Discovery in the life-sciences increasingly relies on quantitative analysis of microscopy images.  In a virtual format, I2K 2020 will again bring together developers and users of state-of-the-art open source solutions for biological image analysis. It will be a forum for discussing forward looking strategies for dealing with the ever increasing flood of large and content rich microscopy imagery.

The conference is designed to promote interactive discussions between users and developers of bioimage analysis methods and software. The speaker line-up features researchers at the front-lines of algorithm development and their application to extraordinarily large and complex image datasets. Additionally, all major open source platforms that implement bioimage analysis tools will be represented by their respective lead developers. Online poster sessions, tutorials, breakout workshops and social gatherings will give all participants a unique networking opportunity.

Topics will include:

• Bioimage analysis workflows
• Computer vision and machine learning
• Handling of big image data
• Image data annotation and sharing
• Image data visualisation
• Image restoration, registration, segmentation, and tracking
• Smart microscopy
• Open software engineering

I2K is for researchers who are (i) generating or analysing large and complex image data, (ii) creating tools and methods to solve image analysis problems, and (iii) software engineers who provide and maintain the necessary infrastructure.

Olfactory navigation is required for the survival of virtually all living creatures from unicellular organisms to mammals. This conference will focus on olfaction and spatial orientation as a unifying theme across organisms with different viewpoints: mechanistic, computational and evolutionary. We will examine how model organisms, with distinct sensory capabilities and constraints have evolved to solve this problem. From a comparative perspective, we will seek to extract fundamental principles related to the detection of (noisy) sensory stimuli and its conversion into goal-directed responses. We will also examine the modulatory effects of internal states and learning on sensorimotor control. We anticipate that control mechanisms directing orientation will be relevant to the study of sensory systems other than olfaction. Such mechanisms should also represent a source of inspiration to engineer new technologies.

The conference will tackle three challenges. The first pertains to neural mechanisms that underlie specific sensorimotor functions (filtering of noise, decision-making, etc.). Moving down from sensors to control circuits, we will discuss our understanding of the emergence of action selection from the activity of neural circuits. The second challenge will be more technical. Recently significant technological progresses have been made by mapping neural circuits in connectivity diagrams, by monitoring and perturbing neuronal activity in behaving animals. We will evaluate how these methods can be combined with mathematical modeling to test and to refine mechanistic hypothesis about elementary sensorimotor functions carried out by neural-circuit motifs. Finally, we will leverage a comparative analysis across model organisms to extract computational principles common to the biological implementations of adaptive navigational algorithms.

Application deadline: November 21, (11:59 p.m. EST)

The brain is constantly monitoring how one is feeling and functioning - information which is essential to evaluate if an organism is ill, hungry, or short of breath. At the least, such feedback from within enables computation and action to be prioritized for optimum output; at the extreme, it ensures survival. However, little is known about how the brain monitors and reacts to the constantly changing internal physiology. While there has been rapid progress in understanding exteroception, less is known on how we sense and process information from within the organism, such as hunger, respiration, circulation, and excretion. This conference will offer a multidisciplinary approach to discuss recent advances in interoception, by defining the signals that monitor internal states to identifying critical neuronal circuits that drive behavior.

Application Deadline: January 2, 2020 (11:59 p.m. EST)

With the goal of improving gender diversity of life science faculty, the Leading Edge Symposium provides outstanding women and non-binary postdocs in biomedical research a platform to share their work and connect with one another, both professionally and personally. Attendees will give short research talks, participate in lively discussions and network with both junior and senior investigators. A panel of carefully selected world leaders in biomedical research will provide mentorship and career development training, and representatives from institutions interested in recruiting and supporting a diverse faculty will be invited. Successful postdoctoral applicants will have their travel expenses, meals and accommodations fully covered.

See leadingedgesymposium.org for more details and Frequently Asked Questions about this exciting conference!

We welcome both postdoctoral researchers and institutional representatives to apply.

Application deadline: January 6, 2020 (11:59 p.m. ET)

The genetic, optical, and behavioral tractability of larval zebrafish offers unprecedented opportunities for uncovering principles governing the large-scale organization of the vertebrate brain. A thriving community of interdisciplinary scientists is critical for building and using the sophisticated computational tools required to extract quantitative insights from the field’s rich and expansive data, as well as for devising models and theories that can guide the design of future experiments.

Hosted by James Fitzgerald, William Bishop, Claudia Feierstein and Joe Donovan, this workshop aims to provide a community-building forum for early-career researchers interested in the interface between zebrafish neuroscience and computational neuroscience to come together, share tools, share ideas, and chart a collaborative path forward.

The workshop will focus equal parts on theory and computational tools.  All attendees will present their work in short presentations with ample time for questions and discussion. The workshop will also include longer tutorials, selected from a pool of proposals submitted at the time of application, and interested parties are encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity to share their research in a deeper way with the rest of the community. The final portion will include semi-structured collaborative time to foster interactions between participants.  For instance, some participants might try out a computational workflow from another lab, while others might sit down to apply an untested theoretical model to a new dataset. 

This will be a highly interactive and collaborative meeting, and space will be limited to foster direct interactions.  Applications from students, postdocs, and early career lab heads are encouraged. Theoretical and computational neuroscientists, as well as experimentalists interested in incorporating more theory and computation into their work, are welcome. We especially encourage applications from women and those who identify with groups underrepresented in science.

Janelia will cover lodging and meals for all participants, and travel support is available (upon request) to those in need. Participants are expected to stay for the duration of the workshop and will also have an opportunity to extend their stay for continued discussion and collaborative time. 

Application Instructions​ 

To be considered, applicants must APPLY online and provide:

1. Current CV
2. Statement of interest
3. Research abstract for a short talk
4. Tutorial proposal (optional)

Application Deadline: June 17, 2020 (11:59 p.m. EST)

New technologies to probe the functional proteome have emerged as a powerful approach to annotate the dark matter of the genome. The second iteration of this conference will bring together a wide range of technology developers and users to discuss opportunities in this field, highlight emerging methods and biological questions, and foster the integration of different disciplines.

Application deadline: July 1, 2020 (11:59 p.m. EST)

Neural circuits implement transfer functions that combine sensory inputs and prior experience to choose a behavioral response. Historically, the study of the most convenient animal models —from the giant axon of the squid and the lobster's stomatogastric circuits to Aplysia's synapses and C. elegans' circuits — neuroscientists revealed some of the operating principles of the nervous system, which were then found to apply broadly across phyla. The third installment of this meeting will once again bring together neuroscientists working on a broad diversity of animal models in an effort to compare circuits across phyla as a means to crack their function.

Neuropeptides comprise the largest and most diverse class of neuromodulators and regulate a diverse array of critical processes. While their importance is well-established, fundamental questions about synthesis, processing, release, transmittal, reception, and signal transduction remain unanswered. Recent tool developments and advances in experimental and genetic techniques have the potential to transform our understanding of neuropeptide function from subcellular synthesis to behavioral output. Now is an ideal time to begin redefining our understanding of how neuropeptides layer with circuitry and metabolism to govern physiological functions and behavior.

This meeting will bring together researchers studying the influence of neuropeptide signaling on physiology and behavior at both the cellular and circuit level in a range of organisms and across disciplines, including experimental and computational tool developers. Through presentations and discussions, we look forward to 1) generating new questions and hypotheses about how neuropeptides regulate behavior and how they themselves are regulated, 2) identifying questions that emerging tools could be used to address, and 3) defining new tools and strategies for probing neuropeptide function.

Sensory perceptions, behavioral decision making and performance are all strongly reliant on internal states. Understanding of the neural circuits that underlie internal states, including the autonomic and voluntary arousal networks, has greatly expanded in recent years. This meeting will gather researchers to discuss how various sensory pathways interface with the neural circuits controlling states: where in brain and body they converge, the dynamics of those interactions and the consequences for behavioral outcomes. Work in diverse species, including mouse, fruit fly and human, will be covered.

For many years, our understanding of early mammalian development has been limited by the inability to visualize development as it happens. Technical limitations, physical inaccessibility, and complex computational problems have all hindered our ability to answer long-standing questions in the field of mouse development. Recent advances in cutting-edge light microscopy and computational tools have catapulted the field forward and presented us with new avenues and opportunities to address outstanding questions. 

The third iteration of this workshop, which alternates between Janelia and EMBL Heidelberg, brings together members of the mouse developmental community with experts in the latest imaging technologies, computational image analysis and more broadly quantitative biology fields, with the goal of raising awareness about available tools and techniques, unresolved questions or challenges, while fostering discussions on how best to utilize these tools and what tools are still needed. The intimate nature of Janelia meetings fosters an interactive and collaborative environment, and we look forward to open conversations on advancing this small (but growing) field, how best to analyze and share large datasets and how to utilize the massive amount of information new imaging systems will provide. 

Cell polarity is a universal feature of all eukaryotic cells and involves the asymmetric organization of different cellular components to enable emergence of specialized functions. A broad range of questions still remain unanswered in this field, including cell polarity’s role in nutrient transport, cell signaling, cell division, surface expression patterns and motility. This conference will bring practitioners studying cell polarity together from different disciplines (including biophysics, cell biology, physiology and theory) to share their science and discuss unresolved questions from a multidisciplinary perspective. Participants will come away from the conference with new ideas born from different perspectives and will have established new contacts and approaches to advance identified problems in the field.

This meeting will focus on molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the formation of precise patterns of synaptic connectivity. Over the past decade, considerable progress has been made in uncovering the molecular identity and structure of adhesion complexes at synapses, diverse cell surface recognition molecules contributing to wiring specificity, and the role of activity in sculpting the neural circuitry. In parallel, detailed connectomics at the light microscopy and EM level have uncovered the extraordinary specificity and complexity of connectivity, and single cell sequencing has defined cell types and cell-type specific patterns of cell-surface protein expression during circuit assembly. Light microscopic techniques from super-resolution to expansion microscopy and live imaging have led to important advances in uncovering cell biological mechanisms of circuit assembly. Presentations and discussions will highlight important advances in the field and consider current challenges and future directions.