Sackler Institute _{for Developmental Psychobiology}

The ninth annual John Merck Fund Summer Institute on the Biology of Developmental Disabilities will be held during the week of June 9-14, 2009 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. This week-long course will feature expert speakers whose work focuses on the organization and development of brain systems mediating learning, emotion, and reward processing and their relation to developmental and psychiatric disorders. Course faculty investigate these issues using a wide variety of scientific approaches, including developmental, behavioral, comparative, imaging, genetic, and clinical. Students will benefit from lectures given by internationally renowned scientists and will participate in didactic interactions with the speakers on each methodology described. The institute is geared toward graduate students and postdoctoral fellows and provides travel stipends, room, and partial board for attendees. The summer institute originated with funding from The John Merck Fund and is currently a collaborative effort of The John Merck Fund, the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology of Weill Cornell Medical College and the Cognitive Science Program at Cornell University as part of a joint campus training initiative (IMAGINE) and joint campus Center for Brain, Genes, and Behavioral Research Across Development (CBGB).

ALL CONTACT REGARDING THE COURSE SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO ERIKA RUBERRY VIA EMAIL at err2005@med.cornell.edu.

Download Application(.doc)

Fellowship Application Deadline: April 5, 2009

2009 JUNE 9 Tuesday: Opening Address and Introductions NOTE: All opening day activities will take place at AD White House (East Avenue, on campus)
4:30 pm	BJ Casey, PhD* Leah Somerville, PhD* Sackler Institute, Weill Cornell Medical College Historical Overview of Summer Institute and The John Merck Fund & Overview of the 2009 Summer Institute: The week to come!
5:00 pm	Daniel Geschwind, MD, PhD* UCLA Opening Address: New Directions in Autism Research
6:30 pm	Opening Reception and Dinner
7:30 pm	Student Introductions
2009 JUNE 10 Wednesday: Genetic and Environmental Risk Factors
8:45am	Dima Amso, PhD* Assistant Professor, Sackler Institute, Weill Cornell Medical College Introduction and Overview
9:00am	Andy Clark, PhD* Cornell University Population and Statistical Genetics
10:30am	Regina Sullivan, PhD* Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research Animal models of attachment and its influence on cognitive and emotional development
12:00pm	Lunch on your own
2:00pm	Francis Lee, MD, PhD* Weill Cornell Medical College A mouse model for examining gene by environmental interactions across development
2009 JUNE 11 Thursday: The Development of Emotion and Learning
8:45 am	Kevin Bath, PhD* Sackler Institute, Weill Cornell Medical College Introduction and Overview
9:00 am	Marie Monfils, PhD* University of Texas at Austin Animal models of fear conditioning and extinction
10:30am	Todd Hare, PhD* California Institute of Technology Development of neural substrates involved in human emotion
12:00pm	Lunch on your own
2:00pm	Nim Tottenham, PhD* UCLA Gene by environment interactions in development
6:00pm	Informal dinner and activities with faculty
2009 JUNE 12 Friday: Adolescence and Risk for Psychopathology
8:45 am	Jason Zevin, PhD* Sackler Institute, Weill Cornell Medical College Introduction and Overview
9:00am	Russ Poldrack, PhD* UCLA Interpreting developmental neuroimaging data: What are the challenges?
10:30am	Cheryl Sisk, PhD* Michigan State University Influence of pubertal hormones on adolescent brain development
12:00pm	Lunch on your own
2:00pm	Student Preparation of Skits
2009 JUNE 13 Saturday: Social Learning & Psychopathology
8:45 am	Leah Somerville, PhD* Sackler Institute, Weill Cornell Medical College Introduction and Overview
9:00am	Paul Whalen, PhD* Dartmouth College The role of context in social learning in adults
10:30am	Christine Hooker, PhD* Harvard University Implications for social learning in psychopathology
12:30pm	Lunch on your own
2:30pm	Student Preparation of Skits for Evening Debate
5:30pm	Group Picture, Gala, and Debate The Carriage House Cafe (305 Stewart Ave., Ithaca)
2009 JUNE 14 Sunday: Closing Address
8:45 am	BJ Casey, PhD* Sackler Professor, Sackler Institute, Weill Cornell Medical College Introduction and Overview
9:00am	William P. Fifer, PhD* Sacker Institute, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Closing Address: Fetal Exposures and Infant/Child Outcome
11:00am	Barbara Finlay, PhD* Cornell University Closing remarks, course evaluations
11:30am	Adjourn

*Confirmed speaker