EMBL Workshop on Translating Behaviour: Bridging Clinical and Animal Model Research
C. Gross, K.P. Lesch
EMBL Heidelberg, 14 - 16 November 2009
Topics
The goal of this workshop is to bring together behavioral neuroscientists working on animal models with clinical researchers studying human behavior. The main question to be addressed by the workshop is how animal models can best be used to discover treatments for behavioral disorders, including mental illness. Although animal models are powerful tools to identify the neurobiological mechanisms underlying behavior, too few researchers are trying to directly bridge the gap between human behavior and homologous behaviors in lower animals. In some cases animal behavior and human behavior appear similar and may share common molecular mechanisms; however, many human behaviors remain only distantly homologous to animal behaviors and common mechanisms are controversial.
At the same time, behavioral research is receiving renewed attention in the light of an explosion in the generation of mouse models of genetic diseases. However, the behavioral characterization of these models lags behind their molecular characterization, with little attention being focused on how best to match human behavioral deficits relevant to the disease. Psychiatrists are also increasingly incorporating quantitative behavioral measurements into their research as part of a movement to identify behavioral endophenotypes of mental illness that are more reliable than traditional diagnostic criteria. Significant research funds are being funneled into behavioral research on rodent models while the value of these models to identify new therapies often remains unproven. Our workshop aims to take advantage of the increasing interest in behavior among both clinical and basic researchers to help ensure the best possible use of animal models.
The workshop will try to cover a range of commonly studied behaviors relevant to human disease, including anxiety, impulsivity, and aggression, but also more controversial topics such as depression, schizophrenia, autism, and attachment. In this way, participants will be exposed to a wide range of clinically relevant behavioral research and gain an appreciation of its successes and pitfalls. Finally, our workshop aims to facilitate interactions between medical and basic science researchers by seeking the balanced participation of MD and PhD researchers.
Programme
Saturday, November 14
12:00 - 13:00 Registration13:00 - 14:00 Lunch
14:00 - 15:30 Session I: Fear and Anxiety
Paul Pauli, University of Würzburg, Germany
Startle potentiation in humans - an indicator of psychopathology
Marco Battaglia, San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy:
Crossing the translational divide: CO2 reactivity as a tool to investigate genetic and environmental influences on anxiety
15:30 - 17:00 Session II: Impulsivity and Aggression
Trevor Robbins, University of Cambridge, UK:
Impulsivity and Addiction
Klaus Miczek, Tufts University, Boston, USA:
How to translate species-typical and escalated aggression in mice to human violence? the example of alcohol and GABA-serotonin interactions
17:00 - 18:00 Poster Session
18:00 - 19:00 Social Science Lecture
Halldór Stefánsson, Science & Society Programme Manager, EMBL Heidelberg will introduce
Nicolas Rose, London School of Economics, UK
What's wrong with your mice? Pitfalls and promises of modelling human behaviour in animals
19:00 - 21:00 Dinner
Sunday, November 15
09:00 - 10:30 Session III: Depression
Catherine Belzung, INSERM U 930 Imagerie et Cerveau, France
Animal models of depression: new insights
Yoshiharu Yamamoto, University of Tokyo, Japan
Universality of dynamical properties of locomotor activity in mice and humans and its breakdown in depression
10:30 - 12:00 Session IV: Autism
Francesca Happé, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK
Can cognitive accounts of autism inform animal models
Richard Paylor, Baylor College of Medicine, USA
Mouse genetic models of autistic-like traits
12:00 - 13:00 Meet-the-Speakers Round Table
13:00 - 15:00 Lunch during river boat tour of Heidelberg
15:00 - 18:00 Free time
18:00 - 19:00 Keynote Lecture
Michael Davis, Emory University, USA
Phasic vs. Sustained Fear: Toward an Operational Definition of Fear vs. Anxiety
19:00 - 21:00 Dinner
21:00 - 24:00 Poster Session with Wine-Cheese
Monday, November 16
09:00 - 10:30 Session V: Schizophrenia
Alessandro Bertolino, University of Bari, Italy:
Association between genetic variation of dopamine signaling and schizophrenia phenotypes
John Waddington, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Ireland:
Mutant models related to schizophrenia: phenotypic unity or endophenotypic diversity in behaviour
10:30 - 12:00 Session VI: Attachment and Social Interaction
Richard Ebstein, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel:
Genetics of Human Social Behavior
Pier Francesco Ferrari, University of Parma, Italy:
Mirror neurons and social cognition in human and nonhuman primates
12:00 - 13:00 Meet-the-Speakers Round Table
13:00 - 14:00 Lunch
Invited Speakers
Catherine Belzung, INSERM U 930 Imagerie et Cerveau, Tours, France
Alessandro Bertolino, University of Bari, Italy
Richard Ebstein, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
Pier Francesco Ferrari, University of Parma, Italy
Francesca Happe, Institute of Psychiatry, London, United Kingdom
Klaus Miczek, Tufts University, Boston, USA
Paul Pauli, University of Würzburg, Germany
Richard Paylor, Baylor College of Medicine, USA
Trevor Robbins, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Nikolas Rose, London School of Economics, United Kingdom
John L. Waddington, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland
Yoshi Yamamoto, University of Tokyo, Japan
Keynote Speakers