# 2020 Optogenetic Approaches to Understanding Neural Circuits and Behavior Gordon Research Conference and Seminar

> **NIH NIH R13** · GORDON RESEARCH CONFERENCES · 2020 · $14,399

## Abstract

Project Summary
A goal of many neurobiologists is to understand how the activity of cells and circuits in the brain relate to
behavior, learning, and disease symptoms. In the past it was nearly impossible to establish the sufficiency and
necessity of activity in specific cells to the generation or modification of a behavior. Optogenetics refers to a
rapidly progressing set of tools that allow researchers to use light to read out and manipulate the activity of
genetically defined brain cells. With optogenetics, it is now possible to use light to monitor the activity of cells
during behavior and then add or subtract activity from these cells to establish the causal relationship between it
and behavior. We request funds to help offset the costs of speakers and attendees to the 2020 Gordon
Research Conference and Gordon Research Seminar on “Optogenetic Approaches to Understanding Neural
Circuits and Behavior”. This is the third such meeting, and the first two were fully subscribed, vibrant meetings
that received excellent reviews. We have confirmed acceptances from nearly all the speakers to the 2020
meeting. We will use funds to partially pay for travel and registration fees (not food and drink) of speakers.
We will prioritize the use of NIH funds to cover under-represented minorities, women, and junior scientists
(non-tenured lab heads as well as postdocs and graduate students selected to give talks from poster
presenters). The goal of the meeting is to gather a diverse set of scientists who can collectively present best
methods for use of optogenetics, new tools, and recent discoveries made with optogenetics to an equally
diverse group of young scientists interested in uncovering the relationship between circuit activity and
behavior.
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## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9992801
- **Project number:** 1R13DA051132-01
- **Recipient organization:** GORDON RESEARCH CONFERENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** Bernardo L Sabatini
- **Activity code:** R13 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $14,399
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-04-01 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9992801

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9992801, 2020 Optogenetic Approaches to Understanding Neural Circuits and Behavior Gordon Research Conference and Seminar (1R13DA051132-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-12 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9992801. Licensed CC0.

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