CSHL 2025 Neurobiology of Drosophila Conference - This proposal requests support for a unique international meeting, the biennial Neurobiology of Drosophila conference at Cold Spring Harbor, to be held in 2025, the 21st meeting in this series. For the 2025 edition, the organizers have focused the meeting on topics of direct bearing on the central goals of the NIH Neuroscience Blueprint and BRAIN initiative; it supports the mission of NINDS and also those of NICHD, NIDA, NIAAA, NIA, NIMH, and NIAID. The meeting will explore the latest advances being made in the highly successful model system of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster through the combined power of genetics, molecular biology, cell biology, electrophysiology, imaging, connectome, and behavioral analysis to address fundamental issues in neurobiology with direct relevance to human health and disease. The meeting will have nine oral sessions:1) Nervous System Evolution: Brain and Behavior; 2) Nervous System Disease and Injury Models 3) Technological Advances; 4) Connectome and Behavior; 5) Cell Biology of Neurons and Glia; 6) Diversity - from Cells to Individuals; 7) Circuit Construction and Remodeling; 8) Neuromodulation and Plasticity; and 9) Sensory Systems and Brain-body Interactions. There will be three poster sessions presenting work drawn from each of these areas and career development sessions on guidance for navigating careers in academia and alternate career trajectories. Finally, there will also be two special plenary presentations: the keynote Benzer Memorial Lecture and the Elkins Memorial Lecture, an honor awarded to the student who has written the best Ph.D. thesis since the previous meeting. The 2025 Benzer Memorial Lecture will be given by Dr. Scott Waddell (Oxford University), whose pioneering work has shed light on molecular and circuit mechanisms of learning and memory. The meeting will remain of moderate size (~450 participants) to facilitate in-person discussion, exchange of ideas and techniques, and promote new collaborations in rapidly evolving fields. In addition, virtual participation will be available to include those who cannot come in person. Roughly half the attendees have previously attended the meeting, highlighting its importance and relevance, and the new attendees bring fresh ideas and extend the meeting's reach. All applicants will be encouraged to submit an abstract; historically, over 75% present a talk or poster. Session leaders and meeting organizers will choose speakers from the most timely and interesting abstracts submitted a few months in advance of the conference; this ensures that late-breaking science is covered in all talks. This meeting has always attracted investigators across many career stages and has an excellent record of promoting young investigators' scientific development; most speakers are trainees. Special attention will be paid to running an energetic, and welcoming meeting that shares new findings and technological developments at the forefront of the rapidly moving and influential field of Drosophila neurobiology.
