NSF workshop report: discovering general principles of nervous system organization by comparing brain maps across species.
Abstract
Efforts to understand nervous system structure and function have received new impetus
from the federal Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN)
Initiative. Comparative analyses can contribute to this effort by leading to the discovery
of general principles of neural circuit design, information processing, and gene-structure-function
relationships that are not apparent from studies on single species. We here propose
to extend the comparative approach to nervous system 'maps' comprising molecular,
anatomical, and physiological data. This research will identify which neural features
are likely to generalize across species, and which are unlikely to be broadly conserved.
It will also suggest causal relationships between genes, development, adult anatomy,
physiology, and, ultimately, behavior. These causal hypotheses can then be tested
experimentally. Finally, insights from comparative research can inspire and guide
technological development. To promote this research agenda, we recommend that teams
of investigators coalesce around specific research questions and select a set of 'reference
species' to anchor their comparative analyses. These reference species should be chosen
not just for practical advantages, but also with regard for their phylogenetic position,
behavioral repertoire, well-annotated genome, or other strategic reasons. We envision
that the nervous systems of these reference species will be mapped in more detail
than those of other species. The collected data may range from the molecular to the
behavioral, depending on the research question. To integrate across levels of analysis
and across species, standards for data collection, annotation, archiving, and distribution
must be developed and respected. To that end, it will help to form networks or consortia
of researchers and centers for science, technology, and education that focus on organized
data collection, distribution, and training. These activities could be supported,
at least in part, through existing mechanisms at NSF, NIH, and other agencies. It
will also be important to develop new integrated software and database systems for
cross-species data analyses. Multidisciplinary efforts to develop such analytical
tools should be supported financially. Finally, training opportunities should be created
to stimulate multidisciplinary, integrative research into brain structure, function,
and evolution.
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/11198Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1159/000360152Publication Info
Striedter, Georg F; Belgard, T Grant; Chen, Chun-Chun; Davis, Fred P; Finlay, Barbara
L; Güntürkün, Onur; ... Wilczynski, Walter (2014). NSF workshop report: discovering general principles of nervous system organization
by comparing brain maps across species. Brain Behav Evol, 83(1). pp. 1-8. 10.1159/000360152. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/11198.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Erich David Jarvis
Adjunct Professor in the Deptartment of Neurobiology
Dr. Jarvis' laboratory studies the neurobiology of vocal communication. Emphasis is
placed on the molecular pathways involved in the perception and production of learned
vocalizations. They use an integrative approach that combines behavioral, anatomical,
electrophysiological and molecular biological techniques. The main animal model used
is songbirds, one of the few vertebrate groups that evolved the ability to learn vocalizations.
The generality of the discoveries is tested in other vocal lear

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