparative Biology 44(1): 1-79). The following papers represent a return to the eclectic organization, and highlight several researchers from the vicinity of the 2004 annual meeting-New Orleans.

The format of the oral presentations deserves mention here because its originality was deemed innovative by the Program Advisory Committee in its funding decision, and because this format has been wildly successful, based on comments from participants and members of our audiences.

For each symposium block, we used a "piggy-back" presentation scheme. Each one-hour presentation was split between the invited head of lab and a postdoc or advanced graduate student from the lab. The head of lab talked for approximately twenty-five minutes on the general questions addressed by the lab, and the postdoc/graduate student presented approximately twenty-five minutes of data from a recent lab project. A common ten-minute question-answer session completed the hour.

Our intent was simple. We felt that invited symposia, in general, tend to highlight more experienced investigators to the point that in some areas, the same slate of speakers find their way into major symposia on a regular basis. We wanted a partial break from this practice, infusing the symposium presentations with young researchers in the early stages of their careers.

This fit well with one mission of SICB-student training-giving the postdoc/graduate student participants experience in speaking in a formal symposium format before a national audience, including potential employers. The format also provided the audience with an introductory overview from an experienced speaker prior to presentation of the specific data. Our hope was that this created a more relaxed atmosphere for the piggy-back speaker and a logical sequential presentation for the audience.

At the New Orleans meeting (papers presented here), we took an additional step to break with tradition. Two of the piggy-back invitations went to advanced assistant professors-a group seldom asked to participate in symposia. Just as with the invitations to the more established invitees, these were forwarded based on the solid credentials and productivity of the younger researchers. Again, our intent was to provide experience and exposure at this critical period in their careers.

The Division of Neurobiology, the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, and the Behavioral Neurobiology section of the National Science Foundation proudly present the following papers from the third annual Recent Developments in Neurobiology symposium. Thanks go to the speakers for their enthusiastic participation, and to Brett Burk, Sue Burk, and the rest of the Burk staff for their help. We also thank Jennifer Tousley and the Editorial Consortium of Integrative and Comparative Biology.

1 From the Symposium Recent Developments in Neurobiology presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, 5-9 January 2004, at New Orleans, Louisiana.

RICHARD A. SATTERLIE2

Center for Marine Science, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 5600 Marvin K. Moss Lane, Wilmington, North Carolina 28409

2 E-mail: satterlier@uncw.edu