The deadline for symposium proposals has passed.

Submissions are now being invited for symposium proposals. Submissions should be prepared in accordance with the procedures set out below. We look forward to receiving your contributions.

How to apply

After filling in the proposal form attached below, or inserting the required information into the body of an e-mail, please send your application to the Meeting Secretariat 【staff@neuroscience2012.jp】 by no later than Wednesday, November 30, 2011.

1. Symposium title
2. Organizer's name and affiliated institution, and contact details
   (e-mail address, telephone number, fax number)
3. Names and affiliated institutions of symposiasts
4. Title of presentation by each symposiast
5. Goals and outline of symposium (Brief explanation in less than 100 English words or 200 Japanese characters)

(All items in English, optionally with Japanese translation)

Call for symposium proposals

1. There will be 40 symposia in total, of which approximately 15 will be selected from those submitted through this application process. A symposium can be either 120 minutes or 150 minutes in length. Each symposium typically includes four to six presenters. Presentations are to be given in English, while questions and answers can be in either English or Japanese.
2. We request that the applicants obtain the informal consent of the planned organizers and symposiasts prior to submitting the proposal. As for the organizers and symposiasts whose consent has yet to be obtained, please indicate this fact by adding a comment such as (to be contacted) or (under negotiation) , next to their names.
3. In order to make the Annual Meeting more international we welcome symposium proposals that include researchers from abroad. Symposium organizers are responsible for arranging travel and other expenses for presenters and organizers, as the Annual Meeting organizer will not offer any financial support. However, the registration fee for the Meeting will be waived for symposiasts who are not members of the Japan Neuroscience Society.
4. The program committee may request merging of proposed symposia with similar topics, replacement of presenters, or inclusion of regular presenters into a symposium. We therefore request that at this current point in time you do not offer any guarantees that your symposium will in fact be held and the potential speakers will have an opportunity to give a talk there.
5. Individuals are limited to a single presentation as the principal author during the Meeting. Please be aware that symposiasts may not give presentations at more than one symposium, nor may they give any presentations at regular sessions.
6. Applicants will be informed whether their symposium proposal has been accepted, integrated with another, or rejected by mid-January 2012, after having been reviewed by the Program Committee. Upon acceptance, please register your presentation (including English abstracts for all symposiasts) during the presentation registration period.
7. Gender equality committee promotes appointing women as organizers and presenters. Your cooperation will be very much appreciated.

Among the symposium proposals described above, we are supporting symposia at the Meeting organized by researchers aged 40 or younger as young researchers' symposia. Travel funds of around 200,000-300,000 yen will be available for several symposium presenters from overseas. Please include the information 6. Request for assistance for young researchers' symposium in your e-mail application, and attach the organizer's CV. You must include a foreign researcher affiliated with an overseas research institution as a symposium presenter. We look forward to receiving fresh, highly enthusiastic proposals.

There are some symposia that will receive corporate sponsorship. The presence or absence of expected sponsorship does not affect the decision made by the committee as to which symposia will be accepted to be held in the annual meeting. After a decision has been made on which symposia will be eligible for sponsorship, those companies that have expressed an interest in providing sponsorship will be contacted once again by the secretariat. We ask for your understanding.

(If a company is selected to sponsor a symposium)

On Sponsored Symposium

1. The sponsoring company will provide financial support for the symposium, covering expenses such as transportation expenses for invited speakers from overseas.　(The amount of the support is not to exceed the set maximum.)
2. Following the title of the symposium, the company name will appear in the following format: “Sponsored by XXXX.”
3. The above format will be used to display the names of sponsoring companies on the convention website and also in the program booklet.
4. In the relevant program section of the convention website (list of companies), a hyperlink will be provided to the sponsoring company’s website.
5. Corporate advertising is prohibited during the symposium.
6. The only documents that are permitted to be distributed during the symposium are those approved by the convention organizer and secretariat.
7. Organizers may seek corporate sponsorship independently. Please inform the convention secretariat upon application, in case a sponsor is already found.
   However, please note that the acceptance of a symposium proposal is given solely based on the close evaluation of its contents. Therefore, please do not make any advance assurances to potential sponsors concerning the likelihood of the proposal being accepted.

The themes and organizers of the following symposia, held under the auspices of the 35th Annual Meeting Japan Neuroscience Society, have already been decided.

1. Progress in Neuronal Polarity 2012

   Organizer	Naoyuki Inagaki	Graduate School of Biological Sciences, Nara Institute of Science and Technology

2. Social neuroscience: Multidisciplinary approach and development

   Organizer	Norihiro Sadato	National Institute for Physiological Sciences

3. Microglia as a warning and control cell for brain environment

   Organizers	Ryosuke Takahashi	Dept. of Neurology, Kyoto Univ.
   	Hiroshi Kiyama	Dept. of Functional Anatomy, Nagoya Univ.

4. Physiological roles and possible clinical applications of neurosteroids

   Organizer	Masahiro Sokabe	Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine

5. Regulation of neural plasticity by sugar chains--towards integration of glyco- and neuro-biology

   Organizers	Michisuke Yuzaki	School of Medicine, Keio University
   	Kenji Kadomatsu	Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine

6. Neurovascular interaction

   Organizer	Yoshiko Takahashi	Graduate School of Biological Sciences, Nara Institute of Science and Technology

7. Optogenetic dissection of neural circuits in vivo

   Organizers	Akinao Nose	Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, University of Tokyo
   	Yamanaka Akihiro	National Institute for Physiological Sciences

8. Mechanism of multipotency of neural stem/progenitor cells

   Organizer	Ryoichiro Kageyama	Institute for Virus Research, Kyoto University

9. Epigenetics and neuropsychiatric disorders

   Organizers	Tadafumi Kato	RIKEN Brain Science Institute
   	Yukio Kawahara	Laboratory of RNA function, Grad School of Osaka Univ.

10. Trends in Molecular Research for Schizophrenia

    Organizer	Ryota Hashimoto	Molecular　Research Center for Children's Mental Development, United Graduate School of Child Development, Osaka University

11. Toward phenotyping and treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders

    Organizers	Emiko Shishido	National Institute for Physiological Sciences
    	Takashi Okada	Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine

12. Elucidation of the mechanisms of neurological disorders employing next-generation sequencing technology

    Organizers	Shoji Tsuji	Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo
    	Tatsushi Toda	Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine

13. New insights towards unravelling the mechanisms of neurodegeneration

    Organizers	Hitoshi Okazawa	Medical Research Institute, Tokyo Medical and Dental University
    	Gen Sobue	Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine

14. Integration of neural information in the white matter ― Why should the axonal bundle form in the white matter?

    Organizer	Norio Ozaki	Dept. Psychat. Grad. Sch. of Med., Nagoya Univ

15. Neural mechanism for reward-based decision making

    Organizer	Kiyofumi Yamada	Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine