Grounding Cognition in Mechanistic Insight
Janelia’s Mechanistic Cognitive Neuroscience (MCN) program seeks to understand how animals infer and use internal models to produce adaptive, flexible behavior in dynamic settings. Fueled by close collaboration among tool-builders, experimental neurobiologists, and theorists, MCN labs are working toward a detailed understanding of how cognitive processes and behavior are implemented at the level of circuits, cells, and molecules.
Experimental and computational advances are transforming the field of cognitive neuroscience. Sophisticated quantitative behavioral paradigms and analysis have exposed the cognitive capacity of non-human animals, from mammals and small vertebrates to insects. Dramatic improvements in techniques to selectively monitor the dynamics of large cell populations and to perform precise perturbations during complex, flexible behaviors are making it possible to study cognitive computations at the level of multiple brain regions and, in some systems, across the whole brain.
An increasing ability to selectively access and molecularly characterize specific cell types across the brain, combined with advances in light- and electron-microscopy-based connectomics, have helped to reveal the circuit, cellular, synaptic, and molecular components of these computations. Advances in the throughput and computational analyses of these experiments, aided in part by machine learning, are making it possible to close the loop between theory and experiment with increasing speed, significantly accelerating the field’s march toward a mechanistic understanding of cognition.
This conference will bring together researchers who are making important biological, technical, and theoretical contributions to this effort with the goal of identifying emerging principles of cognition and discussing fruitful approaches to still more conceptual and implementation-level insights. Session formats will be designed to either highlight progress along key directions or discuss challenges and opportunities of distinct approaches.
Janelia will cover lodging and meals for all participants, and travel support is available to those in need (please indicate need in that portion of the application). Participants are expected to stay for the duration.
The meeting will begin at 6pm ET on the first day and end by 1pm ET on the last.
Application deadline: Nov 21, 2024 (11:59 p.m. ET)
Please note: Because Janelia conferences are intentionally small and selective, we may not be able to accommodate all applicants. We strive for as broad a representation across labs as possible and therefore may limit participation to one person per group. Preference is given to applicants who are active researchers in the field and intend to present their work as a poster or selected talk.
Organizers
Alla Karpova, HHMI/Janelia Research Campus
Ann Hermundstad, HHMI/Janelia Research Campus
Gowan Tervo, HHMI/Janelia Research Campus
Josh Dudman, HHMI/Janelia Research Campus
Vivek Jayaraman, HHMI/Janelia Research Campu
Invited Participants
Larry Abbott, Columbia University
Blaise Agüera y Arcas, Google Research
Misha Ahrens, HHMI/Janelia Research Campus
Dmitriy Aronov, Columbia University
Yoshi Aso, HHMI/Janelia Research Campus
Abraham Beyene, HHMI/Janelia Research Campus
Michael Brainard, University of California San Francisco
Kristin Branson, HHMI/Janelia Research Campus
Kevin Briggman, Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior
Timothy Buschman, Princeton University
Carina Curto, Brown University
Johann Danzl, Institute of Science and Technology Austria
Emily Dennis, HHMI/Janelia Research Campus
Laura Driscoll, Allen Institute
Adrienne Fairhall, University of Washington
Ila Fiete, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Yvette Fisher, University of California, Berkeley
Jan Funke, HHMI/Janelia Research Campus
Jesse Goldberg, Cornell University
Soledad Gonzalo Cogno, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Tom Griffiths, Princeton University
Anoj Ilanges, HHMI/Janelia Research Campus
Mehrdad Jazayeri, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Rob Johnson, HHMI/Janelia Research Campus
Ann Kennedy, Northwestern University
Sue Ann Koay, HHMI/Janelia Research Campus
Matthew Larkum, Humboldt University of Berlin
Wei-Chung Allen Lee, Harvard University
Jennifer Li, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics
Matt Lovett-Barron, University of California San Diego
Malcolm MacIver, Northwestern University
Gaby Maimon, Rockefeller University
Judit Makara, HUN-REN Institute of Experimental Medicine
Katherine Nagel, New York University
Cian O'Donnell, Ulster University
Hitoshi Okamoto, RIKEN Center for Brain Science
Adriane Otopalik, HHMI/Janelia Research Campus
Marius Pachitariu, HHMI/Janelia Research Campus
Panayiota Poirazi, IMBB-FORTH
Cindy Poo, Allen Institute
Ruben Portugues, Technical University of Munich
Priya Rajasethupathy, Rockefeller University
Michael Reiser, HHMI/Janelia Research Campus
Drew Robson, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics
Sandro Romani, HHMI/Janelia Research Campus
Gerry Rubin, HHMI/Janelia Research Campus
Vanessa Ruta, HHMI/Rockefeller University
Chie Satou, HHMI/Janelia Research Campus
Nathaniel Sawtell, Columbia University
Eric Schreiter, HHMI/Janelia Research Campus
Madineh Sedigh-Sarvestani, Cornell University
Kimberly Stachenfeld, Google DeepMind/Columbia University
Carsen Stringer, HHMI/Janelia Research Campus
Jennifer Sun, Cornell University
Alison Tebo, HHMI/Janelia Research Campus
Joshua Tenenbaum, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Paul Tillberg, HHMI/Janelia Research Campus
Srini Turaga, HHMI/Janelia Research Campus
Glenn Turner, HHMI/Janelia Research Campus
Jakob Voigts, HHMI/Janelia Research Campus
Ziv Williams, Harvard University
Ryohei Yasuda, Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience
Stay Updated
Sign up to receive periodic updates and announcements about Janelia’s programs and events, including conferences and workshops, public lectures, educational and career opportunities, and more.
Application deadline: Nov 21, 2024 (11:59 p.m. ET)