1. Appendix to October 2004 Report of Secretary GeneralSubmitted Committee Reports for 2004 (to Sept 2004) and Plans for 2005Brief Reports from Regional Committee Chairs:ARCAPRCCEERCWERCUS/CanadaLARCCommittee Reports:IBRO on the WEBPublications CommitteeAlumni ProgrammeInternational Registry of Neuroscience Training ProgramsEquipment Exchange ProgramClinical/Basic Science Links ProgramAnimals in Research CommitteeSymposia and Workshops CommitteeSupporting Members CampaignNeuro-grants InformationReturn Home ProgramVisiting Lecture Team ProgramScience Advisory ProgramFellowships and Travel Grants

2. AFRICAN REGIONAL COMMITTEE (ARC) OF IBROThe ARC plans to hold several activities in 2005. These include the IBRO Schoolsprogramme, SONA 2005 also an IBRO Regional meeting and two regional activities. Amid-year 2004 report of current ARC activities is attached below for information.Sponsorship from other organisations has enabled organisation of several events toadvance Neuroscience in Africa. In particular we are grateful for the generous support ofthe International Society for Neurochemistry (ISN), the Fogarty International Center,NIH-USA, and the Canadian INMHA who have made it possible to have two schools thisyear in Africa.Plans for 20051. IBRO Schools programme in Africa-Two IBRO schools are planned in Africa in 2005.We expect the ISN to co-sponsor one school on Behavioural Neuroscience planned inNairobi, Kenya. We also plan an IBRO-SFN (USA) school to take place in Cape Town placeprior to the forthcoming SONA-IBRO 2005 in April. Equal contributions from the ISN andSociety for Neuroscience (SFN contact Janis Weeks) are expected to double the ARCIBRO budget towards these schools. If we succeed in procuring another sponsor we willhold another school in Nigeria, essentially for West Africans.2. SONA-IBRO 2005, an International Regional meeting of IBRO- The ARC will providefunds to support our major biennial event. This conference of all African NeuroscienceSocieties will take place 18-22 April, 2005 in Cape Town, South Africa. Expected to beone of the largest Neuroscience meetings in Africa the event is also declared as aRegional Congress of IBRO.3. Regional meetings and neuroscience courses - ARC will provide support for 2 regionalevents in February (Mali) and June (Morocco), 2005.4. Small Travel grants and visiting assistance- These grants allow Africans to attend PanAfrican or International Neuroscience meetings or visit other laboratories. The ARC willdesignate some of these funds to provide assistance (on a competition basis) to young orneedy scientists for small equipment or laboratory consumables.5. Travel fund for ARC- Members:Travel contribution to attend (one) annual ARC meetingis requested. The full ARC and the three co-opted members are invited to attend the nextmeeting in April 2005 in Cape Town.6. SONA and IBRO Schools Secretariat office- IBRO contributes to operating expenses forSONA office and the IBRO Africa Schools Secretariat.ARC program:1. IBRO Schools programme in Africa The strength of the ARC activities lies in theschools programme. The ARC has to date (Sept 2004) organised five IBRO schools andthe 6th will take place in one week. At least 3 International learned bodies including theINMHA, ICSU and UNESCO, and FIC have co-sponsored these schools in the past. TheARC proposes two IBRO schools in 2005. Each school is estimated to cost USD ~$50,000.A total contribution of USD ~$22,000 has already been agreed by the ISN. The ARC willalso request $25,000 from the SFN (contact Janis Weeks) to support another (second)school in Africa. Thus approximately 50% of the costs for each school will be procuredfrom the ISN and SFN. 25-30 students will be invited to attend on a competition basis.One of the schools is tentatively planned as an advanced school. Advanced schools arealready helping to build strong groups of young neuroscientists and focus in Africa. Thetwo schools will take place in South Africa (April 2005 in conjunction with SONA 2005)and Kenya (Sept 2005). However, if we find more support for the pre-SONA 2005 IBRO 3. school in April we will encourage another school to take place in Abuja, Nigeria (October2005). IBRO grants will facilitate to strengthen our partnership with the INMHA(Canada), ISN and SFN for future sustained funding. We similarly expect that the NIHFogarty programme will offer the same to enhance the IBRO schools or neurosciencecourses in Africa.2. SONA-IBRO 2005- The next International SONA conference is planned to take place20-22 April 2005 in Cape Town, South Africa. An unique feature will be the Neurosciencesymposium by the IBRO schools alumni on 18-19 April, 2005. The whole event is alsodeclared and widely advertised as the (Third) Regional Congress of IBRO. In addition toseveral International scientists over 300 African basic and clinical neuroscientists,members of African Neuroscience Societies are expected to attend. Funds will alsosupport to secure the conference venue, programme running expenses and subsidiseregistration fees, travel and accommodation costs for invited African delegates andschools alumni.3. Regional meetings and activities - 2 regional events will occur in Mali (February 2005)and Morocco (June 2005). These activities in Bamako (University) and Marrakesh (inconjunction with World Congress of Neurological Surgery), respectively are planned incollaboration with local neuroscience interest groups. A 3-4 day neuroscience symposiawill be held where research talks will be given by local and invited continental orinternational scientists. IBRO and FIC grants will be supplemented by funds raised bythe organisers from local and other (Francophone agencies) sources. The ARC expectsthese efforts will sustain new regions of neuroscience focus in Africa.4. Small Travel grants and visiting assistance- The ARC strongly believes that a solidbase in Africa can also be built up by assisting African neuroscientists to attend PanAfrican or International Neuroscience meetings or visit other laboratories. This venturecan help to establish future collaborations between International and African laboratories.The ARC will nominate students to participate in the proposed WERC InternationalSchools and other courses such as the INMED-TINS conference. The fund will also beused to provide starter grants ($500-1,000) to purchase small equipment or chemicalsfor younger and needy or even more experienced scientists. Formal applications with fulldescription of project, CV and reports from two referees will be invited and rated in theusual way. Two deadlines (1 April and 1 Sept) per year have been set up for theseapplications to be received by Prof Willie Daniels. If no awards are made in 2005 fundswill roll over for year after.5. Travel fund for ARC- members:Travel contribution is made to enable ARC members toattend (one) annual ARC meeting. ARC members need to meet at least once a year orsometimes need to visit potential sites prior to regional or continental wide conferences.Where possible ARC meetings are organised during the SONA conferences or at Societyfor Neuroscience. The next ARC meeting is scheduled for April 2005 in Cape Town.6. SONA and IBRO Schools Secretariat office expense account- IBRO funds are used tocover operating expenses for SONA office includes communication, maintenance ofdatabases and development of SONA website. The SONA secretariat is now alsoresponsible for all the administrative work involved with the Africa IBRO schools. Thisincludes initial announcements, processing school applications and collating lecture notesand compiling school handbooks. A proportion of this fund also pays towards salary ofSONA secretary Marietta based at the University of Nairobi.Other sources of funding for ARC activities (2005) 4. 1. International Society for Neurochemistry (ISN). We expect the ISN (through efforts byRoger Butterworth) to contribute ~$55,000 towards the two schools in 2004-2005. Thiswill constitute 50% of the costs towards the two schools.2. Institute of Neuroscience, Mental Health and Addiction (INMHA Canada). Through theefforts of Albert Aguayo and Remi Quirion the ARC raised ~$30,000 towards oneadvanced school in 2004. This constitutes ~50% contribution towards the school with theother 50% from IBRO ARC budget.3. A proposal has been put forward for the Fogarty Centre (NIH) to support aNeuroscience course/school on Environmental theme in Mali. Current contacts KathleenMichaels (NIH) and Jenny Lund (IBRO). A local organiser in Bamako, Mali has beenidentified namely Prof Moussa Traore, who will host the course in February 2005. ProfsKalaria and Dr Cooper (IBRO school instructor and ARC advisor) will visit Prof Traore inlate 2004 to organise this activity.4. UNESCO/ICSU. ARC Chairman will approach UNESCO (Nairobi) and ICSU (Pretoria) torequest support towards another school or activity. If a grant is obtained the requestedIBRO funds will be reserved for 5 new Kenyan students to attend the VLTP Neurosciencecourse in Kampala, Uganda in February 2005.5. LOCAL SOURCES: potential local sponsors will be continued to approach for donationstowards neuroscience schools or regional meetings where possible. It is expected that acouple of Pharmaceutical companies will contribute towards the SONA 2005 meetingtentatively in Cape Town.Submitted on behalf of the committee by Raj KalariaIBRO ARC chairman, 1st September 2004Current Membership of ARC: Raj Kalaria (chair, RNK), Willie Daniels (SA), NouriaLakhdar-Ghazal (Morocco), Nilesh Patel (Kenya), Vivienne Russell (SA), Wail Benjelloun(Morocco), Najoua Miladi (Tunisia), Yesekiel Ben-Ari (France- Egypt), Pierre Luabeya(Congo; coopted), A Gallo Diop (Senegal; co-opted) and Karniyus S Gamaniel (Nigeria;co-opted).Mid-Year 2004 Report on the IBRO Africa Region committee (ARC) - Presentedto the IBRO EC on 10th July at FENS 2004 CongressThe ARC is pleased to report highlights of several activities and developments in the pastfew months since the last presentation to the Executive Committee at the SFN meeting inNew Orleans in November 2004. The committee emphasises the success of the IBROSchools in Africa and lists those planned for 2004. Several other activities were alsooverseen by the ARC during the past year. Many of these have resulted in success storiestoward the education of young people in Neuroscience. These are too long to reiterate inthis report but have been reported on the IBRO website. The first two recipients of theRita Levi-Montalcini Fellowships also send encouraging reports on their progress in USand South African laboratories. The ARC remains positive and looks forward to organisingvarious activities for rest of 2004 and year 2005.1) ARC Membership and Meetings:Current membership (elected members): Raj Kalaria (chair, RNK), Willie Daniels (SA),Nouria Lakhdar-Ghazal (Morocco), Nilesh Patel (Kenya), Vivienne Russell (SA), WailBenjelloun (Morocco), Najoua Miladi (Tunisia), Yiezekiel Ben-Ari (France- Egypt). Twomembers will step down or aside (NP, YBA) and two will stand for re-election (VR andNLG) this year. 5. Co-opted (non-voting) ARC members: Karniyus S Gamaniel (Nigeria), Pierre Luabeya(Congo) and Gallo Diop (Senegal). Ratified by ARC July 2003.SONA members and an International Advisory Group also help the ARC to tackle variousactivities including the schools programme in Africa responsibilities.Last full meeting of ARC took place in Abuja, Nigeria, April 2003. A sub-committeemeeting to decide on organisers and venues of IBRO schools 2004 in Africa was held on18th December 2003. ARC has also nominated several SONA members for various tasksin IBRO committees: Wail Benjelloun (Morocco; Membership); Pierre Luabeya (Congo;Fellowships); Santy Daya (SA; Schools Board). Half of ARC will meet in Lisbon duringFENS to check progress and discuss budget for 2005.2) ARC activities late 2003:African Neuroscience Societies and IBRO: Five African organisations are represented onIBRO Governing Council. These include the Society of Neuroscientists of Africa (SONA),Moroccan Association of Neuroscience (MAN) Southern African Neuroscience Society(SANS), Kenyan Society for Neuroscience (KSN) and Nigerian Society for Neuroscience(NSN). The ARC is currently working with the groups in Senegal and Egypt to apply.IBRO African Schools 2003: ARC members organised and held two successful schools in2003. 1) The Fourth IBRO Neuroscience School in South Africa was held 1-7 September2003, in collaboration with the INHMA (Institute of Neuroscience, Mental health andAddiction) of Canada in Cape Town. This Advanced school was on Neurophysiology andEpilepsy. 2) The 5th IBRO Neuroscience school on Essential and BehaviouralNeuroscience was held 14-21 December in Nairobi, Kenya.Neuroscience course with IBRO VLTP: A two-day neuroscience course was held inKampala, Uganda on 9th -10th December, 2003. This was the first neuroscience activityto take place in Uganda. This was attended by 50 biologists, physiologists, neurologistsand psychiatrists. Full report is available on the IBRO website.3) ARC activities 2004: mid year reportIBRO African Schools 2004: Contingent upon co-sponsorship the ARC plans to oversee atleast three Basic and Advanced IBRO Neuroscience Schools in 2004. These are: i. The 6th IBRO School, with SFN and ISNeuropath support, will take place inGrahamstown, South Africa, 12-19 September, 2004. Theme Neurodegeneration andRegeneration. Organisers: S Daya (SA) and VR Russell (SA). The SFN team will hold aworkshop on Neurobiology of Epilepsy, 19-20 Sept, after the school to be organised byJ Noebels (USA and S Daya (SA).ii. The 7th IBRO School to be supported by INMHA and IBRO will take place in Rabat,Morocco, 2-9 Oct 2004. Theme Hormones and Brain to be organised by N Lakhdar-Ghazal (Morocco) and D Pittman (Canada). iii. The 8th IBRO School to be co-sponsored by the International Society forNeurochemistry (ISN) and IBRO will be held in Nairobi, Kenya, 1-8 Nov 2004. ThemeNeuropharmacology and Molecular neuroscience to be organised by N Patel (Kenya), RButterworth (Canada) and R Halliwell (USA). iv. ARC will support up to five (5) distinctive African candidates to attend the INMED-TINS conference in La Coitat and laboratory sessions in Marseilles, France in September,2004. Candidates will be selected from best submitted applications by an ad hoccommittee consisting of ARC members and other International experts. 6. Tentative plans to hold a short neuroscience course on brain ageing and dementia inTunis, Tunisia 3-6? Dec 2004. Organisers: N Miladi (Tunisia) and A Mrabet (Tunisia)4) Africa Regional meetings in 2004: The APRONES organisation of Congo will hostthe second Regional neuroscience meeting in Kinshasa, Congo. The meeting onneurological diseases held 8th 10th November, 2004 to be organised by P Luabeya(DRC).5) SONA 2005-Biennial conference of African Neuroscience and an IBRO RegionalCongress: The ARC funds will be utilised to support a large neuroscience meeting in CapeTown, South Africa. This Congress to follow the CINP congress will be held 20-22 April2005 (see .6) More ARC Activities planned in 2005: 1) VLTP in Uganda in February 2005 (to beorganised by Jack McMahon in collaboration with Uganda Neuroscience Interest Group);2) ISNeurochem with IBRO to support an IBRO school in Kenya or Morocco (Septemberor October); 3) Tentative plans with Fogarty centre support to organise a neurosciencecourse in Bamako, Mali (local contact Dr Traore).7) Other ARC developments Libraries: Seven centres in the continent continue to benefit from the Development Aid for African Libraries. These centres have invariably taken advantage of the Science Direct, HINARI and Greenfields Neuropathology (Arnolds) initiatives. SONA (and ARC) website: IBRO is aiding SONA to develop a fully functional website that will also be used to publicize ARC activities. The Webmaster of this site is based at the University of Nairobi, site of the SONA Secretariat. ARC Travel awards and visit grants: Small Travel grants and Fellowships continue to be awarded by the ARC on an individual basis. Four individuals have been helped in past 12 months to attend international conferences and visit other neuroscientists within Africa. Two African neuroscientists will participate at the FENS congress in Lisbon, 10-13 July 2004.Acknowledgments: I take this opportunity to thank the ARC as well as our non-votingmembers, several International Advisors and senor faculty in African Universities, who allgave freely of their time and energies for the advancement of Neuroscience in Africa. Thecommittee would like to say asante sana to all at IBRO including Jenny Lund, AlbertAguayo, Olga, Stephanie and Andree for always supporting our activities and thecontinued encouragement.Submitted by Prof Raj Kalaria, Chair, Africa Region Committee of IBRO 7. Asian-Pacific Regional Committee (APRC) Plans for 2005.(July Interim report of activities is appended below)In view of the geographic separation and diverse level of development within our region,two Sub-groups have recently been established (since August 2004 after the election of 4new APRC members) under one governing body the APRC. Group A:China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Group B:Australia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore, and Sri Lanka.Such a sub-grouping is endorsed by National Societies in our region. We envisage thatthe sub-grouping will facilitate the organization of more activities to target our diverseneeds. Members (who have no voting power) will be co-opted to the Sub-groups.Project proposals from each Sub-group will be vetted at the level of APRC, i.e. there willnot be a simple ear-marked allocation of resources to individual Sub-groups. Cross-fertilization between Sub-groups must be maintained. For example, youngneuroscientists from one Sub-group should be financially supported to participate inprograms organized by the other Sub-group.SchoolsEach is a 2-week event that offers hands-on experience for the participants. Studentsare senior PhD students or postdoctorals (all with publication records). Each Schoolaccommodates 25 students. Apart from lectures and tutorials, students are involved inwell-defined laboratory projects. Students are also required to present their ownresearch work in a scientific meeting that is held within the period of the School.Through such arrangements, participants are able to pick up some modern approachesused for neuroscience research. Therefore, these Schools are set up only in cities withgood geographic location and with well-established infrastructures in neuroscienceresearch. Because of the laboratory sessions, the expense incurred is high. Thegeographic separation between countries within our region requires air travel; the airfarefor the students and overseas teachers can therefore amount to 50% of the budget foreach School. The APRC has explored sources of supplementary funding from NationalSocieties (e.g. Australia, Japan, Korea) for airfare in support of the teachers. The recentHong Kong School, for example, also received support from The Croucher Foundation insponsoring overseas teachers. Supplementary funding that can be tapped from withinour region is still a hurdle to be surmounted. Concerted effort from RC members will bedirected towards this goal.In 2005, we plan to organize one school in each Sub-group: 8. a. Group A: To be held either in Hong Kong or Bangkok in Dec 2005. Hong Kong has been the site for 4 Schools (Dec 00, Dec 01, Dec 02, April 04) while Bangkok will host 1 School (Dec 6-18, 2004). National Societies in both locations possess the expertise and infrastructure in conducting the School. b. Group B: To be coordinated by a National Research Centre of India (either Bangalore or Manesar) in mid-2005. A site visit was made in May 04 by S Redman (IBRO Treasurer), YS Chan (Current Chair of APRC), and E McLachlan (former Chair of APRC). Expertise and infrastructure are adequate. The local neuroscientist community is enthusiastic in organizing such an event in 2005; a proposal will be submitted to APRC for vetting. The IBRO School is a flagship of our region and is an important means by which IBRO proactively increases the level of educational activities through National Societies in our region. At least 1 School under each Sub-group is therefore necessary.Associate SchoolsThis is a new venture of APRC in 2004. Each Associate School is a 5-day courseconsisting of only lectures and group discussion (with computer search for relevantarticles). These are aimed at MSc and junior PhD students. Each Associate Schoolaccommodates 35-40 students in the early budding stage of their neuroscience career.Such Associate Schools are to be offered in under-developed (in the academic context)cities. Participants should also come from under-developed regions in the neighborhood.That was the reason why we have chosen Chiang Mai (Thailand), Chongqing (WesternChina), and Cochin (Southern India) for the Associate Schools. a. 1st Associate School (Chiang Mai, Thailand) February 23-27, 2004 b. 2nd Associate School (Chongqing, China) May 26-30, 2004 c. 3rd Associate School (Cochin, India) September 14-18, 2004These schools provided training for about 100 students from different parts of our region.The teachers of such Associate Schools have to use very basic neuroscience principles inguiding the students such that they can appreciate the rationale of setting up feasibleexperiments. Because the Associate Schools are set up in cities with low living standardand do not involve laboratory expense, we have been able to curb the expense of each.Though we have been able to minimize the expense by asking local students to taketrains, the main bulk of the expense is still devoted to airfare. In 2005, we will organize2 Associate Schools, one in each subgroup:Group A: Philippines or VietnamGroup B: Indonesia or PakistanRIKEN and MBL Summer CoursesWe consider these programs as Advanced Schools, especially for alumni of our School.Based on our statistics, the number of students from our region is stable though on thelow side. This is partly a result of the stringent selection process, which is conducted in-house by the respective organizers.Exchange Fellowship SchemeThis is also a new venture of APRC, launched in February 2004. This Scheme supportsjunior neuroscientists who are 30,000 euros) . WERC wanted to supportthe participation of the best young neuroscientists from the less privileged countries inEurope and around the Mediterranean as well as from of the poor countries overseas.These funds were distributed as a joint task between WERC and IBROs Fellowships &Travel Grants Committee. Travel Grants were awarded according to travel distance,ranging from 500 to 1,000 euros, as a maximum.6) School in Seville-PhD course for Latin Americans.This program was funded since 2001 on a contract basis..7)WERC/FENS International Neuroscience SchoolThis is the latest of WERC new initiatives. Its main aim is to use existent facilities in a fewselected European institutions to house courses and train students from abroad as well asfrom the European continent. Discussion is still ciontinuing regarding locations for thisprogram.Gaetano Di Chiara, Chair WERC 18. US/Canada Regional Committee: Report and program proposals for 2005.(Interim report of July 2004 follows).The IAC-USNC is jointly appointed by the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) and the NationalAcademy of Sciences (NAS), and represents the interests of both organizations as theUS/Canada regional committee for IBRO. The committee aims to facilitate thedissemination of knowledge to the worlds neuroscientists particularly those inunderdeveloped countries; promote research and professional training activities acrossinternational boarders; and enhance public awareness of neuroscience worldwide. Inaddition to support from SfN, NAS and IBRO, the committee is supported by funding fromthe National Institutes of Health (specifically NIDA, NIMH, and NINDS).The SfN, the NAS, NIH and IBRO have worked through the IAC-USNC over the past yearto provide support for a number of IBRO activities. One of these activities includes travelfellowships for 15 students from developing countries to present an abstract at the 2004SfN Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA this October. Likewise, SfN awarded 15 studentsnominated by SfN regional North America chapters travel fellowships to attend andpresent their work at the 4th FENS Forum in Lisbon this past July. In 2006, SfN willprovide similar fellowships for students to attend the 2006 FENS Forum in Vienna, asthere are no meetings scheduled for 2005.The IAC-USNC is exploring several outreach activities to meet the needs of the globalneuroscience community. This September, the IAC-USNC will host a regional activity withthe African Regional Committee to IBRO at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, SouthAfrica. The Neurobiology of Epilepsy Workshop will be held in conjunction with the IBRONeurodegeneration and Regeneration course September 10-18, 2004. The funds tosupport this program came from IBRO/NAS/NIH and the American Epilepsy Society. Theepilepsy workshop will be led by prominent neuroscientists: Jeffrey Noebels, M.D., Ph.D.,Baylor College of Medicine (workshop director), Dan Lowenstein, M.D., University ofCalifornia San Francisco, Peter B. Crino, M.D., Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania, JohnHuguenard, Ph.D., Stanford Medical School, and Frances Jensen, M.D., Harvard MedicalSchool.Major areas of focus for the entire workshop will be on basic mechanisms ofdevelopment, epileptogenesis, ion channel disorders, synaptic inhibition, andneuroprotection. Participants in the Neurodegeneration course were invited to attend theEpilepsy workshop. Thirty participants were accepted from all over Africa.Via the internet (www.iac-usnc.org) the committee has continued to work on a seminarand neuroscience methods series to bring up-to-date neuroscience information toresearchers in developing countries. The web-based neuroscience lectures are accessibleby scientists worldwide and features narrated data slides by prominent neuroscientistsfrom the NAS and the SfN. Our newest feature on the site is the Neurobiology of DiseaseWorkshop, Epilepsy: Genes and Molecular Plasticity, which was featured at the 2003 SfNAnnual Meeting in New Orleans. The IAC-USNC, in collaboration with the SfN EducationCommittee, is planning to post the Neurobiology of Disease Workshop from the 2004 SfNAnnual meeting on the site later this winter. This years Neurobiology of DiseaseWorkshop is entitled, Protein Misfolding as a Common Pathway in the Dementias andOther Neurodegenerative Diseases. It will be organized by Dr. John Trojanowski of theUniversity of Pennsylvania.Once again in 2004, the committee worked directly with IBROs Board of Schools andMarine Biological Laboratory (MBL) course instructors and applicant interviewers to seekand encourage highly qualified and motivated research trainees from developingcountries to apply for admission to summer neuroscience courses at the MBL in WoodsHole, Massachusetts. Participant support is funded by the 2004 funds from IBRO to the 19. IAC-USNC. The 2003 IBRO Fellows that submitted an abstract for the 2004 SfN AnnualMeeting in San Diego, CA will receive a travel stipend of $1,500 each. Successful applicants from developing countries, designated IBRO Fellows, receivedsubstantial financial support. The awardees for summer 2004 courses are as follows:Maria Castello from Montevideo, Uruguay (Neural Systems & Behavior); Emiliano Merlofrom Buenos Aires, Argentina (Neurobiology); Milena Winograd from Argentina butstudying in Spain (Methods in Computational Neuroscience); Thabelo Khoboko from CapeTown, South Africa (SPINES program- Summer Program in Neuroscience, Ethics, &Survival (SPINES). This program provides a rich two month experience in neuroscience inseminar, lecture, and demonstration format; in ethics using case studies; in survivalskills such as grant writing, teaching, and public speaking, using a lecture and workshopformat. The program is targeted to groups underrepresented in neuroscience, althoughapplications from any qualified student who is interested in the SPINES curriculum arewelcome.The IAC-USNC considered and approved a proposal from Dr. Gregory Quirk at its meetingin April, to co-fund an IBRO School in Venezuela. This course would cover basics inneuroanatomy and neurophysiology with a special focus on neurogenetics. The LatinAmerican Regional Committee, chaired by Dr. Omar Macadar has been considering anIBRO school in Venezuela and the IAC-USNC will add additional support to this. We alsosupport the travel awards for the 2004 IBRO Fellows to attend SfNs 2005 AnnualMeeting.In 2005 we are continuing to support the MBL program Fellowships and we would like toexpand to include fellows that would like to participate in the Cold Spring HarborLaboratory programs. At its April 14, 2004 meeting, the IAC-USNC decided that in 2005this program should be expanded to include the Cold Spring Harbor programs, as well asthe MBL programs.As part of this endeavor, the committees funds will be used to underwrite expenses forforeign nationals to participate in either MBLs or Cold Spring Harbors summerneuroscience training programs in 2005. This includes funds to support travel awards inthe amount of $1,500 each to enable the 2005 IBRO Fellows to present their research atthe 2006 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA. In turn, SfN will provide each IBRO Fellowwith complimentary SfN membership for a 2-year period with the expectation that eachfellow will successfully submit and present an abstract at next years annual meeting.Martin SaggeseExecutive DirectorCc: Bruce McEwen, Ph.D.Chair of the International Affairs Committee-U.S. National Committee to IBROThe Rockefeller UniversityMarilee Shelton, Ph.D.Staff Officer for IAC-USNC/IBRONational Academy of SciencesU.S./Canada Regional Committee Interim Report-July 04The joint U.S./Canada Regional Committee, (also known as the IAC-USNC IBRO/SfNInternational Affairs Committee/National Academy of Sciences U.S. National Committeefor IBRO) held its semi-annual meeting on April 14, 2004 at the National Academy ofSciences in Washington, DC. The IAC-USNC is jointly appointed by the Society forNeuroscience (SfN) and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), and represents theinterests of both organizations in IBRO. The committee aims to facilitate the 20. dissemination of knowledge to the worlds neuroscientists particularly those inunderdeveloped countries; promote research and professional training activities acrossinternational boarders; and enhance public awareness of neuroscience worldwide. Inaddition to support from SfN, NAS and IBRO, the committee is supported by funding fromthe National Institutes of Health, specifically, The National Institute on Drug Abuse, TheNational Institute on Mental Health, and The National Institute on Neurological Disordersand Stroke.The committee has embarked on several outreach activities to meet the needs of theglobal neuroscience community. Via the internet (www.iac-usnc.org) the committeecontinues to organize a lecture series to bring up-to-date neuroscience information toresearchers in developing countries. The web-based neuroscience lectures are accessibleby scientists worldwide and feature narrated slides by prominent neuroscientists.Currently featured on the site is a web symposium entitled, The Neurobiology of Stress,Fear, and Anxiety: Basic and Clinical Aspects by Dr. Bruce McEwen of The RockefellerUniversity. Other web lectures that were mentioned in previous reports but are stillaccessible through the site include, Neuroscience in the New Millenium, by Dr. GeraldFischbach of NINDS, Pleiotrpic Action of Reelin in Psychosis, by Dr. Erminio Costa of TheUniversity of Chicago at Illinois, and Approaches to Reducing Neuronal Death After AcuteBrain Ischemia, by Dr. Dennis Choi of Merck Research Labs. Posted very soon will beNeurobiology of Disease Workshop, Epilepsy: Genes and Molecular Plasticity, which wasfeatured at the 2003 SfN Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA, on Friday November 7. TheIAC-USNC, in collaboration with the SfN Education Committee, and the faculty of the2003 Neurobiology of Disease Workshop have made this workshop available for the IAC-USNC web site. The committee is also organizing cyber seminars in which we arelooking for participants.The Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA was again designated by the IAC-USNC as the 2004 North American IBRO neuroscience school, and as such, the IAC-USNCencouraged international neuroscientists to apply to the MBL neuroscience programs.Acceptance into MBL neuroscience courses continues to be extremely competitive anddecided by course directors. Successful applicants from developing countries, who aredesignated "IBRO fellows for Advanced Summer Courses in Neuroscience in NorthAmerica", are eligible for substantial financial support, which, in addition to expensesincurred at Woods Hole, includes a two-year SfN membership and $1,500 USD in travelmoney to attend the following years SfN Annual Meeting. This will be the third year thatMBL was chosen to be the North American Neuroscience School. Dr. John Hildebrandmade efforts to encourage the applicants to include recommendation letters from IBROcourse instructors and offered to arrange interviews for those applicants that do notknow IBRO course instructors. Dr. Hildebrand also sent letters to the IBRO coursedirectors asking them to identify star students living in developing countries forparticipation in the program. Despite these efforts the MBL directors decided to admitonly three of the seventeen applicants.The awardees for summer 2004 courses are as follows: Maria Castello of The Institute deInvestigaciones Biologicas will attend the Neural Systems and Behavior Course, EmilianoMerlo of the Ciudad Universitaria will attend the Neurobiology Course, and MilenaWinograd of the Universidad Miguel Hernandez will attend the Methods in ComputationalNeuroscience Course.In the coming year, the IAC-USNC will request that IBRO carryover the funds that willnot be used in 2004 for the North American IBRO school, MBL, for the program in 2005.In addition, the IAC-USNC is thinking about expanding the program to include ColdSpring Harbor as well as MBL.For its annual international activity, the IAC-USNC will hold the Neurobiology of Epilepsyworkshop September 19-20, 2004 at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. 21. This two day workshop, offered in conjunction with the Neurodegeneration andRegeneration IBRO course, will be useful to a range of experts and non-experts, soclinicians, graduate level students considering further study in neuroscience, postdoctoralfellows, and faculty are encouraged to apply. We hope to find participants who then canpass the word on via teaching. Applications from all regions of Africa are encouraged, asare local applications. This workshop has been planned and organized with Santy Daya ofRhodes University, the organizer of the Neurodegeneration and Regeneration IBROcourse. Many of the faculty members from the 2003 SfN Neurobiology of DiseaseWorkshop will be instructing the workshop such as, Jeffrey Noebels, M.D., Ph.D., BaylorCollege of Medicine (workshop director), Dan Lowenstein, M.D., University of CaliforniaSan Francisco, Peter B. Crino, M.D., Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania, John Huguenard,Ph.D., Stanford Medical School, and Frances Jensen, M.D., Harvard Medical School. Thisactivity is supported by the National Institutes of Health funding of the committee andsupport for the faculty travel was largely contributed by the American Epilepsy Society.The IAC-USNC would like to plan a course in conjunction with the Latin AmericanRegional Committee to IBRO (LARC) in Venezuela for 2005. This course would cover theusual basics, neuroanatomy and neurophysiology with a neurogenetics special focus. Dr.Gregory Quirk of the Ponce School of Medicine in Puerto Rico has a letter of support forthis program from the LARC Chairman, Dr. Omar Macdar.As discussed by the IAC-USNC members during the recent meeting in Washington, DC,two committee members expressed an interest in being nominated to work on two ofIBROs committees. Dr. Mark Rasenick applied for the Basic Science/ Clinical linksCommittee and Dr. Gregory Quirk was interested in helping with the Return Homecommittee.The committee has continued to support 15 travel fellowships for students fromdeveloping countries to present an abstract at the 2004 SfN Annual Meeting in SanDiego, CA. SfN also awarded 15 students nominated by SfN regional North Americanchapters travel fellowships to attend and present their work at the FENS Forum in Lisbon,Portugal. There are no such plans in the coming year as there is neither an IBROCongress nor a FENS Forum in 2005.Members of the IAC-USNC include Bruce McEwen, Ph.D., Chair, Edward Jones, MD,D.Phil., Vice-chair, Michael Bennett, D.Phil., Francisco Gonzalez-Lima, PhD, JohnHildebrand, Ph.D., Lynn Landmesser, Ph.D., Anthony G. Phillips, Ph.D., Gregory Quirk,Ph.D., Mark Rasenick, Ph.D., Janis Weeks, Ph.D., and Huda Y. Zoghbi, M.D.For more information about this committee, please contact Charyl Delaney at the Societyfor Neuroscience, charyl@sfn.org; Marilee Shelton-Davenport, Ph.D. at the NationalAcademy of Sciences, mashelton@nas.edu or visit their web site located at www.iac-usnc.org. 22. Mid-year LARC report and interim 2005 program proposal.At present LARC is formed by 7 members (since Prof. R. Romo resigned when appointedto the Nominating Committee) plus two invited members. The call for nominations hasjust been done, for six new members. We propose to maintain a similar budget and makethe corresponding calls for support and let the new LARC to decide the final destination ofthe allocated sums.As approved by the EC, LARC maintained the support of the training programs with theaddition one new program that is detailed at the end.1.- Neuroscience Schools:We had two excellent schools: one that had been carried out before, in Mexico and thisyear was at UNAM, DF under the direction of Prof. F. Fernndez de Miguel and the secondone held in Santiago de Chile, directed by Dr Fernando Torrealba, that will alternate fromthis year on with the one usually held in Montevideo. Both were very successful aspreviously reported to IBRO.During the second semester of 2004 and up to the end of the year, three schools willtake place: one in Brazil (already done two years ago) and two new special schools: onein Juriquilla-Mexico (August 18th to September 11th), financed by the Grass Foundationand co-organized with the Society for Neuroscience. This school is currently taking place.The other new school will be in Crdoba- Argentina (13-30 of September) financed andorganized with INMHA (Canada) and sponsored by the Fogarty International Center (FIC)of the NIH, USA.2.- Regional Graduate courses:We have sponsored seven courses in the region during this first semester, in Argentina,Brazil (2), Colombia, Cuba, Trinidad-Tobago-Jamaica, Venezuela.Five courses for the second semester were selected and will take place in comingmonths.All courses had excellent feed back from organizers, visiting professors and students.3.- Regional exchangeFourteen young neuroscientists from the region were supported. Candidates selectedwere graduate students who went to other countries within the region to complementexperiments or learn techniques that were important for their doctoral thesis. For thisyear we are supporting 24 new fellowships: 12 were approved in a first call and soonthere will be a new call for twelve more. This exchange has been very important todevelop intra-regional cooperation among neuroscientists.4.- Special Support ProgramTwo countries were chosen this year (Peru and Colombia) to receive financial andorganizational support. Courses took place in the first semester in both countries, andnew courses are being organized for the second part of the year. We believe that thisprogram is very important and should be maintained with similar support. The new LARCmight add some new candidate Countries after a search that could include some kind ofopen call.Proposed activities for 2005- Note that the LARC Committee is in the process of electionsand the current Chairman- Omar macadar in stepping down. The new committee willsubmit a revised program outline in due course. 23. 3 Neuroscience Schools9 regional courses/workshops24 intra- regional exchange awardsLARC Annual meeting (travel & lodging)2 Regional symposiaSupport forEmerging Neuroscience groupsPrepared by O. Macadar (Chair), in agreement with (and many corrections from) allpresent members of LARC, September 1st ,2004 24. IBROs on the WEBIBRO WEB GATEWAY: Proposal for development 2005A. L. PadjenAs described in the 2004 Report (see below) the program of reconstruction of IBRO Webstarted August 2003 is not yet completed. The primary purpose of this installment ofdevelopment is to provide support for numerous IBRO programs by transforming theIBRO Web (one way publishing tool) into an interactive information system (WebGateway; Portal, anyname ).This transformation is in line with the well established role of internet environment (withthe web being its main interface), as an effective medium for management of processes.In this regard internet is particularly suitable for the needs of IBRO characterized by itsmultitude of programmes, interaction between large numbers of collaborators distributedaround the globe, and large and diverse membership.In addition to the major components of development 2005 the system will becontinuously fine tuned and made user friendly for the benefit of its administrators andusers.ON LINE SUPPORT FOR IBRO PROGRAMS & IBRO COMMUNITYThe principle of interactive support has been successfully tested and demonstrated lastyear on an example: processing of WERC/IBRO/FENS Fellowship applications. Eventhough the system was not complete the last competition was entirely handled by theonline forms for students and sponsors and demonstrated the advantages of such asystem.Amongst other features the on-line support includes: 1) Simplified, standardized and validated collection of data via online forms. 2) Automatic generation of different reports, accessible by selected accounts (= members). 3) Simplified review process of applications, suitable for committees with distributed membership. This interactive functionality of IBRO Web Gateway will be expanded and refined in the next period of development and will cover the following major IBRO programs (with a list of major functions): Fellowship and Travel Grants - Applications; Evaluations, etc. IBRO Schools - Applications; Evaluation; Management; Presentation,etc. Workshops & Symposia - Applications; Evaluation; Management;Presentation,etc. International Registry of Neuroscience Training Programmes -Registration; Display, etc. Neuro-Grants Info - Registration, Display, etc. (Other?)In order to achieve these objectives the following is proposed:1) Development of a set of specific tools and subsystem.2) Part of the process of development will include substantial consultations andexchanges with members of the appropriate committees (or members at large if needbe) necessary to satisfy their perceived needs and facilitate the acceptance of the newways. This will be achieved in part by integrating the management web sites (IBRO Dev,see the Report) into the main system (Proposal items 1 & 2). It would be important torecognize the implications of this development on IBRO operations: it may be IBRO Web 25. Gateway team should be ex officio (Proposal for IBRO Edu development is prepared asseparate document although it will profit from the common tools as indicated below)SET OF TOOLS1) Discussion Forum (IBRO Gateway and IBRO Edu) An advanced and customizablediscussion system well integrated into the IBRO site. Features: Based on the committeemembership and controlled by IBRO security groups, this Forum will be customizable toallow specific members to add a new tread, review and contribute to an existing thread,read the existing threads, or have no access at all. E-mail subscription will allow users toreceive messages by e-mail when they are posted on the forum.2) Closed collaboration groups (IBRO Gateway and IBRO Edu) Integration of othercomponents of IBRO Dev into the main system. Features: Since the beginning of theIBRO web reconstruction a set of (15) web sites were created to help manage andcollaborate on development and maintenance of selected IBRO programs. These sites willbe made the integral part of the main IBRO gateway greatly facilitating the management.The sites will be semi autonomous, with the capabilities to upload and share documents,discuss topics, share tasks, calendars, etc.3) Form Server (IBRO Gateway and IBRO Edu) System for creation of forms (notrequiring to learn HTML or ASP). Features: With the same idea to facilitate and speed upthe development of IBRO Gateway this tool will be able to create forms for specificevents and associated with specific committees required to provide interactive support aslisted above. (Specific features: The members of committees will be able to review theentered data entered. Applicant can only enter one data record per form to avoidduplicates but can update their entries at any time. Once the form deadline is reached,the form is automatically made unavailable from public view and no applicant cansubsequently edit or view the entered data. At that time only reviewers can manage thedata).4) Analysis and Reporting system (IBRO Gateway and IBRO Edu) A better onlinereporting and analysis system Features: This system will complement the Form Server aswell as other data collection systems. It will provide better ways to look at data and abetter system to export the information. (This system can also be used for such trivia asproducing address labels based on specific criteria).5) Extranet (IBRO Gateway and IBRO Edu) This system will be used to create a parallelsite that contains information not available to regular web viewers. Features: Informationentered can be made visible only to specific groups of users (e.g., committeesmembers), integrated with the main site. This means that all aspect of the site willfunction in a normal fashion for regular web users but certain pages (e.g., News, Events)would have more information available only for subscribers.6) Better file management (IBRO Gateway and IBRO Edu) Improved management ofdocuments (text, pictures). Features: A full file management with the ability to createand delete folders, the ability to rename, copy, move and delete files. Essential for theinteractive nature of the site.7) Presentation system (IBRO Gateway and IBRO Edu) Advanced management ofpresentation material. Features: The system will be able to manage presentations(PowerPoint, streaming video) and related transcribed information. This facility willbecome an important tool for distribution of educational material (part of IBRO Schools;IBRO Edu).8) Teleconferencing (IBRO Gateway and IBRO Edu) System to manage teleconferencingFeatures: Using simple tools the system will help manage video teleconferencing for 26. the need of any committee that finds it useful. (Webcam not budgeted but would cost