Scientific Calendar Event



Description
Olfaction is the final frontier of our senses - the one that is still almost completely mysterious to us. Despite extensive genetic and perceptual data, and a strong push to solve the neural coding problem, fundamental questions about the sense of smell remain unresolved.
The task of olfaction is challenging; it depends critically on the ability to rapidly detect, identify, categorize, and prepare for memory storage myriad odorants that vary in molecular structure and concentration. Yet, olfactory processing is achieved by relatively few layers of neurons, with anatomical structures and physiological mechanisms that appear repeatedly in widely divergent species. Thus, a study of olfaction offers the promise of insight into a successful and perhaps optimal biological algorithm for processing complex information.
 
Driven by novel experimental techniques, including next-generation sequencing, optogenetics, and imaging/recordings in awake behaving animals, the experimental data is undergoing an explosive growth. At the same time, a variety of computational and theoretical models ranging from labelled-line to spike coding have been proposed to explain the data.
This workshop will bring together researchers in physics, chemistry, biochemistry, computer science, behavioural sciences, neurophysiology, basic biology, and genomics in an attempt to evaluate the current state of the field.

Topics:
  • Olfactory coding and perception
  • Olfactory search and algorithms
  • Experimental and theoretical neuroscience of olfaction
Invited Speakers:
F. Albeanu, CSHL
L. Buck,  Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
A. Carleton, Geneva U.
M. Dickinson, CALTECH
S. Firestein, Columbia U.
A. Fleischmann, College de France, Paris
B. Hansson, MPI Jena
C. A. Greer, Yale
T. Holy, Washington U. in St. Louis
A. Koulakov, CSHL
P.-M. Lledo, Institut Pasteur, Paris
P. Mombaerts, MPI Frankfurt
D. Rinberg, NYU
D. Rokni,  The Hebrew U.
A. Schaefer, The Francis Crick Institute
A. Seminara, U. Nice Sophia Antipolis
N. Sobel, Weizmann Institute of Science
P. Szyszka, Konstanz U.
L. Vosshall, The Rockefeller U.
T. Wyatt, U. of Oxford
 

Workshop secretariat: smr3135@ictp.it

Grants
A limited number of grants are available to support the attendance of selected participants, with priority given to participants from developing countries (see list here). There is no registration fee.
 
To facilitate participation of younger scientists to the conference ECRO will support 2 travel grants for students not supported by ICTP. Details for application documents and submission can be found here: http://www.ecro-online.com/108/GRANTS/ecro-european_chemoreception_research_organisation-ecro_online/general_rules/
 
Go to day
  • Monday, 24 July 2017
    • 08:30 - 21:00 Monday 24 July
      • 08:30 Registration and administrative formalities 2h30' ( Adriatico Guest House - Kastler Lecture Hall Area (Lower Level 1) )
        Slot reserved for Participants not staying at ICTP Guesthouses, and Faculty.
        (Participants staying at ICTP Guesthouses will register upon check-in at the guest house reception desks.)
        AFTER registration, Visitors funded by the ICTP can collect their dues at the Operations Office c/o E. Fermi building, ground floor (Mon, Tue & Fri, 8:30-12:00/13:30-14:30).
      • 11:00 Welcome address 30' ( Adriatico Guest House - Kastler Lecture Hall )
      • 11:30 How Does Biology Perceive Chemistry? Some possible rules 1h0' ( Adriatico Guest House - Kastler Lecture Hall )
        Speaker: Stuart Firestein (Columbia University)
        Material: Video
      • 12:30 Lunch break 2h30' ( Adriatico Guest House - Cafeteria )
      • 15:00 Constructing an Olfactory Circuit 1h0' ( Adriatico Guest House - Kastler Lecture Hall )
        Speaker: Charles Greer (Yale University)
        Material: Video
      • 16:00 Coffee break 30' ( Adriatico Guest House - Terrace )
      • 16:30 Insect Olfactory Neuroethology - Labeled Line Exploitation and Smelling Tongues 1h0'
        Speaker: Bill Hansson (Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology)
        Material: Video
      • 18:00 Reception 2h0' ( Adriatico Guest House - Terrace )
      • 20:00 What is a Pheromone? Implications for Evolution, Perception, and Processing 1h0' ( Adriatico Guest House - Kastler Lecture Hall )
        Speaker: Tristram Wyatt (University of Oxford)
        Material: Slides
  • Tuesday, 25 July 2017
    • 09:00 - 19:00 Tuesday 25 July
      • 09:00 Retargeting Olfaction 1h0' ( Adriatico Guest House - Kastler Lecture Hall )
        Speaker: Peter Mombaerts (Max Planck Research Unit for Neurogenetics)
      • 10:00 Spatial Topography in Olfaction 1h0' ( Adriatico Guest House - Kastler Lecture Hall )
        Speaker: Tim Holy (Washington University in St. Louis)
        Material: Video
      • 11:00 Coffee break 30' ( Adriatico Guest House - Terrace )
      • 11:30 Human Olfactory Perception 1h0' ( Adriatico Guest House - Kastler Lecture Hall )
        Speaker: Leslie Vosshall (The Rockefeller University)
        Material: Slides Video
      • 12:30 Group Photo 10' ( Terrace - Adriatico Guest House )
      • 12:40 Lunch break 2h20'
      • 15:00 Perception and Encoding of Temporally Structured Odour Stimuli in the Mouse Olfactory Bulb 1h0' ( Adriatico Guest House - Kastler Lecture Hall )
        Speaker: Andreas Schaefer (The Francis Crick Institute)
        Material: Video
      • 16:00 Coffee break 30' ( Adriatico Guest House - Terrace )
      • 17:00 JOINT ICTP-SISSA COLLOQUIUM "Unraveling the Sense of Smell" 1h0'
        Speaker: Linda Buck (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle)
        Material: Featured article at: https://www.ictp.it/about-ic Http://Indico.Ictp.It/Event/8245/
      • 18:00 Discussion 1h0' ( Leonardo Building - Budinich Lecture Hall )
  • Wednesday, 26 July 2017
    • 09:00 - 20:30 Wednesday 26 July
      • 09:00 Uncovering the Just Noticeable Difference (JND) in Olfaction Reveals a Set of Odor Primaries that may Combine to Generate any Perceivable Odor 1h0'
        Speaker: Noam Sobel (Weizmann Institute of Science)
        Material: Video
      • 10:00 Two Parallel Feedforward and Feedback Pathways for Olfactory Processing 1h0' ( Adriatico Guest House - Kastler Lecture Hall )
        Speaker: Dinu Florin Albeanu (Cold Spring Harbor)
        Material: Video
      • 11:00 Coffee break 30' ( Adriatico Guest House - Terrace )
      • 11:30 Cortical Neural Circuits for Olfaction 1h0' ( Adriatico Guest House - Kastler Lecture Hall )
        Speaker: Alexander Fleischmann (Collège de France)
        Material: Video
      • 12:30 Lunch break 2h30' ( Adriatico Guest House - Cafeteria )
      • 15:00 Concentration Invariant Odor Coding 1h0' ( Adriatico Guest House - Kastler Lecture Hall )
        Speaker: Dmitry Rinberg (NYU School of Medicine)
        Material: Video
      • 16:00 Coffee break 30' ( Adriatico Guest House - Terrace )
      • 16:30 Constructive Olfactory Percept: How Top-down Processes Shape our Perception 1h0'
        Speaker: Pierre-Marie Lledo (Institut Pasteur)
        Material: Video
      • 17:30 Short Talks from select participants 1h0' ( Adriatico Guest House - Kastler Lecture Hall )
      • 18:30 Discussion 1h0' ( Adriatico Guest House - Kastler Lecture Hall )
  • Thursday, 27 July 2017
    • 09:00 - 19:30 Thursday 27 July
      • 09:00 Extraction of Odor Information from Complex Environments 1h0' ( Adriatico Guest House - Kastler Lecture Hall )
        Speaker: Dan Rokni (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
        Material: Video
      • 10:00 Relativity, Duality, and Smells: The Physicist's Guide to Olfaction 1h0'
        Speaker: Alexei Koulakov (Cold Spring Harbor)
        Material: Video
      • 11:00 Coffee break 30' ( Adriatico Guest House - Terrace )
      • 11:30 Spike-Timing Precision across Olfactory Receptor Neurons Allows Instantaneous Odor Coding 1h0' ( Adriatico Guest House - Kastler Lecture Hall )
        Speaker: Paul Szyszka (Konstanz University)
        Material: Slides Video
      • 12:30 Lunch break 2h30' ( Adriatico Guest House - Cafeteria )
      • 15:00 How Flies Find Food and Why Ethology Matters 1h0' ( Adriatico Guest House - Kastler Lecture Hall )
        Speaker: Michael Dickinson (The California Institute of Technology)
        Material: Video
      • 16:00 Coffee break 30' ( Adriatico Guest House - Terrace )
      • 16:30 Olfactory Navigation in Mice: Physics and Behavior 1h0' ( Adriatico Guest House - Kastler Lecture Hall )
        Speaker: Agnese Seminara (CNRS)
        Material: Video
      • 17:30 Ensemble Coding and Plasticity in the Mammalian Olfactory Bulb 1h0' ( Adriatico Guest House - Kastler Lecture Hall )
        Speaker: Alan Carleton (Université de Genève)
        Material: Video
  • Friday, 28 July 2017
    • 09:00 - 12:30 Friday 28 July
      • 09:00 Informal discussions (including coffee break at 10:30) 2h30'
      • 11:30 Closing remarks 1h0' ( Adriatico Guest House - Kastler Lecture Hall )