To ensure robust funding for biomedical research and favorable policies grounded in facts, scientists must become their own advocates and engage with their lawmakers.

Tell Congress to Pass Appropriations for FY2022 and Reject Future CRs Join your fellow NeuroAdvocates in urging Congress to reject the use of continuing resolutions by passing FY2022 appropriations packages before the end of current funding, February 18. Send your Representative and Senators a message via SfN’s Advocacy Action Center and personalize it by including why predictable funding for biomedical research is important to you.

The neural mechanisms that integrate new episodes with established memories are unknown. When rats explore an environment, CA1 cells fire in place fields that indicate locations. In goal-directed spatial memory tasks, some place fields differentiate behavioral histories (“journey-dependent” place fields) while others do not (“journey-independent” place fields). To investigate how these signals inform learning and memory for new and familiar episodes, we recorded CA1 and CA3 activity in rats trained to perform a “standard” spatial memory task in a plus maze and in two new task variants. A “switch” task exchanged the start and goal locations in the same environment; an “altered environment” task contained unfamiliar local and distal cues. In the switch task, performance was mildly impaired, new firing maps were stable, but the proportion and stability of journey-dependent place fields declined. In the altered environment, overall performance was strongly impaired, new firing maps were unstable, and stable pr...

SfN’s Pre-Conference Sessions occur before the official start of the annual meeting and provide an opportunity to learn from global experts on emerging scientific topics and techniques, advances in our understanding of neurobiological diseases, and rigorous and responsible conduct of scientific research. Space is limited and registration is required for Friday’s Short Courses. To attend, add the appropriate course to your annual meeting registration. Attendees of Meet the Experts sessions must be registered for the annual meeting but no separate registration or fee is required for these Saturday morning sessions. Space is limited and attendees are encouraged to arrive early for their priority session.

Early in 1998, we ([de Lecea et al., 1998][1]) and others ([Sakurai et al., 1998][2]) described the same hypothalamic neuropeptides, respectively called the hypocretins or orexins, which were discovered using two different approaches. In December of that year, we published the subject of this commentary in the Journal of Neuroscience : a highly detailed anatomical description of the extensive axonal projections of the hypocretin/orexin neurons. Although the function of this system was unknown at the time, a large body of literature today attests that the hypocretin/orexin neuropeptides play important roles in multiple physiological functions, particularly in sleep/wake regulation. Neuroanatomical studies are rarely frontline news, but the citation rate of this paper underscores the critical nature of such basic research. Based in part on this detailed description, the hypocretin/orexin neuropeptides have since been studied in many different areas of neuroscience research, including sleep/wake regulation, f...

WASHINGTON — Edward F. Chang, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), will be awarded the 2025 Gruber neuroscience Prize. The award celebrates his work toward understanding how the brain encodes the sounds and movements of spoken language.

The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) announces that Marty Saggese advised he will be stepping down as Executive Director effective January 31, 2026. During Marty’s 24 years of leadership at SfN he has guided, supported, and facilitated a series of extraordinary accomplishments, which have positioned SfN to fulfill its mission in perpetuity.

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First exhibit in the world to present an innovative look at the greatest mysteries of the human brain through immersive technology-based art; premieres at ARTECHOUSE DC this fall.