Onward.
Sunday was booked with two four-hour poster sessions and one afternoon symposium. The morning was filled with Spinal Cord Injury and Parkinson's Therapies sessions, with a not-so-quick diversion to the triple-letter aisles where one of my prospective graduate program PIs sported sixteen -- count 'em, sixteen -- posters on expression of the immediate early gene Arc in various brain regions associated with cognition in models of aging and environmental stimulation (Session 204. Learning and Memory: Genes and Aging).
The afternoon's symposium of choice was Silvia Arber's talk on Motor Circuits, which was excellent but for a somewhat misleading in title. This particular neuroscientist sees "Connecting Motor Circuits" and expects a comprehensive discussion of relationships of both central and peripheral nervous system motor circuits. Instead, Dr. Arber focused on her research, which is entirely peripheral and has become famous for classifying the proprioceptive identity of the spinal cord; specifically, the innervation of the dorsal and ventral horns, and during what movements their respective peripheral pathways are activated. Numerous beautifully conducted studies were exemplified during her talk.
An afternoon of inducing, protecting against and ameliorating dyskinesias brought me back to my element, but my brain was re-tuned once more with a quick tour through the vendor exhibits. The vendors first open shop on Sunday, and traffic through their booths was daunting. Free widgets, pens and t-shirts galore spanned the entire length of the convention center; I am told that there were significantly more vendors this year than ever before.
Adorned with newly acquired tote bags full of free scincey goodies, off we went to the The Fish Market on Harbor Drive to pick up some prawns to accompany our margaritas -- peeled, cooked and devoured on our boat.
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