1 1

PERGAMONThe Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, UK

© IBRO VOLUME 28 2000

NEWSIB R O

Three Years of Reforms in IBRO 1

IBRO Symposia and Workshop Programme 2

IBRO Fellowships and Travel Grants 2002 3

IBRO Establishes Scholarships to Prevent Brain-Drain 3

IBRO Neuroscience Schools 3

IBRO Regional Committees Work Hard to Set Up Programmes and Activities 4

The African Regional Committee 4

The Asian-Pacific Regional Committee 4

The Central and Eastern Europe RegionalCommittee 5

The Latin America Regional Committee 5

Sixth IBRO World Congress of Neuroscience 2003: Prague Gets Ready 6

VLTP Offers New Opportunities in Neuroscience 6

Update on IBRO’s Journal Neuroscience 7

Brighton Welcomes over 5000 to FENS 2000 7

Conference Calendar 8

H. H. Jasper and J.-P. Cordeau PostdoctoralFellowships 8

In This Issue

THREE YEARS OF REFORMS IN IBRO

economical situations of the homecountries. Meanwhile, very activeand large multinational neuro-science societies, such as theSociety for Neuroscience and theFederation of EuropeanNeuroscience Societies, now offerhigh-level congresses and otheractivities that fulfil some of thegoals originally assumed by IBRO.

In the light of these changes, itwas deemed essential to adaptI B R O ’s objectives to the new inter-national situation and focus on thetraining and education of studentsand scientists in regions with spe-cial needs. Changes in the organi-zation of IBRO were introduced togive neuroscientists in differentparts of the world a direct voice indefining their own needs and pri-orities in research and scienceeducation. For this purpose, a setof six regions based on geographi-cal, social and economic criteriahave been defined. Each regionhas a Regional Committee, com-posed of six to eight active scien-tists, which establishes its ownpriorities and receives a modestannual budget from IBRO that isused for the organization of activi-ties in that area. The presentregions are Africa, Asia and thePacific, Central and EasternEurope, Latin America and theCaribbean, North America, andWestern Europe. Through adynamic process, neuroscienceorganizations in various countriesare choosing the region to whichthey prefer to belong based ontheir particular situation and interests.continued on p. 2

Carlos Belmonte

the International Brain ResearchOrganization was intended tooffer an international forum toencourage scientific discussionand the training of neuroscien-tists. I took up office three yearsago amidst an international scenethat had changed substantially.The number of neuroscientistshas increased significantly allover the world, while specificneeds and problems have arisenas a result of the social and

R E G I O N A L COMMITTEES CREAT E DThe formation by IBRO of six Regional Committees

means that regional needs and diversity in neuroscience around the world can be more easily

recognized and facilitated ... pp. 4-5

International Brain Research Organization

w w w. i b ro . o rgIBRO's new Website

format includes worldwide directory ofneuroscientists, news

from IBRO world regionsas well as information on

funding, membership,conferences, courses ...

During the three years of histerm of office, Dr CarlosBelmonte has initiated consid-erable change in the organiza-tion, as outlined in his reporthere. IBRO has been fortunateindeed to have had his out-standing leadership at this criti-cal period of change and devel-opment of the organization’sframework and programmes.Carlos Belmonte’s foresight,appreciation of scientific excel-lence and concern for allaspects of neuroscience educa-tion and practice across theworld has laid a new founda-tion for IBRO to serve the worldneuroscience community.

IBRO Executive Committee

I M P O RTANT NEWS:U P D AT E O N

IBRO’S J O U R N A L

N E U R O S C I E N C E...p. 7

NEW IBRO NEUROSCIENCE SCHOOLSIBRO is giving regular support to Neuroscience

Schools throughout the new Regional Committeeareas, in an attempt to increase educational and

training activities ... p. 3

V LTP holds courses for students and young researchers in the Philippines, Brazil and Sri Lanka ... p. 6

Prague, venue for the Sixth IBRO World Congress of Neuroscience, 2003 (see p. 6)

VISITING LECTURE TEAM P R O G R A M M E

IBRO and the Central and Europe Regional Committeehave set up a new Scholarship programme in an

attempt to prevent Brain-Drain ... p. 3

I B R O SCHOLARSHIPS TO P R E V E N TB R A I N - D R A I N

Carlos Belmonte will be steppingdown as Secretary-General ofIBRO at the end of the year. Hedescribes his three-year term ofoffice during a period of substan-tial change and development inthe world of neuroscience, whichformed the basis of IBRO’s subsequent exacting reforms.

When first created about 40 yearsago in a politically divided world,

2

INTERNATIONALBRAIN RESEARCHORGANIZATION

EXECUTIVECOMMITTEEPresident

Torsten Wiesel (USA)Secretary-General

Carlos Belmonte (Spain)Executive Secretary

Jennifer Lund (UK)Treasurer

Piergiorgio Strata (Italy)Chairpersons of the IBRO Regional CommitteesR. N. Kalaria (African Regional Committee)E. M. McLachlan (Asian Pacific Regional Committee)T. F. Freund (Central and Eastern EuropeRegional Committee)

IBROSECRETARIATExecutive Director

Olga PopoffAdministrative Assistant

Anne Clément51, Bd. de Montmorency,75016 Paris, FrancePhone: (33-1) 46-47-92-92Fax: (33-1) 45-20-60-06E-mail:ibro@wanadoo.frWebsite: http://www.ibro.org

I B R O N E W SEditor-in-Chief

Jennifer LundEditor

Andrée BlakemoreOffice of IBRONewsUniversity Laboratory

of PhysiologyParks Road,Oxford OX1 3PT, UKFax: (44-1865) 430982E-mail: andree.blakemore@physiol.ox.ac.uk

IBRO News appears regularly on the Web. Please send news and

conference announcements to the EditorE-mail: andree.blakemore@physiol.ox.ac.uk

IBRO SYMPOSIAAND

W O R K S H O PP R O G R A M M E

from the various member neuro-science organizations (see Updateon IBRO’S Journal N e u r o s c i e n c e ,p. 7).

I was elected as Secretary-Generalfor a six-year term. However, I pro-moted the decision, finally adoptedby the Governing Council, of ashorter and single term of servicefor the Secretary-General to attractactive scientists and to guaranteethat new ideas and styles are regu-larly incorporated into the manage-ment of IBRO. It would be incongru-ous for me not to apply in my casewhat I considered best for IBRO.Therefore, the procedure to elect anew Secretary-General was activat-ed in March. At the time of going topress, we are unable to announcethe result of the ballot, but thisinformation will be put on to theIBRO website as soon as the out-come is known.

To serve as IBRO Secretary-Generalhas been a unique experience full ofwork but also full of satisfaction. Ithas given me the opportunity tomeet young neuroscientists from allthe countries of the world, and tolearn that in spite of their differencein culture and background theycoincide substantially in their aspi-rations and goals. Moreover, themost gratifying experience offeredto me as Secretary-General was towitness the generosity and readi-ness of the world community ofneuroscientists to help our youngcolleagues from all the corners ofthe planet to complete their trainingand to develop their research

careers. The last request to allmembers of IBRO that I would liketo make as Secretary-General is thatthey maintain and expand this generous attitude for the years tocome. I would also like to expressmy thanks to Jennifer Lund,Executive Secretary, who sharedmost of the work and decisionsadopted during this mandate, toOlga Popoff, Executive Director, forher continuous enthusiasm andassistance, and to Torsten Wiesel,President, for his friendly support.F i n a l l y, I wish to express my appre-ciation to those who offered me theprivilege of serving as Secretary-General of IBRO at the beginning ofa period full of promise and possi-bilities for the neurosciences.

Carlos BelmonteS e c r e t a r y - G e n e r a l

continued from p. 1

IBRO has also initiated a policy oforganizing and providing stable sup-port to Neuroscience Schools. Theseschools are generally one to twoweeks in duration and are organizedthrough the Regional Committees.In North America and Europe, IBROis carrying out negotiations with theaim that already established pro-grammes, such as Woods HoleMarine Biology Laboratories or theNeuroscience Schools of the desig-nated regions, become associatedwith IBRO to provide training forstudents from less developed coun-tries.

IBRO decided to encourage theattendance of students from lessfavoured countries to large interna-tional meetings. Last year, morethan 100 travel fellowships wereawarded. This year, IBRO has alsoinitiated a new programme of 50small scholarships to make it possi-ble for neuroscientists to stay andcontinue their research in countriesthat are under financial stress in anattempt to prevent brain-drain fromthese countries (see IBROEstablishes Scholarships to PreventBrain-Drain, p. 3).

A d d i t i o n a l l y, IBRO continues to sup-port workshops and seminar pro-grammes at a slightly expandedlevel; at the same time, it has triedto streamline the selection processto make its funding decisions moreflexible and efficient. Again, theseworkshops and programmes can beorganized at regional level or byindividuals in contact with the

IBRO AWARDS FOR SYMPOSIA A N DWORKSHOPS 2000 AND 2001

central office. The emphasis hasbeen to provide support for stu-dents from less favoured countriesto attend these events. Finally, theIBRO Visiting Lecture Te a mProgramme, composed of four tosix internationally recognized neu-roscientists, will continue to give itsvery popular training courses inless developed countries with fullsupport from IBRO’s Central Office.

A number of administrativechanges have also been made con-cerning the internal organization ofIBRO. The roles of the officers havebeen adjusted, giving different rolesto the President, the Secretary-General and the ExecutiveS e c r e t a r y. The by-laws have alsobeen changed to reduce the tenureof the Secretary-General from six tothree years and a single term,thereby ensuring renewal of leader-ship. In addition, the by-laws nowinclude a procedure for local elec-tion of the members of the RegionalCommittees and stipulate that thechairpersons of these Committeeswill be full members of the IBROExecutive Committee.

Editorial changes have been madein IBRO’s high-quality journal,N e u r o s c i e n c e, with David Smithbecoming Chief Editor and DavidAmaral appointed as AssociateE d i t o r. The journal is published byElsevier and provides IBRO withsubstantial annual income, makingit possible to fund the various pro-grammes described above. Anothermuch smaller source of income is aminor portion of membership dues

All IBRO members are encouraged tosubmit proposals for the Symposia and

Workshop Programme. IBRO invitesrequests for partial funding of Symposia

and Workshops on important topics inneuroscience. The proposals should be

based on the highest standards of currentneuroscience. Participants should

represent the international neurosciencecommunity as well as regional interests.Meetings should have a clear focus on aparticular topic. Preference will be given

to activities that provide training for young scientists from less

favoured countries.

Symposia should be theoretical and conceptual in orientation, emphasizingverbal presentation and discussion of

recent research work.

Workshops should be technical and practical in orientation. A major portion

of the programme should involve discussion, practical teaching of

techniques and the presentation of concepts and controls necessary for

experimental work.

Proposals should be sent by mail or faxto: For the Attention of the Director ofIBRO Symposia/Workshop Programme,

IBRO Secretariat, 51 Bd de Montmorency,75016 Paris, France.

(fax: +33-1-45-20-60-06)

Deadlines: Proposals will be reviewedtwice a year. Deadlines for receiving

proposals are 1 February and 1S e p t e m b e r. Proposals will be sent out forexpert review and considered by IBRO’s

Executive Committee. A decision onfunding will be made in April for

applications submitted for the 1 Februarydeadline and in November for applications submitted for the

1 September deadline.

2 0 0 0February: Alicante, Spain: III Winter School of the Institute de

Neurosciencias of Alicante Understanding the Exocytotic Molecular

M a c h i n e r y. Org: M. CriadoMarch: Poland: Brain Awareness Week (Year 2000). Org: E. Pyza

April: Tobago, West Indies: Pamela Rodgers Johnson Symposium:Neurodegenerative Disorders, Common Molecular Mechanisms.

Org: A. McRae

May: Chiba, Japan: Symposium on Neuroendocrine Regulation of Te s t i sFunction. Org: N. R. Kalla

Barcelona, Spain: IV European Meeting on Glial Cell Function in Healthand Disease. Org: B. Castellano

August: Woods Hole, USA: Course on Neural Development and Genetics

of Zebrafish. Org: J. E. DowlingSummer: Prague, Czech Republic: Workshop on Measuring Diffusion

Properties of Brain Tissue. Org: E. SykovaSeptember: Puschino, Russia: ISIN VI East European Conference Simpler

Nervous Systems. Org: H. J. Pfluger

San Juan (Alicante), Spain: Neurofly 2000, VIII European Symposium onDrosophila Neurobiology. Org: F. J. Tejedor and A. Ferrus

October: Va rva, Bulgaria: IX International Symposium Motor Control2000. Org: V. Ovcharoff

2 0 0 1June: Madrid, Spain: Changing View of Casal’s Neuron. Org: E. Azmitia

August: Lincoln University, New Zealand: Teaching Workshop inAssociation with the IUPS Congress. From Molecule to Malady.

Org: A. Sefton

August: Kusadasi, Tu r k e y : European Conference on Visual Perception.Org: A. Gorea

September: Christchurch, New Zealand: IUPS/IBRO joint Symposia (IUPS Congress). Org: T. Macknight

www.ibro.orgFind the latest on funding for

symposia, workshops,fellowships and travel grants on

the IBRO We b s i t e

3

IBRO FELLOWSHIPS AND TRAV E LGRANTS AVAILABLE FOR 2002IBRO offers its members the following fellowships for 2002:IBRO Research Fellowships for neuroscientists from developing coun-tries under the age of 45 to work for one year abroad.One INSERM/IBRO Research Fellowship for a neuroscientist under theage of 45 to work for one year in France in one of the laboratoriessponsored by INSERM.IBRO/UNESCO Research Fellowships for neuroscientists under the ageof 45 to work for one year in Hungary or for six months in the CzechR e p u b l i c .A p p l i c a t i o n s for the above fellowships should be submitted to theIBRO Secretariat (51 Bd de Montmorency, 75016 Paris, France) no later

than 1 April 2001 and should include the following documents - n o

application form is required - a short curriculum vitae; a short researchsynopsis: a list of the applicant’s five most important publications; aletter of acceptance from the receiving institute.

T R AV E L G R A N T SI B R O offers Travel Grants for neuroscientists under the age of 45 fromdeveloping countries for participation at international neurosciencemeetings in 2001.The US Society for Neuroscience offers, through IBRO, Travel Grantsfor experienced neuroscientists from developing countries for participation at international neuroscience meetings in 2002.A p p l i c a t i o n s for Travel Grants should be submitted to the IBROSecretariat, 51 Bd de Montmorency, 75016 Paris, France, no later than

1 April 2001 and should include the following documents - no applica-

tion form is required - a short curriculum vitae, meeting to be attended- date and place - a short statement on the importance of the appli-c a n t ’s attendance at this meeting for his/her research. Decisions will be

taken by the Fellowship Committee no later than 31 May 2001.

IBRO FELLOWSHIPS AWARDED FOR 2001

A F R I C A

IBRO Research Fellowship: Dr Mohamed Zouambia, Algeria, to work atthe Netherlands Institute for Brain Research, Amsterdam, TheN e t h e r l a n d s .INSERM/IBRO Research Fellowship: Dr Soumaya El Ganouni, Morocco,to work at INSERM Unit 288, Faculte de Medecine, Pitie-Salpetriere,

Paris, France.IBRO Travel Grant: Dr E. E. U. Akang, Nigeria.

A S I A

IBRO Research Fellowship: Dr Rahul T. Khisti, India, to work at theDept. of Psychology, University at Albany, SUNY, Albany, NY, USA.Society for Neuroscience Travel Grant: Dr J. Wang, PR China.IBRO Travel Grants: Dr S. Chattarji, India. Dr P. Seth, India.

CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

IBRO Research Fellowship: Dr Victoria S. Sergeeva, Russia, to work atthe Dept. of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.IBRO/UNESCO Research Fellowship: Dr Edit I. Andras, Romania, towork at the Biological Research Center, Group of Molecular Biology,Szeged, Hungary.Society for Neuroscience Travel Grants: Dr O. V. Globa, Russia. Dr N. V.Gulyaeva, Russia. Dr M Moinar, Hungary. Dr P. P. Molnar, Hungary. DrB. Sperlagh, Hungary.IBRO Travel Grants: Dr S. Koshelev, Russia. Dr S. V. Koulchitsky,Belarus. Dr P. M. Masliukov, Russia. Dr A. Sobolevsky, Russia. Dr M.Ye l s h a n s k y, Russia.

L ATIN AMERICA

IBRO Research Fellowship: Dr Limei Zhang, Mexico, to work at theMedical Research Council Anatomical Neuropharmacology Unit, OxfordU n i v e r s i t y, Oxford, UK.Society for Neuroscience Travel Grants: Dr M. Antonelli, Argentina. DrJ. A. Cabrera-Gomez, Cuba. Dr A. B. Eigoyhen, Argentina.Dr H. Wo l o s k e r, Brazil.IBRO Travel Grants: Dr D. J. Calvo, Argentina. Dr P. Caviedes, Chile.Dr R. Cruz-Aguado, Cuba. Dr E. A. Del Bel, Brazil.

WESTERN EUROPE (Tu r k e y )

IBRO Travel Grant: Dr G. Kayalloglu, Tu r k e y.

IBRO NEUROSCIENCE SCHOOLS1 9 9 9

M a r c h - A p r i l : Montevideo, Uruguay: IV Latin American School of Neurosciences Summer School ofNeuroscience. Org: F. R. Morales A p r i l - J u n e : Seville, Spain: First Latin American Doctoral Program on Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology.Org: J. M. Delgado-GarciaS e p t e m b e r : Queretaro, Mexico: IV International Biennial Course: Hormones, Growth Factors and BrainDevelopment. Org: J. Hernandez-Rodriguez

2 0 0 0

M a r c h : Montevideo, Uruguay: First IBRO/Latin American School of Neuroscience. Org: F. R. Morales and F. DajasA p r i l - J u n e : Seville, Spain: Joint IBRO School of Neuroscience/Latin American Doctoral Program onNeuroscience and Behavioral Biology. Org: J. M. Delgado-GarciaA u g u s t - S e p t : Trieste, Italy: Joint IBRO School of Neuroscience/EU Advanced Course in ComputationalNeuroscience. Org: K. ObermayerA u g u s t - S e p t : Ti h a n y, Hungary: IBRO Summer School: Functional Anatomy and Evolution of ComplexIntegrative Centres of the CNS: Approaches and Facts. Org: T. F. FreundS e p t e m b e r : Pietersburg, South Africa: First IBRO/African Neuroscience School. Org: R. N. KalariaD e c e m b e r : Hong Kong: First IBRO/Asian-Pacific School of Brain Functions. Org: Y. S. Chan( y s c h a n @ h k u c c . h k u . h k )

Plans for 2001: see the IBRO Website for future schools (www. i b r o . o r g )

This programme is aimed at forminginteractive networks among studentsand teachers during regional trainingcourses preferably organized indeveloping countries. The Schoolsare set up under the shared gover-nance of IBRO and local organizingcommittees to provide 2-6 weekcourses in neuroscience, on a regularbasis. Experts from both the Regionand other parts of the world will beenrolled in these teaching efforts.

IBRO is also engaged in collaborationwith the Federation of EuropeanNeuroscience Societies (FENS) andseveral institutions in North Americato create joint schools with alreadyestablished programmes such as theNeuroscience Schools of the desig-nated Regions and Woods HoleMarine Biology Laboratories.

IBRO ESTABLISHES SCHOLARSHIPS TO PREVENT BRAIN-DRAIN

In 2000, IBRO, in cooperation with the Centraland Eastern Europe Regional Committee, established a programme of ScholarshipsAgainst Brain-Drain. (The yearly budget for thisprogramme is US$100,000.) Fifty scholarshipswill be awarded this year.

The aim of the Programme is to provide a salarysupport of US$2000 per person per year foryoung talented researchers below the age of 40to carry out further studies in their home

countries after obtaining their Ph.D. The scholar-ships will be initially awarded for one year, witha possibility of extension for a further year, ifjustified by the needs and research productivityof the scholar.

The conditions of eligibility are as follows:1) permanent residence and a research position inone of the countries in the former Soviet Union.The scholars will be requested to stay in theirhome country for at least nine months to a year;

2) the Ph.D. must be in the field of neuroscience;3) the scholar must have at least 1 paper in aninternational peer-reviewed journal.

Applications should be made to Tamás Freund,C h a i r, IBRO Central and Eastern Europe RegionalCommittee, Institute of Experimental Medicine,Budapest, Hungary. (e-mail: freund@koki.hu)

4

The Chairs of the Regional Committees set up in 1999 describe their remits and aspirations.The USA/Canada and the Western Europe Regional Committees are in the final stages of being established.

IBRO REGIONAL COMMITTEES WORK HARD TO SET UP PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES

IBRO continues to take to task aformidable mission in helping eco-nomically impoverished and devel-oping countries pursue neuro-science. The establishment of sixRegional Committees, one ofwhich will operate to promoteresearch and teaching of neuro-science in Africa, is timely and wel-come. African neuroscience willbenefit much from this restructur-ing and foresight on the part ofIBRO. IBRO’s African RegionalCommittee (ARC), actually appoint-ed since July 1999, will primarilyliaise with the Society ofNeuroscientists of Africa (SONA) tofulfil its mission and oversee neu-roscience activities in Africa. TheCommittee specifically aids SONAto increase neuroscience teaching,training and research; to publicizeAfrican neuroscience and researchopportunities; and to develop anactive community of African neuro-scientists. Also represented on theIBRO Executive Council, the ARCcurrently comprises six members:Prof. Raj Kalaria (Chair, UK andKenya), Prof. Gallo Diop (Senegal),Prof. Nouria Lakhdar- G h a z a l(Morocco), Prof. Pierre Luabeya(Zaire and Belgium), Dr NileshPatel (Secretary, Kenya) and DrVivienne Russell (Tr e a s u r e r, SouthAfrica). Utilizing a modest yearlybudget, the Committee will supportSONA to continue to host the suc-cessful biennial conferences andpublish the widely circulated‘Newsletter’, edited by Dr Patel,SONA Secretary-General. SONAwill work closely with anInternational Advisory Board thatwill liaise with the ARC. Membersof this board include ProfessorsMichael Zigmond (Pittsburgh,USA), Marina Bentivoglio (Ve r o n a ,Italy), Roger Butterworth(Montreal, Canada), AndréNieoullon (Marseilles, France) andTerje Sagvolden (Oslo, Norway).Other advisers include ProfessorsAbdu Adem (Saudi Arabia) andBeth Fischer (Pittsburgh, USA).

These refreshing developmentsmean that as one of the youngestneuroscience societies SONA willcontinue to thrive. SONA was for-mally registered as a non-profitorganization in 1993 in Nairobi,Kenya, following a series of meet-ings and workshops (supported byIBRO and UNESCO) held in the1980s to discuss modalities toencourage neuroscience in Africa.The biennial international confer-ences hosted by SONA provide animportant forum for African neuro-scientists to meet, interact and net-work with other African and non-African neuroscientists. The firstconference was held in Nairobi,Kenya (1993) followed by one inMarrakech, Morocco (1995), then inCape Town, South Africa (1997)

and in Dakar, Senegal (1999).SONA will hold its fifth conferencein Nairobi, Kenya, 23-27 April 2001.Further details of SONA activitiesmay be obtained from the website:w w w. m e m b e r s . t r i p o d . c o m / ~ S O N A _h o m e .

As spokesman for Africa, the ARCwill mediate appeals for regionalconferences, fellowships and bur-saries for African neuroscientists toattend and present their work at national and international confer-ences. Indeed, the ARC mostrecently negotiated a special fund(provided by IBRO) to enable theattendance of five African neuro-scientists at the recent FENS 2000(Federation of NeuroscienceSocieties) meeting in Brighton, UK.An exciting new programme forneuroscience growth in Africa willbe the IBRO-sponsoredNeuroscience School, which is tobe held biennially in differentregions of Africa. This new ven-ture, organized by the ARC withhelp from the InternationalAdvisory team, will be held everytwo years alternating with theSONA conferences. It will permitup to 25 young African neuroscien-tists, selected through a continent-wide competition, to be exposed toan intensive week-long neuro-science course taught by an inter-national team of basic and clinicalneuroscientists. Based on the ColdSpring Harbor model, the firstSchool was held 16-22 September2000 in Pietersburg, South Africa.The ARC anticipates that suchtraining and related SONA activi-ties will fulfil SONA’s principal goalin building a nucleus of well-trained young African neuroscien-tists who will continue the devel-opment of neuroscience on theAfrican continent. There are anestimated 800 neuroscientists inthe whole of Africa, dominated byNorth and South African countries,but with the exception of Morocco,there appear to be no structuredhigher degree programmes inbasic or clinical neuroscience inAfrica. It is hoped such efforts willprovide an impetus to create ageneration of neuroscientists andsuppress the hesitation of newgraduates to pursue neuroscience.The vast potential of resources inthe form of the fauna and flora, aswell as unique health problems,could continue to pave the way foradvancing neuroscience in Africa.Awareness of neuroscience issues,and mechanisms to tackle neuro-logical and psychiatric problems bycitizens of the continent and thoseworking for Africa, will alsoaddress morbidity and mortality inboth the young and old. Severalinstitutions including the Wo r l dHealth Organization, EuropeanUnion Biomed and TDR pro-

THE AFRICAN REGIONAL C O M M I T T E E

The IBRO Asian-Pacific RegionalCommittee was formed at a meet-ing in Miami in November 1999.The current members of theCommittee are: Y. S. Chan (HongKong), Aike Guo (Shanghai), Chao-Yi Li (Shanghai), KatsuhikoMikoshiba (Tokyo), StephenRedman (Canberra), Hee-Sup Shin(Pohang), Keisuke Toyama (Kyoto)

grammes, the Wellcome Trust andthe Fogarty programmes of theNational Institutes of Health, USA,have pledged some support onindividual merit for neuroscienceresearch in Africa, but this is aresource that can be clearlyexplored further by those interest-ed within and outside Africa.

Neuroscience is perhaps one ofthe few tracks that Africa wouldwish to follow to resolve its ever-growing age-old problems whileenduring severe health problemscentred on infectious disease.Besides these, the ARC mission isalso to encourage brain awarenessand related health issues. Inaccord with efforts of theEuropean DANA Alliance, initiatives will be undertaken to increase ‘brain awareness’ inAfrica. It is highly gratifying toknow that several African coun-tries including Senegal, Kenya,Rwanda and South Africaobserved this special week thisyear (2000) by holding variousactivities such as special lecturesand school programmes.

Raj KalariaC h a i r, IBRO African Regional

C o m m i t t e eWolfson Research Centre and

Newcastle General HospitalUniversity of Newcastle upon Ty n e ,

U Ke-mail: r. n . k a l a r i a @ n c l . a c . u k

African Regional Committee (left to right): RajKalaria, Vivienne Russell, Nilesh Patel (l. inset):Gallo Diop, Nouria Lakhdar-Ghazal (r. inset):P i e r re Luabeya

THE A S I A N - PA C I F I C

R E G I O N A LC O M M I T T E E

and Elspeth McLachlan ( C h a i r, Sydney). The committee’spurpose is to facilitate and coordi-nate the activities of neuroscien-tists within the Asian-Pacificregion and link them to the rest of IBRO.

With the encouragement andfinancial support of IBRO, thisgroup plans as its major focus toestablish an annual School ofNeuroscience that will enableyoung neuroscientists from theregion to set up long-term rela-tionships. Up to the present time,scientific interaction between neu-roscientists in the Asian-Pacificarea has been rather limited.Although there are severalschemes for exchange of seniorresearchers, most young studentsand postdoctoral scientists havelooked to North America or Europefor their first international links. Todevelop neuroscience within thisgeographical region, opportunitieswill be provided for young scien-tists to meet together and to beexposed to high-quality neuro-science. In addition, regular sym-posia and congresses at whichregional neuroscientists can pres-ent their recent research will bee n c o u r a g e d .

The School of Brain Functions, thefirst annual IBRO School ofNeuroscience in the region, will beheld in Hong Kong, China, 3-17December 2000. In addition to lec-tures and seminars, this Schoolwill offer projects involving fivetechniques: imaging glutamatereceptors, electrophysiologicalanalysis of central neurons, func-tional genomics, axon growth andpathfinding during developmentand modulation of peripheral neu-rotransmission. Students will bebased at the University of HongKong and will also work at theChinese University of Hong Kong(CUHK) and the Hong KongUniversity of Science andTechnology (HKUST) for practicalsessions in different topics.

Invitation for applications for sup-port to attend the School are post-ed on the IBRO website and willalso be available from local neuro-science societies. Twenty studentswill be selected on the basis oftheir academic record and writtenstatements concerning their inter-est in neuroscience and what theyexpect to get out of the School.Preference will be given to appli-cants from developing countries.

In addition, the Asian-PacificRegional Committee has decidedto support the meetings of theFederation of Asian and OceanicNeuroscience Societies (FA O N S ) .

continued on p. 5

5

continued from p. 4

This grouping was set up with theguidance and encouragement ofMasao Ito who is currently itsPresident. FAONS developed aftera ten-year period of IBRO supportfor an annual workshop at whichstudents from the region weregiven practical training in neuro-science research techniques. TheFirst FAONS Congress was held inPattaya, Thailand in 1996 and theSecond FAONS Congress inBrisbane, Australia in 1998. The Third FAONS Congress will beheld in Seoul, Korea in 2002, withsmaller meetings held betweencongresses. The first FA O N SSymposium will be held on 8-10December 2000 (i.e. during theSchool of Brain Functions). Threemini-symposia have been organ-ized on ‘Development,Degeneration and Regeneration ofthe Nervous System’, ‘MolecularNeurobiology of Receptors andChannels’ and ‘SensoryProcessing, Motor Output andAutonomic Nervous System’.Visiting lecturers to be invited toparticipate in the School and theSymposium include James A.Brock, Sydney; Brian Key,Melbourne; Katsuhiko Mikoshiba,Tokyo; Fujio Murakami, Osaka; Hitoshi Okamoto, Saitama; David V.P o w, Brisbane; Hee-Sup Shin,Pohang; Jun Tanji, Sendai; KeisukeToyama, Kyoto; Yoo-Shun Suh,S e o u l .

Elspeth McLachlanC h a i r, IBRO Asian-Pacific Regional

C o m m i t t e ePrince of Wales Medical Research

I n s t i t u t eRandwick, NSW 2031, Australia

e-mail: e . m c l a c h l a n @ u n s w. e d u . a u

Hong Kong University of Science andTechnology (courtesy of Y. S. Chan)

THE CENTRALAND EASTERN

E U R O P ER E G I O N A L

C O M M I T T E E

mornings, and practicals anddemonstrations in the afternoons.

The CEERC also supports localworkshops and satellites organizedin the region in fields with particu-larly highly qualified local expert-ise, which may function partly as acounterpart to the IBRO SummerSchool. These workshops couldbring together established scien-tists from the region to facilitatecollaborations, joint grant applica-tions, as well as various regionalinitiatives, thereby advancing thecurrent state and prestige of neuro-science in the region. These linkswill be strengthened by short-termfellowships awarded by the CEERCon a competitive basis to scientistsfrom the Central and EasternEurope Region visiting another lab-oratory within the region.

The CEERC is planning to providesupport for the improvement ofcommunication for the region’sneuroscience societies via theinternet, i.e. for establishing web-sites linked to those of IBRO andIBRO-CEERC. Invitations to keynotespeakers to the region’s AnnualConferences of National Societieswill also be supported.

The IBRO Scholarship AgainstBrain-Drain is a central IBRO initia-tive targeting the Central andEastern Europe Region, and theselection process is carried out bythe CEERC. The goal of this initia-tive is to keep young talentedresearchers in their home coun-tries, but at the same time main-taining mobility after (or before)obtaining their Ph.D.s The reasonswhy most of these young scientistsdo not return, or can hardly wait toleave again, are at least twofold.First, the infrastructure and equip-ment are outdated, and second, thesalaries are insufficient to live on.O b v i o u s l y, IBRO cannot aim toimprove equipment or infrastruc-ture, and raising salaries toWestern European levels is alsoimpossible (and unnecessary at themoment). The support to be pro-vided by IBRO ($US2000 per per-son per year) comes in the mostcritical years of settling down,when young scientists decidewhere they want to pursue ac a r e e r. The scholarship is awardedfor one year, with the possibility ofextending it for another year, ifthe Regional Committee finds itjustified by the needs and produc-tivity of the scholar. Significantimprovements - detectable even atnationwide level in large countrieslike Russia and Ukraine - may wellbe achieved by the 50 scholarshipsawarded in the first year.

The CEERC has established a web-site - http://www.koki.hu/ibro-ceer with information about theC o m m i t t e e ’s initiatives, as well aslinks to neuroscience institutions inthe region, to grant information,free on-line journals, and neuro-science websites.

The CEERC had its last meeting inBudapest on 29-30 April 2000,where its programmes were final-ized, the budget distributed amongthe programmes, and winnersselected for the IBRO SummerSchool and the Against Brain-DrainS c h o l a r s h i p s .

Tamás FreundC h a i r, IBRO Central and Eastern

Europe Regional CommitteeInstitute of Experimental Medicine

Budapest, Hungarye-mail: freund@koki.hu

Tihany (Lake Balaton), Hungary, site of thefirst IBRO-CEERC Summer School ofN e u roscience, August 2000

THE L ATIN AMERICA

R E G I O N A LC O M M I T T E E

In November 1999, the IBROExecutive Committee establishedRegional Committees, includingthe Latin America RegionalCommittee. Those involved in thediscussions agreed to focus atten-tion on and give support towardsteaching events and the regionalexchange of neuroscientists, aimedat the training of young studentsand technical support in ongoingprojects within the region.

Among the teaching activities,Regional Schools of Neurosciencewere identified as key trainingtools that deserve special support.In 2000, the Regional School ofNeuroscience in Montevideo(Uruguay) received support for itsfifth annual course. Similar to pre-vious courses, this course had 15Uruguayan students and 14 fromother Latin American countries.The teaching staff were fromUruguay (15), regional (6) anddeveloped (12) countries. Thecourse was organized into confer-ences each morning, experimentalseminars in the afternoon, alto-gether 105 hours during the three-week course. An important activitywas the presentation by the stu-dents of their home laboratoryresults and those obtained duringthe daily seminars.

Although there were slight varia-tions in the programme in order tofocus on specific topics, the basicstructure of the programmeremained unchanged from previ-ous courses. A first module onbasic electrophysiology (excitablemembrane and axon, electrophysi-ology of the neuron and synapse)and basic neuroanatomy (circuitsand neurons) was held during thefirst week. The emphasis of thesecond module is on neurochem-istry (neurotransmitter systemsand cell signalling), whereas in thethird module the focus is usuallyon systems neuroscience. Thistime, the third module was devot-ed to Sensory Systems: Hearing,Somesthesia and Electro-Reception. During the School, thestudents attend basic lectures thatgive an overall picture of a subjectand specialized conferences whereprofessors give an up-to-dateaccount of their own research. Atthe same time, the seminars pro-vide students with the opportunityto familiarize themselves withexperimental techniques that inmost cases have not been totallymastered in their home laborato-r i e s .

It has been agreed that the nextNeuroscience School is to be held,with IBRO’s support, in Queretaro(Mexico) in the year 2001. Besidethis, six postgraduate courses wereapproved. One of them has alreadybeen held in Bahia Blanca(Argentina), organized by ProfessorF. Barrantes: ‘Novel Spectroscopicand Physiological Approaches toNeurobiology’, 22-31 May 2000.The course provided a uniqueopportunity for young researchersand advanced graduate students tohave contact with leading scientists

working on biophysical applica-tions of novel imaging and spectro-scopic techniques and to see theseviews integrated with recentadvances in the electrophysiologyof cell-surface channels and recep-tors. Students from Argentina,U r u g u a y, Chile, Peru, Mexico andSouth Africa received hands-ontraining while making the most ofan optimal teacher/student ratio(20/15). The rhythm of the coursewas very intense and as both stu-dents and staff were highly moti-vated, the long hours of experi-mental work and lectures ran verysmoothly throughout the ten-dayc o u r s e .

Five more courses are pro-grammed to be held before the endof the year: Mexico CitySymposium on the Neostriatum(Mexico, D.F.); MembraneReceptors (Caracas, Ve n e z u e l a ) ;Neural Circuits and Behavior:Recording Techniques, DataAnalysis and Modeling (Santiago,Chile); IntrasurgicalNeuromonitoring (Havana, Cuba);Caribbean NeuroscienceConference (San Juan, PuertoR i c o ) .

All courses supported by IBROoffer an important regional scope,including the attendance of profes-sors and students from other LatinAmerican countries besides thoseof the organizing country. TheCommittee has decided to meet inCancun for the XX Latin AmericanCongress of Physiological Scienceswhere three symposia will besponsored by IBRO, one of whichwill discuss the Panorama of LatinAmerican Neuroscience andStrategies for its Development.

Omar MacadarC h a i r, IBRO Latin America Regional

C o m m i t t e eN e u r o f i s i o l o g i a

Instituto EstableMontevideo, Uruguay

e-mail: omacadar@iibce.edu.uy

The first IBRO Summer School to beorganized by the Central andEastern Europe Regional Committeetook place in the BalatonLimnological Research Institute ofthe Hungarian Academy of Sciences,Tihany (Lake Balaton), 21 August-2September 2000. There were 25 par-ticipants selected from a total of 98applications from 12 countries of theCentral and Eastern Europe Regionon a competitive basis. Highly quali-fied lecturers were invited fromaround the world. The School’s pro-gramme will be different each year,consisting of lectures in the

www.ibro.orgNews, Conferences, Courses

Send submissions toa n d r e e . b l a k e m o r e @ p h y s i o l . o x . a c . u k

6

SIXTH IBRO WORLD CONGRESS OF NEUROSCIENCE 2003 PRAGUE GETS READY

Prague will host the Sixth IBROWorld Congress, 10-15 July 2003.Josef Syka, President of theCzech Neuroscience Society andPresident of the Congress, sumsup developments so far.

The time for the Sixth IBROWorld Congress is approaching.The venue of the Congress, thePrague Congress Center, wentthrough extensive renovation intime to host in September 2000 a

at this meeting. That congressand many other important con-gresses to be held before theIBRO World Congress will test thequality of the facility. Not onlythe Congress Center but manyother halls, auditoria and teach-ing rooms can be used by theCongress delegates before, dur-ing and after the Congress. Weare prepared to help in theorganization of satellite sym-posia, workshops, teachingschools, etc. Exchange of knowl-edge may be easily realized thesedays via the Internet; however,practical experimental skills arein neuroscience as important asthe knowledge of experimentalfacts. We propose that those whoare interested in the organizationof teaching workshops, practicalseminars and satellite symposiashould contact us and our Czechcolleagues now so that we canhelp you in the preparation ofsuch activities. The LocalOrganizing Committee will con-tribute to the Congress by hold-ing workshops in the areas wherestrong research groups with well-equipped laboratories are activein the Czech Republic. It alsooffers support to foreign scien-

Jan Bures, Eva Sykova and Josef Syka

gigantic congress of the Wo r l dBank and the World MonetaryFund. The organizers anticipatedaround ten thousand participants

tists intending to organize work-shops in collaboration with Czechcolleagues who could providelaboratory space and apparatusfor the demonstration of meth-ods. Please contact the Secretary-General, Professor Eva Sykova,Institute of ExperimentalMedicine, Academy of Sciences,Vi d e nska 1083, Prague, CzechRepublic (telephone +4202-475-2204, fax +4202-475-2783, e-mail:s y k o v a @ b i o m e d . c a s . c z ) .

At this Congress we would like toemphasize that the scope of top-ics, which belong to brainresearch, is not limited to classi-cal neuroanatomy, neurophysiol-ogy and neurochemistry, butembraces many other disciplinessuch as biophysics, genetics anddevelopmental neurobiology,neuroinformatics, neuroen-d o c r i n o l o g y, cognitive andbehavioural sciences, computa-tional neuroscience. Of course, itis also closely related to classicaldisciplines such as clinical psy-c h o l o g y, neurology, neurosurgeryand psychiatry. The local organiz-ers welcome all initiatives fromscientists in these fields ofresearch to make contact with

their Czech partners in order toachieve their meeting within theframe of the congress. We alsoinvite our colleagues from abroadto hold the annual meetings oftheir neuroscience societies orany other related societies inPrague during the Congress. Soonthe procedure for election of theInternational CongressProgramme Committee will beginand neuroscientists all over theworld will be able to present pro-posals for the Congress symposiaand lectures. We look forward to afruitful collaboration with theCongress Programme Committee.We sincerely hope that the PragueIBRO World Congress will repre-sent a milestone for neurosciencein the new millennium.

Jan BuresCongress Honorary President

Josef SykaCongress President

Eva SykovaCongress Secretary-General

VISITING LECTURE TEAM PROGRAMME OFFERS NEW O P P O RTUNITIES IN NEUROSCIENCE

Under the auspices of the IBROVisiting Lecture Team Programme,three courses were held during thelast 18 months starting in January1999. The aim of these courses wasto provide students and youngresearchers with an overview ofmodern neuroscience, and also toencourage collaboration betweenstudents taking the course andtheir colleagues overseas.

In January 1999, Albert Aguayo(Montreal), Ken Muller (Miami),John Nicholls (Trieste) andBaldomera Oliveira (Utah) gave anintensive two-week course in thePhilippines. This was sponsoredand superbly organized by DrLourdes Cruz at the Marine ScienceInstitute, and by Dr Xenia Tigno atthe College of Medicine, Universityof the Philippines. More than 50students from a variety of disci-plines attended. The course itselfconsisted of informal lectures rang-ing from classical experiments todescriptions of research being car-ried out in the lab today. The dailysmall-group conferences permittedstudents to clarify things that weredifficult, to bring up topics that hadnot been discussed and to ask gen-eral questions about everyday andacademic life abroad.

In December 1999, a similar coursewas given in Colombo, Sri Lanka,sponsored by Dr Ranil De Silva ofthe University of SriJayawardenapura. As in thePhilippines, this course was care-fully prepared for and wonderfullyorganized, in the most friendly yetefficient manner, with more than 60brilliant students from a variety ofdisciplines, ranging from medicineto basic science. Students camefrom several universities in Sri

Lanka and India. The format of thecourse was very similar to that inthe Philippines and the teachersonce again were Albert Aguayo,Ken Muller and John Nicholls. Thecourse was used as an opportunityfor neuroscientists of Sri Lanka toform a Neuroscience Society and ata public meeting to encourage thegovernment to support basicresearch.

In May 2000, a ten-day laboratorycourse was given in Brazil by AndyBlatz (Axon Instruments), BobBosler (Woods Hole), Larry Cohen( Yale), Ken Muller and JohnNicholls. This course was organizedby Dr Elaine del Bel of theUniversity of Sao Paolo, RibeiraoPreto. There was keen demand foran experimental course after theextremely successful lecture andconference course that Elaine delBel had run two years before. Aswas to be expected, to prepare for alaboratory course that includedpatch clamp, optical recording,intracellular and extracellularrecording, and staining of singlecells entailed a large amount ofwork. This was accomplished byElaine del Bel at the host institutionand by Bob Bosler who providedmuch of the equipment as a gift, allin perfect working order. Tw e l v estudents took the lab course whichinvolved rotating as three groups off o u r, from one set-up to the next forthree days at a time. Since by defi-nition the number of students thatcan take such a lab course isrestricted by reasons of the spaceand equipment that can be m a d eavailable, and since the interest inthe course was so great, lecturesand demonstrations were given atthe host institution, and open to all.In these courses an innovative and

extremely effective way of teachingplayed a large part. Students volun-teered to discuss and practise howto give a ten-minute talk at an inter-national speak; another importantaspect is that students work with

little money available for researchor for travelling to give scientifictalks. When they can go to a meet-ing there is often little informationavailable about how necessary it isfor speakers to provide a goodintroduction, to show only a limitednumber of slides and to stick rigor-ously to the ten minutes.

At the end of the course those students who had prepared talksgave uniformly excellent presenta-tions to the whole audience. It should be emphasized that thesecourses represented an extraordi-narily hard and demanding task for Drs Lourdes Cruz, Xenia Ti g n o ,Ranil De Silva and Elaine del Bel.Beginning with the initial approach-es some nine months in advance,they had to look after advertising,selection of students, accommodation, lecture theatres,as well as lunches and dinners rightup to the end of the last day. Forthe teachers, too, the presentationof two lectures a day, as well as therunning of conferences andrehearsals, to say nothing of labexperiments in the case of Brazil, isdemanding. What makes theseefforts so worthwhile is the unique-

ly receptive audience that is dedicated to doing the best possibleresearch in neuroscience.

The most recent VLTP course to beheld was organized by

Dr Toni Ebeigbe and held in Benin,Nigeria in September 2000.

John Nicholls, DirectorIBRO VLT P

S I S S ATrieste, Italy

e-mail: N i c h o l l s @ S i s s a . i t

Participants at the VLTP course, Manila, Philippines, January 1999, including the course leaders Ken Muller, Albert Aguayo, John Nicholls and Baldomera Oliveira

When the British NeuroscienceAssociation successfully won thebid to host FENS 2000, the first‘forum of European neuroscience ’in Berlin was just gatheringmomentum. An original request bythe FENS Executive to plan a meet-ing for 2000 delegates was swiftlychanging to one predicting closerto 4000 participants. The BrightonMetropole, though a little appre-hensive about the inflating num-bers, agreed to provide additionalfacilities to the Brighton Centre.The result was a spacious auditori -um seating over 4000 in the Centre,and vast, high-quality poster andexhibition rooms housed towardsthe rear of the Metropole, a mostelegant hotel, adorned invitinglywith Regency splendour.

In the event, more than 5000 people converged on Brighton forFENS 2000 (24-28 June 2000),attracted by a superb scientific programme and, no doubt, by thecharm of Brighton, a most delight -ful and somewhat Bohemian seaside town. Inevitably, the venuestarted to heave a little under thestrain. But both the hotel and thelocal organizing team responded asrapidly as they could to cope withthe problems of a dual site and thepopularity of this convention. Itwas, indeed, an ambitious projectfor the BNA which only veryrecently re-launched itself from itshumbler beginnings as the Brain

UPDATE ON IBRO’s JOURNAL NEUROSCIENCE

Neuroscience is approaching its25th year of publishing. It hasbecome one of the most widelyrespected of the neuroscience-relat-ed journals and has made important contributions to thedevelopment of the field. But eventhe most venerable institution isperiodically in need of evaluationand change. Neuroscience is under-going a modernization process withthe goals of ensuring that it represents all areas of modern neuroscience and that the editorialprocess becomes increasingly moreefficient.

An important change has been theadoption of a Section Editor proto -col for processing papers. SectionEditors include: D. Johnston and C. Sotelo for Cellular; D. A. Lewisfor Clinical; R. J. Dolan forCognitive; J. L. R. Rubenstein forDevelopmental; W. Sieghart forMolecular; J. P. Bolam forNeuropharmacology; and G.Buzsáki for Systems/Behavioural.The Section Editors will work withthe Chief and Associate Editors toassign papers for review and todetermine whether a paper isacceptable for publication. Theselection of Section Titles indicatesour hope that the journal will notonly continue to publish first-rate

BRIGHTON WELCOMES OVER 5000 TO FENS 2000

Research Association, and which,despite its rapidly rising member-ship, has neither a permanentadministrative home, nor perma-nent administrative staff.Academics, on this occasion MikeStewart and Duncan Banks in particular, gave generously andunconditionally of their ‘spare’time to see this project reachfruition. In this respect, it wasquite remarkable that such a smallteam, working with Intermarket(the conference secretariat), couldbring together over 5000 people,handle 3500 abstracts, coordinatenine plenaries and over 60 symposia, arrange five satellitesymposia, organize ten technicalworkshops and two ‘special interest’ courses - not to mention ahost of other peripheral eventsranging from a public debate on‘Issues in Neuroscience’ to a fullrange of social events and part -ners’ programme for the delegatesto enjoy. Additionally, there wereover 100 companies from all overthe world participating in theExhibition, displaying the very latest technology and equipment -and there were two Internet Cafes, sponsored by Merck, Sharp and Dohme, and Nature ReviewsNeuroscience. It was quite a jamboree!

In short, FENS 2000 achieved amagnitude somewhat remote fromits original conception by the BNA

way back in 1997, and even moreremote than the FENS Executivecould ever have wished for whenthey historically devised the new‘forum’ for European neuroscience.Quite clearly, neuroscience is verymuch alive and well in Europe, andthe enthusiasm and vibrancy witnessed in Brighton must bodeextremely optimistically for itsfuture. Inevitably, there areteething problems and lessonslearnt with any new project, andmany of these have already beenraised with the Societe desNeurosciences, now poised to hostthe third ‘Forum of EuropeanNeuroscience’ at the Palais de Congres, Paris, 13-17 July 2002. With the success of Berlin andBrighton behind it, the vision ofthe FENS Executive to provide aneclectic, exciting and affordablefocus for neuroscientists onEuropean soil will have beenachieved. More swiftly than couldever have been predicted, thequestion 'Are you going to"Neuroscience" this year?' maysoon elicit the response 'Which one?'

The British NeuroscienceAssociation would like to acknowl-edge The Wellcome Trust,SmithKline Beecham, NatureNeuroscience and ThePhysiological Society for their generous sponsorship whichenabled us to offer low registration

fees, especially to student partici -pants. In addition we acknowledgethe funding of travel scholarshipsfor 32 students to attend FENS.

Yvonne AllenExecutive Secretary

British Neuroscience Associationc/o New Medical School,

University of Liverpool,Liverpool, UK

http://www.ibro.orgFind the latest on funding for

symposia, workshops,fellowships and travel grants on

the IBRO We b s i t e .

7

Interested in submitting toNeuroscience?

then visit www.elsevier.com/locate/

neuroscience

papers in its historical areas ofstrength, such as n e u r o p h a r m a c o l o g yand systems/behavioural neuroscience, but will also increasethe number of papers published indevelopmental, clinical and cogni-tive neuroscience.

There has also been a substantialchange to the membership of theEditorial Board. The Editors haveinvited 38 new members who arehighly productive international neu-roscientists and who represent allareas of the field. A rotation systemhas been initiated in order to allowas many individuals as possible toparticipate in the editorial processof the journal.

The Section Editors and the entireEditorial Board have been invited toan Editorial Board meeting at theupcoming Society for Neurosciencemeeting in New Orleans, Louisiana,USA where future directions andinitiatives for the journal will be discussed.

One future direction is electronicsubmission. The publisher hasdeveloped a sophisticated web-based manuscript submissionsystem, which is expected to beimplemented for Neuroscienceduring the latter part of 2000. This

will appreciably decrease the processing time for submittedpapers and lead to a more rapideditorial decision. During this period of evaluation and change,the Editors would welcome comments and suggestions fromthe membership of IBRO.Comments can be directed either to David Smith atdavid.smith@pharm.ox.ac.uk or David Amaral atdgamaral@ucdavis.edu. Thechanges that will be made in thenext twelve months should placeNeuroscience in a strong positionto effectively serve the internationalneuroscience community for thenext twenty-five years.

David G. AmaralAssociate Editor

Neuroscience

Neuroscience full-text available

onlineFor full details see ScienceDirect

http://www.sciencedirect.com and Neuroscion

http://www.neuroscion.com

8

14-15 December 2000,

G i f - s u r- Yvette, France

C O N F E R E N C E S E N N E U R O B I-O L O G I E L A D I S L AV TAUC: PLACING AND M O L D I N G O F T H ES Y N A P S EConferences en NeurobiologieLadislav Tauc, Laboratoire deNeurobiologie Cellulaire etMoleculaire, Institut deNeurobiologie Alfred Fessard,CNRS, F-91198 Gif-sur- Yv e t t eCEDEX, Francefax: +33-1-69-829-466; e-mail:Conferences Ladislav-Ta u c @ n b c m . c n r s - g i f . f r ;w w w. c n r s - g i f . f r / n b c m / i n d e x . h t m l

11-14 February 2001, Torino, Italy

I N T E R N ATIONAL MEETING ON STEROIDS AND NERV O U SS Y S T E MRoberto C. Melcangi, Dept. ofE n d o c r i n o l o g y, University ofMilan, Via G. Balzaretti 9, 20133Milano, Italy (+39-02-205213/218;fax: +39-02-29404927; e-mail:m e l c a n g i @ m a i l s e r v e r. u n i m i . i t ;w w w. m e d i c i n a . m e d f a r m . u n i t o . i t / di p a r t / d a f m l / g c p / i n f o / ) .

11-15 February 2001, Wa i t a n g i ,

New Zealand

SEVENTH TRIENNIAL INTERNA-TIONAL BASLA GANGLIA SOCIETY (IBAGS) MEETINGWilleke van Roon-Mom, Dept. ofA n a t o m y, University of Auckland,Private Bag 92019, New Zealand( e - m a i l :i b a g s . c o o r d i n a t o r @ a n a t o m y. o t a go.ac.nz; w w w. o t a g o . a c . n z / a n a t o m y / I B A G S )

16-18 March 2001, Pucon, Chile

NEUROTOXICITY AS A MECHA-NISM FOR NEURODEGENERA-TIVE DISORDERS:BASIC ANDCLINICAL ASPECTSJuan Segura-Aguilar, Programade Farmacologia Molecular yClinica, ICBM,Facultad deMedicina, Universidad de Chile,Indeppendencia 1027, Casilla70000, SANTIAGO 7, Chile (+56-2-678-6057; fax: +56 2 7372783; e-mail:j s e g u r a @ m a c h i . m e d . u c h i l e . c l ;w w w. m e d . u c h i l e . c l / o q c l u b / p u c o n /i n d e x . h t m ) .

17-22 March 2001, Solden, Otztal,

A u s t r i a

AUSTRIAN NEUROSCIENCE

M A L A D YDr Paul McN. Hill, Exec. Director,New Zealand PhysiologicalConference Society, Inc., SouthClaragh, 3245 Poihipi Road, RDMangakino, New Zealand (+64-7-372-8848; fax: +64-7-372-8047; e-mail: paul.hill@xtra.co.nz;w w w. i u p s 2 0 0 1 . o r g . n z ) .

26-30 October 2002, Vi e n n a ,

A u s t r i a

EUROPEAN FEDERATION OFNEUROLOGICAL SOCIETIES CONGRESS 2002EFNS, Neurological HospitalRosenhugel, Riedelgasse 5, A-1130 Vienna, Austria (+43-1-880-00-270; fax: +43-1-88-92-581; e-mail: efns-head@magnet.at).

30 August-3 September 2003,

Helsinki, Finland

EUROPEAN FEDERATION OFNEUROLOGICAL SOCIETIESCONGRESS 2003EFNS, Neurological HospitalRosenhugel, Riedelgasse 5, A-1130 Vienna, Austria (+43-1-880-00-270; fax: +43-1-88-92-581; e-mail: efns-head@magnet.at).

4-9 September 2004, Paris,

F r a n c e

EUROPEAN FEDERATION OFNEUROLOGICAL SOCIETIESCONGRESS 2004EFNS, Neurological HospitalRosenhugel, Riedelgasse 5, A-1130 Vienna, Austria (+43-1-880-00-270; fax: +43-1-88-92-581; e-mail: efns-head@magnet.at).

A S S O C I ATION (ANA) N E U R O C H E M I S T RY WINTERC O N F E R E N C EProf. Alois Saria, Division ofN e u r o c h e m i s t r y, Dept. ofP s y c h i a t r y, Anichstr. 35, A-6020Innsbruck, Austria (+43-512-504-3710; fax: +43-512-504-3716; e-mail: alois.saria@uibk.ac.at;w w w. s c i c o n s . c o m / c o n f e r e n c e s . h t m ) .

8-11 April 2001, Harrogate, UK

BRITISH NEUROSCIENCEA S S O C I ATION SIXTEENTHN ATIONAL MEETINGBNA Conference Office, NewMedical School, Ashton Street,Liverpool, L69 3GE, UK (+44-151-794-5449; fax: +44-151-794-5517; e-mail: bna@liv.ac.uk; www. b n a . o r g . u k ) .

19-21 April 2001, Murcia, Spain

THIRD EUROPEAN CONFERENCEON COMPA R ATIVE NEUROBIOLOGYLoreta Medina (+34-968-364340;fax: +34-968-363955; e-mail: lmedina@um.es h t t p : / / w w w.um.es).

23-27 April 2001, Nairobi, Kenya,

A f r i c a

SONA 2001: FIFTH SONA C O N F E R E N C EDr Nilesh B. Patel, SONASecretariat, Dept. of MedicalP h y s i o l o g y, University of Nairobi,PO Box 30197, Nairobi, Kenya(+254-2-442309; fax +254-2-750154; e-mail: nbpatel@form-net.com; w w w. u o n b i . a c . k ew w w.kenyaweb.com).

18-20 May 2001, Uppsala,

S w e d e n

SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON GLIAL I N T E R FACES IN THE NERV O U SSYSTEM: DEVELOPMENT ANDR E PA I RSLU Conference Service, PO Box7059, SE-750 07 Uppsala,Sweden(+46-18-67-15-33; fax: +46-18-67-35-30; e-mail: glial@sle.se;w w w. s e r v i c e . s l u . s e / c o n f e r e n c e / g l i a l ) .

22-25 May 2001, Perugia, Italy

ESN CONFERENCE: ADVA N C E SIN MOLECULAR MECHANISMSOF NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERSProf. G. Goracci, Dept. InternalMedicine/Biochemistry Lab., Vi a

del Giochetto, I 06122 Perugia,Italy (+39-075-5857420; fax: +39-075-5857420/5857428; e-mail:goracci@unipg.it; w w w. b i o i n gw e b . d i m i s e m . m e d . u n i p g . i t / e s n 2 0 0 1 ) .

25-27 May 2001, Madrid, Spain

CHANGING VIEWS OF CAJAL’ SNEURON (CAJAL CLUB/CAJALI N S T I T U T E )English: Efrain C. Azmitia, Dept.of Biology, NYU, New York, NY10003, USA( e f r a i n . a z m i t i a @ n y u . e d u ).Spanish: Cajal Institute, Av.Doctor Arce, 37. 28002 Madrid,Espana (defelipe@cajal.csic.es)

7-10 July 2001, Chateau Mont-

Tremblant, QC, Canada

FOCUS ON EPILEPSY VI: TREAT-MENT OF EPILEPTIC SYN-DROMES: FROM MOLECULARTARGETS TO QUALITY OF LIFEPeriplus Convention Management(+1-514- 933-0502; fax: +1-514-933-4513; e - m a i l : p e r i p l u s @ t o t a l . n e t ;w w w. t o t a l . n e t / ~ p e r i p l u s / f o c u s

11-14 August 2001, Kuopio,

F i n l a n d

2001 ELEVENTH NORDICMEETING ONC E R E B R O VASCULAR DISEASESAND SECOND BIENNIAL KUOPIOSYMPOSIUM ON ISCHAEMICS T R O K EDept. of Neuroscience andN e u r o l o g y, University of Kuopio,PO Box 1627, 70211 Kuopio,Finland (+358-17-162519; fax+358-17-162048; e-mailj u k k a . j o l k k k o n e n @ u k u . f i ;w w w. u k u . f i / l a i t o k s e t / n e u r o / n o r d i c 2 0 0 1 . h t m l )

20-22 August 2001, Sydney,

A u s t r a l i a

S ATELLITE MEETING OF THET W E N T Y- F O U RTH IUPS CON-GRESS: CENTRAL MECHANISMSOF CARDIOVASCULAR CONTROL:CELLULAR, MOLECULAR ANDI N T E G R ATIVE ASPECTS CO-SPONSORED BY ISAN( e - m a i l :p i l o w s k y @ m e d . u s y d . e d u . a u ;w w w. p h y s i o l . u s y d . e d u . a u / c i r c u l a t i o n / b o n d i . h t m l )

26-31 August 2001, Christchurch,

New Zealand

T H I RT Y- F O U RTH INTERNAT I O N A LCONGRESS OF PHYSIOLOGICALSCIENCES: FROM MOLECULE TO

(funded in part by Servier Canada Inc.) are now available. These fellowshipsare intended for recent doctoral graduates who want to continue their train-ing in neuroscience research. Each position provides one year of financialsupport (CAD$30,000), plus moving costs, and offers the use of the excep-tional research facilities of the Center for Research in Neurological Sciencesof the Université de Montréal. The recipients work closely with the investi-gator of choice within a large active group of neuroscientists who are exam-ining a wide range of topics in vertebrate neuroanatomy, neurochemistry,n e u r o p h a r m a c o l o g y, neurophysiology and neuropsychology. Applicationforms (please do not send cv) may be obtained by writing to the FellowshipCommittee, Centre de recherche en sciences neurologiques, Faculté demédecine, Université de Montréal, C.P. 6128, Succ. Centre-ville, Montréal(Québec), Canada H3C 3J7. Deadline for receipt of completed applications:31 December 2000. Fellowship award to be announced early in 2001. (Te l :+1-514-343-6366; fax: +1-514-343-6113; e-mail: mailto:CRSN@ere.umontre-al.ca; CRSN@ere.umontreal.ca; h t t p : / / w w w. c r s n . u m o n t r e a l . c a / b o u r s e s _ J C . h t m l )

THE H. H. JASPER POSTDOCTORALRESEARCH FELLOWSHIP

IN NEUROSCIENCE AND THE J.-P. CORDEAU P O S T D O C T O R A L F E L L O W S H I P

REMINDER TO ALL NEUROSCIENTISTS!

As a member of your national brain research organization you are also an member of IBRO. Support

your IBRO Journal N e u r o s c i e n c e by sending in yourpapers and encourage your library to subscribe. Go toIBRO's new Website for funding opportunities. Search

the IBRO World Directory. Take the opportunity toupdate your mailing address.

CONFERENCE CALENDAR

www.ibro.org