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Scientific Program

The major goal of the meeting is to bring together scientists whose interests are in the broad area of understanding the neural control of behavior. We cordially invite members and nonmembers alike to attend our Annual Meeting.

The program will include plenary lectures, oral communications, and poster sessions. Topics will focus on a number of themes including, but not limited to: Learning, Memory, and Neuronal Plasticity; Ingestive Behavior; Drugs of Abuse and Psychopharmacology; Behavioral Endocrinology; Behavioral Genetics; and Psychoneuroimmunology.

Keynote Speakers:

DAVID M. DIAMOND, University of South Florida
A novel perspective on the involvement of the hippocampus in flashbulb and traumatic memories

SARAH F. LEIBOWITZ, The Rockefeller University
Dietary fat and alcohol: How the brain gets trapped in a vicious cycle early in development

Presidential Lecture:

Behavioral Neuroscience: A View from Down Under
STEPHEN KENT, La Trobe University
IAIN MCGREGOR, University of Sydney

Bench-to-Bedside Lecture:

DAVID L. MCKINZIE, Eli Lilly, Indianapolis, IN, USA
From Bench to Clinic: Development of Metabotropic Glutamate-2/3 Receptor Agonists for the Treatment of Schizophrenia

The neurobiology of resilience: Implications for adaptive functions and mental health. Chair: Kelly Lambert

Discussant:  Robert Blanchard, Univ. of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA

Sonia Cavigelli, Penn State Univ., USA. A rodent model of human behavioral inhibition: Developmental precursors and adult neuronal correlates of peri-weaning inhibition

Stephen Kent, La Trobe Univ., Melbourne, Australia. Stress resilience and vulnerability: The association with rearing conditions, endocrine function, immunology, and anxious behavior

Kelly Lambert, Randolph-Macon College, Ashland, USA. Rodent models exploring effective behavioral therapies enhancing mental health resilience: Evaluation of predisposed coping strategies and effort-based reward contingency training

Charles (Andy) Morgan, Yale Univ. School of Medicine, USA. What makes elite troops special? Views from a neuro-biological perspective 

Stress, inflammation, neuroinflammation and behavior: causes, consequences and treatment. Chair: Frederick Rohan Walker

Discussant: David Diamond, Univ. of South Florida, FL, USA

Frederick Rohan Walker, Univ. of Newcastle, Australia. The role of microglia in the regulation of mood state and cognitive function

Jonathon Godbout, Ohio State Univ., USA. How stress amplifies the effects of lipopolysaccharide induced neuroinflammation to prolong sickness behaviors

Stephen Kent, La Trobe Univ., Melbourne, Australia. Examining the impact of calorie restriction upon the behavioural, physiological, and metabolic indicators of illness

Christopher G. Engeland, Univ. of Illinois at Chicago, USA. Are all stressors equal: How restraint and isolation stress effect wound healing in mice 

Use of Optogenetics in Behavioral Neuroscience. Chair: Peter Shiromani, Harvard Medical School

Discussant:  Peter Shromani

Luis deLecea, Stanford Univ., Palo Alto, USA. Optogenetics and its use in behavioral neuroscience

David Moorman, Medical Univ. of South Carolina, Charleston, USA. Dissecting addiction circuitry with optogenetics

Jack Feldman, Univ. of California Los Angeles, USA. Novel insights into generation of respiratory rhythm revealed by optogenetics

Tom Kilduff, SRI International, CA, USA. Sleep induction by optogenetic inhibition of arousal neurons: Implications for insomnia 

The Promise and Potential Pitfalls of Translational Research. Chair: Eva Ihle, Univ. of California, San Francisco, USA

Discussant:  Eva Ihle

Eva Ihle, Univ. of California, San Francisco, USA.  Research in translation: Toward clarity in communication between basic and clinical sciences.

D. Caroline Blanchard, Univ. of Hawaii, USA. Translational Research: Finding the “Sweet Spot”

James McCracken, MD, Univ. of California, Los Angeles, USA. Mind the gap: A report card on translational treatment attempts in autism and neurodevelopmental disorders

Jared Young, Univ. of California, San Diego, USA. What are these things called working memory: Translational pitfalls in developing procognitive treatments 

Genetic and epigenetic interactions in Autism: from basic science to public policy. Chair: Joanne Berger-Sweeney, Wellesley College, USA

Discussant:  Joanne Berger-Sweeney

Caroline Blanchard, Univ. of Hawaii, USA. Do abnormal extracellular matrix systems contribute to epigenetic factors in autism?

Laura Ricceri, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Italy. Dietary interventions in mouse models of Autism Spectrum Disorders: The case of Rett syndrome

Bhismadev Chakrabarti, Univ. of Reading, UK. Genetic and hormonal factors related to autism spectrum conditions

Karen Panetta, Tufts Univ., USA. Using information technology to assess autistic children: Linking autism and nutrition in India

Contextual control over fear behaviors: recent advances and molecular mechanisms. Chair: Gavan P. McNally, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

Discussant:  Gavan P. McNally

Stephanie Bissiere, Florey Neuroscience Institutes, Melbourne, Australia. Electrical synaptic control over fear behaviors

Moriel Zelikowsky, California Institute of Technology, USA. Re-arranging memory systems: Fear memories formed in the absence of the hippocampus

Jee H. Kim, Florey Neuroscience Institutes, Melbourne, Australia. Contextual influence in conditioned fear in juvenile rats: Forgetting vs. extinction

Li, Stella, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.  Traces of memory: Why relearning fear following forgetting is an NMDAr-independent process.

Brain Health: The essential nature of omega-3 fatty acids. Chairs: Corina O. Bondi and Norman Salem, Jr.

Discussant:  David Jentsch, Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Norman Salem Jr., Martek Biosciences Corporation, Columbia, USA. DHA is an essential fatty acid for human health

Sheila M. Innis, Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Omega 3 fatty acids: Limiting dietary nutrients with critical roles in brain

Corina O. Bondi, Univ. of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, USA. Dietary deficiency in n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids produces alterations in rat behavior and brain markers of monoaminergic innervation

Anete Curte Ferraz, Univ. Federal do Parana, Curitiba, Brazil. The fish oil antidepressant mechanism: A possible role of 5-HT1A receptors

Unraveling the contribution of oxytocin to positive affect and drug-related reward: a translational perspective. Chairs: Femke Buisman-Pijlman and Jillian Broadbear

Discussant:  Zoltan Sarnyai, Univ. of Cambridge, UK

Sarah Williams, UNC-School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, USA. Prenatal and gestational drug exposure: Effects on the oxytocin system, social behavior and vulnerability in rats

Femke T.A. Buisman-Pijlman, Univ. of Adelaide, Australia. Oxytocin as a regulator of addiction: A neurodevelopmental perspective

Jillian Broadbear, Monash Univ., Australia. Oxytocinergic regulation of endogenous as well as drug-induced mood

Zuoxin Wang, Florida State Univ., USA. Prefrontal cortex oxytocin mediates drug and social reward interaction

Jerome Pagani and W. Scott Young, National Institute of Mental Health, USA. A conditional knockout mouse line of the oxytocin receptor: Findings relating to social relations and learning

Iain McGregor, Univ. of Sydney, Australia. Breaking the loop: Preclinical and early clinical evidence for oxytocin as a treatment for drug addiction

New insights into the neurobiology of addiction: neurochemical and behavioural adaptations to long term drug exposure. Chairs: Christian P. Müller and Tomasz Schneider

Discussant:  Aaron Ettenberg, Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA

Tomasz Schneider, Univ. of Oxford, Oxford, UK. Prenatal nicotine exposure and ADHD: Current controversies and animal models

Ingo Willuhn, Univ. of Washington, Seattle, USA. Shift of drug cue-induced phasic dopamine release from limbic to sensorimotor striatum during the progression of drug taking

Karen Szumlinski, Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, USA. A history of extended access to cocaine produces anomalies in cortico-accumbens glutamate: Implications for addiction therapy

Christian P. Müller, Univ. of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany. Calmodulin-dependent kinases in the acquisition and expression of addiction related behaviour in man and mice

New Animal Models of Bipolar Disorder. Chairs: Francisco Gonzalez-Lima and Eimeira Padilla

Discussant:  Francisco Gonzalez-Lima, Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX, USA

Jared W. Young, Univ. of California San Diego, CA. Reduced dopamine transporter expression: A model of mania with cross-species translational validity

Mie Kubota-Sakashita, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Japan. Mutant Polg1 transgenic mice as a model of bipolar disorder

Lic. Bruna Del Vechio Koike, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Brasil. Forced desynchronization as a behavioral model of bipolar disorder

Eimeira Padilla, Univ. of Texas at Austin, USA. Bipolar-depressive behavior in Holtzman rats

Examining a Learning Diathesis Model for Anxiety Disorders. Chairs: Xilu Jiao and Kevin C.H. Pang

Discussant:  Israel Liberzon, Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Richard J. Servatius, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, New Jersey Health Care System, USA. Learning diathesis as a model for the etiology of anxiety disorders

Kevin Pang, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, New Jersey Health Care System, USA. Faster acquisition and perseveration in animals – avoidance, eyeblink, startle

Xilu Jiao, Univ. of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey, New Jersey Medical School, USA. Neurobiology of faster acquisition and perseveration in animals

Catherine E. Myers, Rutgers Univ., Newark, USA. Computational models of faster avoidance acquisition and perseveration: Mechanisms

J. Devin McAuley, Michigan State Univ., USA. Neural markers of anxiety vulnerability in humans

Modeling schizophrenia symptoms and neurobiology in mice. Chair: Francesco Papaleo

Discussant:  Cyndi Shannon Weickert, Univ. of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

David J. Jentsch, Univ. of California, Los Angeles, USA. Investigating the neurobiology of cognitive and executive dysfunction in mouse models for psychopathology

Francesco Papaleo, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy. Development of cognitive deficits relevant to schizophrenia in COMT and Dysbind in mouse mutants

Maria Luisa Scattoni, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy. Ultrasonic vocalizations in mice: A tool to model negative schizophrenia symptoms

Maarten van den Buuse, Mental Health Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia. Modeling the positive symptoms of schizophrenia in mice: Focus on dopaminergic and glutamatergic mechanisms

Plasticity in the maternal brain: effects of stress, drugs and medication. Chair: Jodi Pawluski

Discussant:  Craig Kinsley, Univ. of Richmond, VA, USA

David Slattery, Univ. of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany. Effect of chronic peripartum stress exposure on lactation-associated alterations in neurogenesis

Liisa Galea, Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Maternal corticosterone: differences in pre- versus post-partum exposure in the dam and her offspring

Jodi Pawluski, Univ. of Liège and Maastricht Univ., Maastricht, The Netherlands. Effect of gestational stress and SSRI medication use on hippocampal neurogenesis in the mother

Victoria Luine, Hunter College of CUNY, New York, USA. Cocaine effects on dendritic spines in cortical and subcortical areas during pregnancy: differences with developing and adult rats

Aggression, neuromodulation, and social adaptation: Lessons from multiple animal models. Chairs: Gary R. Ten Eyck and Cliff H. Summers.

Discussant:  Lorey K. Takahashi, University of Hawaii at Manoa, HI, USA

Robert Blanchard and Brandon Pearson, Univ. of Hawaii, USA. Social adaptation in the mouse

John Godwin, State Univ., Raleigh, NC, USA. The neuroendocrinology of sexual behavior and sex change in coral reef fishes

Cliff H. Summers, Univ. of South Dakota, USA. Choices in social adaptation to aggression: Neuromodulatory mechanisms in decision making

Gary R. Ten Eyck, Univ. of Hawaii, USA. Aggression, defense, and paternal care in the alien and invasive coquí frog, Eleutherodactylus coqui

The role of neuroinflammation in the etiology of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).  Chairs: Christine F. Hohmann and Judy Van de Water

Discussant:  Robert Benno, William Paterson Univ. of New Jersey, Wayne, NJ, USA

Van de Water, Judy, UC Davis, USA. Inflammation/neuroimmune abnormalities in patients ASD.

Ashwood, Paul, UC Davis, USA. Neuroinflammatory responses in the BTBR mouse model for autism.

Hohmann, C.F. Morgan State Univ., USA & Mary E. Blue, The Kennedy Krieger Institute & Johns Hopkins Univ. School of Medicine, USA. Serotonin as possible modulator of neuroinflammation in the forebrain: studies in a mouse model for ASD.

Staci Bilbo, Duke Univ., USA. Early life programming of brain and behavioral abnormalities: A role for neuroinflammation.

Call for Abstracts

The Program Committee is soliciting abstracts for oral and poster presentations. Abstracts may be prepared on any subject related to the general area of behavioral neuroscience. Both members and nonmembers may submit abstracts. More than one abstract may be submitted by each author. Only abstracts which are submitted electronically will be accepted. Abstracts should be no longer than 1600 characters or approximately 300 words and prepared as a single paragraph and single-spaced. No photos or tables will be accepted with or in the abstracts. Data must be original and not previously published. Additional formatting details are included on the abstract form. A nonrefundable abstract fee of $40 is due at the time of submission.

It is anticipated that more abstracts and requests for oral presentations will be submitted than can be accommodated at this Conference. Therefore, acceptance for presentation and type of presentation will be at the discretion of the Program Committee.

The priority deadline for the receipt of abstracts is February 10, 2012.  Abstracts received after Feb. 10 will be considered for poster sessions only and must be received by March 23.

Presentation Guidelines

Oral Presentations: Unless otherwise indicated oral presentations will be 10 minutes in length with an additional 5 minutes for discussion. Symposia and keynotes speakers have different guidelines, please contact the Chairperson for your symposia or the Program Committee Chair.

Poster Presentations: You should plan to set up your poster prior to 11 a.m. on the day of your poster session and remove it after the poster session ends. Poster Board size will be announced at a later date.

Exhibitor:

There are several opportunities for exhibiting at the IBNS annual meeting.