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.

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.

Participants are strongly encouraged to submit an abstract.