The annual Neuroscience Retreat is open to all in the Washington University Neuroscience Community regardless of graduate program, department, or campus.
The Neuroscience Retreat is organized by graduate students in different programs, and is intended to foster scientific and social interaction among students, postdocs, and faculty.
2023 Neuroscience Retreat
Thursday, October 12 – Friday, October 13
Medical Campus
Talks: Eric P. Newman Education Center Auditorium (EPNEC)
Poster Sessions: Farrell Learning & Teaching Center Atrium (FLTC)
Schedule Highlights
Thursday, October 12
| 8:45a | Welcome Session 1 – Short Talks and Lightning Talks |
| 10:00a | Break |
| 10:15a | Keynote Session 1 and Lightning Talks Keynote Speaker: Catherine Hartley (New York University) |
| 11:30a | Lunch including Table Topics; set-up posters |
| 1:00p | Session 2 – Short Talks and Lightning Talks |
| 2:30p | Thursday Poster Session |
| 4:45p | Join a walk or take the trolley to The Boathouse at Forest Park |
| 5:00p | Party at The Boathouse: – Presentation of the Neuroscience Community Awards – NeurOlympics including trivia |
Friday, October 13
| 8:30a | Welcome |
| 8:45a | Session 3 – Short Talks and Lightning Talks |
| 10:00a | Break |
| 10:15a | Keynote Session 2 and Lightning Talks Keynote Speaker: Debra Silver (Duke University) |
| 11:30a | Lunch including Table Topics; set-up posters |
| 1:00p | Session 4 – Short Talks and Lightning Talks |
| 2:30p | Friday Poster Session |
Keynote speakers
Catherine Hartley, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Psychology
New York University
“Developing behavioral flexibility”
Debra Silver, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Molecular Genetics
and Microbiology
Duke University
“Building our brains: Lessons from the RNA world”
Background
The Annual Neuroscience Retreat takes place each fall and is open all engaged in Neuroscience research. It’s a great opportunity to share research findings, socialize, identify labs for rotation and otherwise engage.
Organized by graduate students and coordinated by the Office of Neuroscience Research (ONR), the Retreat program includes short talks, keynote presentations, “Table Topics”, poster sessions and NeurOlympics. New to this year’s program: Lightning Talks!
The Neuroscience Retreat is supported by the McDonnell Center for Systems Neuroscience, the McDonnell Center for Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology, and the Vagelos Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences.
Thach Award
Grad students and post docs who submitted an abstract are eligible to compete for a Thach Award. Winners will be selected from the short talks and from the posters, and will be announced after the Retreat.
Lightning Talks
New for the 2023 Neuroscience Retreat, Lightning Talks are an opportunity to hear (briefly!) from faculty members seeking students and post docs, from cores and other shared resources, and from organizers of outreach activities. Lightning Talks will be spread throughout the program – stay tuned for the full list of speakers!
Table Topics
Table Topics take place over lunch at the Retreat (both days) and are an opportunity for conversation about science, policy, work-life balance etc. There’s no advance sign-up to join a discussion. Retreat attendees simply get their lunch at the buffet and, if interested to join a discussion, choose any of the designated Table Topic tables. (There also will be plenty of additional, non-designated tables if Table Topics doesn’t work for you!)
Faculty members and post docs: Interested to host a discussion? On the registration form, note your interest to participate and, if you have an idea, suggest a topic. The registration form lists topics from previous years if you need some inspiration!
NeurOlympics
Introduced to the Retreat in 2016, NeurOlympics is a competition of mind, strength, speed, and endurance. NeurOlympics is a neuroscience/lab/WashU themed trivia event that brings together teams from different cohorts, fields, and departments.
For any questions about NeurOlympics, please contact any member of this subcommittee: Lili Barbar, Emma Danhash and Liza Mangutov.
T-shirt design competition: And the winner is…
Congratulations to
Farzaneh Mirfakhar, PhD
Postdoc in the Karch lab, WashU Psychiatry
for the winning design!
Thank you to those who submitted designs, and to everyone who voted!
T-shirts were pre-order only.
If you ordered a t-shirt: The Retreat Committee will follow up with you to let you know when/where to get your t-shirt.
Questions? Contact Carmen Horn.
Retreat Registration – closed for 2023
Registration deadline: Tuesday September 26!
Please register to ensure you’re on the email list for any updates and also help us have an accurate headcount for meals and the party at The Boathouse at Forest Park on Thursday evening!
Whether you’re already confirmed to give a talk, present a poster, or otherwise planning to participate: Please register by Tuesday September 26!
Call for abstracts – closed for 2023
Advertise your lab, core facility, outreach activity or other resource by a Lightning Talk and/or poster!
New this year, faculty/post docs/students/staff are invited to sign up to pitch their resource. Lightning Talks will be 2 minutes or less. PIs: If you’d like to promote your lab through a poster (and/or lightning talk), please use the Lightning Talks/posters form (and not the Abstract form).
Research short talks and posters
The poster session is open to all to present research. Additionally, students and post docs can request to be considered for a short talk (7 minutes). Short talk presenters will be selected by a review committee considering multiple criteria including scientific merit, approach/model system, campus (Danforth or Medical) and graduate program (with an aim to feature multiple graduate programs). Our aim is that short talks reflect more complete projects.
Retreat Archives
To review speakers and programs from previous Neuroscience Retreats, visit the Retreat Archives.
Neuroscience Retreat Committee
The Office of Neuroscience Research is grateful to the students, faculty, and administrators who serve on this committee.
Students:
Jhoan Aguilar
Lili Barbar
Saul Bello Rojas
Emma Danhash
Karl Friedrichsen
Kayla Hannon
Martin Jarzyna
Shelby Leverett
Elizaveta Mangutov
Lite Yang
Julia Pai
Robert Wong
Faculty:
Deanna Barch
Rob Gereau
Tamara Hershey
David Holtzman
Barani Raman
Linda Richards
Anneliese Schaefer
Jeffrey Zacks
Chuck Zorumski
Administrators:
Carmen Horn
Rashelle Popinski
Kate Ruzicka
Sally Vogt
Questions or concerns?
Please contact the ONR.
