This meeting focused on recent developments in circadian biology, with an emphasis on mechanisms of circadian clock oscillation, coordination between oscillators, and connections between circadian clocks and physiology.

Information processing and storage in neuronal dendrites mediate the circuit computations that underlie behavior.  There are four interacting aspects: 1) synaptic input is delivered by circuit connectivity, 2) the electrical properties of dendrites, 3) transformation of input into specific patterns of network output, and 4) various forms of plasticity respond to this activity.  This meeting examined these four aspects (connectivity, electrical properties, transformations and plasticity) in the context of circuit computations.

Over the past few years, an increasing number of laboratories have targeted the central complex and nearby regions of the insect brain for anatomical, physiological and behavioral studies. This meeting brought together a cross-section of such researchers, and others studying related topics in higher sensory processing and sensorimotor integration. The meeting format (short theme-focused talks, chaired panels to end each themed session) was intended to enable focused and specific discussions about the issues of each session, details of which will follow in the weeks to come. We asked that participants whose research touches the central complex try to present their data and ideas in the context of specific, testable hypotheses about the region’s function and attempt to relate their findings to those of others in the field. This effort, in contrast to the more typical approach of providing a narrative of the lab’s findings, led to more productive discussions and helped achieve the goal of the meeting, as reflected in its title.

This meeting focused on various aspects of circuit assembly including axon guidance, lamina targeting specificity, synapse formation, dendritogenesis, reaction to injury and signaling (including RNA and cytoskeletal regulation in neurites) and activity-dependent processes. This was a small meeting with some additional speakers and about an equal number of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. The small size and high quality encouraged lively discussion.

The size and complexity of neural circuits, and of the experimental datasets collected for their study, motivate neuroscientists to study and foster advances in machine learning and statistical inference. Neuroscientists need both innovative new tools for large-scale data analysis, and a better formal understanding of learning and inference that could illuminate how neural circuits function. This meeting brought together creative researchers from a broad range of the machine learning and statistical inference community, including many from outside neuroscience, to discuss current research frontiers and perhaps to spark new ideas for applications to problems in neural circuit analysis.

Mats G.L. Gustafsson became a group leader at Janelia in 2008.  In April 2011, he passed away after a courageous battle with brain cancer. Mats was a leader in the field of high resolution light microscopy and pioneered a set of super-resolution methods including structured illumination light microscopy (SIM) and I5M. These allow visualization of cellular components that typically go undetected by light microscopes. This meeting honored the memory of Mats and his contribution to the field of bioimaging by bringing together people who have worked with him over the years, as well as others who develop and/or apply innovative optical imaging techniques.  Through a series of talks, posters and group discussions, we covered various methods, including SIM, STED, PALM, STORM, adaptive optics, multiplane imaging, and others.

This meeting was co-sponsored by HHMI/Janelia and the Max Planck Institute and was held at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, Germany. It continues the successful series of BioImage Informatics conferences held annually. The need and use of image informatics in the life sciences continues to expand and novel methods enable new studies. Trends such as large and high-dimensional images, algorihtmic generality, and error quantification of image-processing results present stimulating challenges to both the method and application sides. The 2012 BioImage Informatics meeting highlighted novel concepts and advances in the methods and algorithms, advances in software tools, knowledge transfer from, e.g., Computer Vision, and significant biological applications of imaging. The conference traditionally also provides a forum for an in-depth discussion of the challenges in this area and the established and emerging software tools available to tackle them.

This meeting was the continuation of the "Maggot Meeting" series. Containing about 10,000 neurons, the nervous system of the Drosophila larva is complex enough to provide insights into the organizational principles of larger nervous systems, yet the relatively small numbers of cells in larvae provide distinct advantages over adults for linking behavior to underlying neural circuits. There have been rapid advances in EM reconstruction of larval circuits and in the generation of light-level atlases of larval neurons that are linked to specific genetic driver lines. At the same time, recently developed methods enable high resolution and high-throughput characterization of a range of larval behaviors. This high level of anatomical resolution, coupled with a growing set of genetic tools available in Drosophila and fine-detail behavioral analysis, makes the fly larva an excellent model system for moving from neural circuits to behavior. This meeting provided a timely updating of advances in the study of larval behavioral neurogenetics.

The observation that in most neurodegenerative diseases early and quite striking axonal and synaptic degradation occurs, has led to a dramatic increase in interest in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying loss of axonal integrity.  This meeting was meant to bring together leading researchers who are shaping the burgeoning field of axonal and synaptic auto-destruction. We invited a slate of exceptional researchers to speak on neurite degeneration in a variety of settings (e.g. developmental axon and synapse elimination, neuromuscular junction biology, Wallerian degeneration, peripheral neuropathy, and neurodegenerative disease) and model genetic organisms.  Presentations focused on addressing central questions including:  (1) What are the intrinsic mechanisms that drive axon auto-destruction after injury or in disease?  (2) How do changes in axonal transport or RNA metabolism affect axonal maintenance or degeneration?  (3) What extrinsic factors influence axon degeneration (e.g. glial-derived)?  (4) How do these pathways modulate functional loss after axon injury or in neurodegenerative disease?  Discussion sessions allowed a frank assessment of the status of the field, framing of key future goals, and (we hope) initiation of productive collaborations.

Identifying the functional organization of neural networks is key to understanding how the brain processes and stores information. This workshop, a follow-up to the first one held in fall 2010, continued to explore advances in the genetic, molecular, optical and computational tools that facilitate neural circuit reconstruction by light microcopy. Topics discussed include: genetic methods, cytochemistry, light-based acquisition strategies and informatics. 

A follow-up to the first held in spring 2010, this conference focused not on pure image analysis, but instead stressed the importance of extracting useful and biologically relevant descriptions and knowledge from image contents in a systematic, comprehensive and high-throughput way. We will review the state-of-the-art in the related fields, and promote the development of critical tools to accelerate the discovery of useful knowledge from image contents. Among others, participants discussed topics relevant to how biologists and biomedical researchers are currently annotating 3D images on different scales, and how these methods can be improved, as well as how to manage complex annotations with regard to ontology and database limitations.

Building on discussions from the first two meetings in this series, this conference showcased the development of cutting-edge tools and technology for imaging, from cells to intact animals. Sessions covered the design and discovery of new fluorescent proteins (and intriguing alternatives), and their incorporation into sensors for signaling molecules and cellular states. Innovative imaging modalities making use of such reagents, as well as biological discoveries gleaned from such experiments, will also be presented. It is our hope that the meeting can present a clear picture of how far these tools have come in recent years, and what additional reagents and capabilities are required to continue the advance of the Age of Light.

Neuronal classification is particularly complex in mammalian nervous systems. Although the extent of neuronal diversity is daunting at the whole-brain scale, the problem can be parceled by leveraging the considerable specificity among different regions. This conference focused on the cerebral cortex with a particular emphasis on the rodent hippocampus. Neurons are commonly phenotyped based on their observed properties, including morphology (axonal-dendritic shape, location, and connectivity), physiology (rhythms, spiking patterns, membrane properties, synaptic plasticity), and molecular identity (neurotransmitter, protein markers, gene expression, enzymatic cascades, transcription factors). The ultimate goal is to integrate neuronal classification with the rich evidence on computational processing in the hippocampus (memory storage and retrieval, spatial exploration and navigation, etc.) and related cortical areas. The foremost worldwide researchers in the field jointly reviewed the status of current knowledge, identify open scientific questions, discuss new directions of research, and germinate consensus towards a systematic organization of available information.