Welcome Letter

Recent years have seen major advances in our understanding of the basic mechanisms that underlie psychiatric conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety disorders, depression, and addiction. The next challenge is therefore to translate this knowledge into clinical practice.

We announce a two-day workshop dedicated to these exciting advances, to be held at the Lopatie Conference Center at the Weizmann Institute on May 3-4, 2015.

Sessions will cover a broad range of topics, from basic science and animal models of anxiety and addiction disorders, to possible interventions and therapeutic approaches in humans. Speakers are worldwide experts in multiple state-of-the-art techniques, and we are proud to announce that Professor Eric Nestler (Mount Sinai, USA) and Professor Kerry Ressler (Emory University, USA) will be the keynote speakers.

We encourage experts (university faculty and industry researchers) as well as students and post-doctoral fellows to join us. Abstract submissions are welcome for poster presentations. Travel awards for several students / post-docs are available. Registration is free but required (deadline is April 19, 2015).

The meeting is sponsored by the Weizmann Institute, the European Behavioural Pharmacology Society (EBPS), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) of NIH, and the Israeli Center of Research Excellence (I-CORE) for mass trauma research.

Conference organizers:  Alon Chen, Orit Furman, Rony Paz, Gal Richter-Levin, and Yavin Shaham