Welcome
Dear Investigators, Trainees, and Guests,
We are very excited to gather everyone together for our first Simons Collaboration on Plasticity and the Aging Brain (SCPAB) annual meeting.
In its first year of funding, the SCPAB has already made great strides. We held 16 virtual workshops and conferences: four workshops focused on aligning scientific strategies, six trainee workshops to show each trainee how their own individual work contributes to the larger collaborative project, and six virtual site visits to see the progress of each group in the first year of funding. Our Aging Brain Database (ABDB) has developed from a vague but exciting idea to a fully functional tool to explore phenotypic, genetic and behavioral changes across species with age.
Importantly, we’ve kept our scientific focus on understanding the aging brain, and establishing a baseline for plasticity-related changes with age across many model systems. Our new research awards further push the cutting edge of the field with a focus on potentially conserved mechanisms of resilience and reserve in cognitive aging. We’re also making investments in junior faculty through the new Transition to Independence Awards. By thinking and working together, SCPAB Investigators are making great progress in understanding the mechanisms of plasticity in the aging brain.
We hope this meeting will continue to foster collaboration and discussion on work vital to the SCPAB mission. Thank you for contributing your time and expertise to these efforts.
Coleen Murphy, SCPAB Director
Kim Scobie, Senior Scientist, SCPAB
Alyssa Picchini Schaffer, Senior Scientist and Administrative Director, Neuroscience Collaborations
Kelsey Martin, Director, SFARI and Neuroscience Collaborations
Gerry Fischbach, Distinguished Scientist, Simons Foundation
Saul Villeda, SCPAB Executive Committee
Beth Stevens, SCPAB Executive Committee
Randy Buckner, SCPAB Executive Committee
