The city of Chicago, one of the locations for annual meetings of SfN 

In recent years, annual meetings of SfN have been held in Washington D.C. on the East Coast, San Diego on the West Coast, and Chicago in the Midwest, in turn. Chicago is one of the major cities in the United States, historically and currently a center of finance, commerce, distribution, transportation, and culture. It is the third largest city in the United States in terms of population after New York City and Los Angeles City (photo by author).

SfN poster venue

Contents of this page

Figure 3 A methodological term search was conducted for all SfN abstract bodies. First, clinical research, preclinical research, or nonclinical research was described. Next, the presence of behavioral, physiological, biochemical, pharmacological, pathological, and genetic terms was described.

The abstracts searched included special lectures, symposia, and general presentations (oral and poster). In addition to the presentations at the five-day SfN annual meeting, abstracts from SfN-certified satellite symposia before and after the meeting were also included. Note that some presentations may have been canceled on the day. The abstract search method was based on the SfN Past and Future Annual Meetings (see the URL below).

https://www.sfn.org/meetings/past-and-future-annual-meetings

Currently, online searches are available for SfN2006 to SfN2024, excluding SfN2020, which was canceled. Points to note when searching include the fact that two types of search methods are mixed depending on the year of SfN, that the search target is not a Key Words search but a Words search in the Abstract Body, that the search criteria are selected as Presentations instead of Sessions, and that the search date range is specified to include the dates of the satellite symposiums. The above search methods also apply to searches for the other figures described below.

Figure 4 The entire Abstract Body of SfN was searched for longitudinal trends of several neuropsychiatric disorders.

Figure 6 We searched for the types of monkeys that are being used for all Abstract Bodies on SfN. The trends in usage over time for Rhesus Monkeys, Cynomolgus Monkeys, Japanese Monkeys, Baboons, Squirell Monkeys, and Marmosets are shown.

Figure 7 Trends in marmoset usage over time for all Abstract Bodies in SfN. Basically, it is the same as the marmoset section in Figure 6, but we have also added data from SfN2000 to SfN2005 that we previously searched.

Figure 8  Trends over time in research institutions using marmosets, by country. The country of the first author's affiliated institution was tallied. Countries where research using marmosets is prevalent include the United States, Japan, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany. It is interesting to note that in the United States, unlike in other countries, the number of publications showed no decline even after 2020—a year when activities were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Future trends in China are also attracting attention. 

When examining research using marmosets by topic at SfN2015, which the author attended, many of the topics were related to neural networks in the brain, which is perhaps natural given the nature of this meeting (Figure 9). Topics related to auditory physiology, visual physiology, and vocalization seemed to make good use of the characteristics of marmosets. Since a wide variety of behaviors are classified here, it may be difficult to give meaning to this classification. Other topics were roughly the same as in previous years. Techniques such as two-photon laser microscopes, Ca2+ imaging, and optogenetics have rapidly begun to be used with marmosets. There were also reports from multiple facilities about genetically modified marmosets.

Figure 9 Trends in research topics using marmosets detected in SfN2015 abstracts.

4. Marmoset use in presentations of SfN2015

-Personal opinion of research trends-

(Reason for discussing only SfN2015: The original writing started as a participation report for SfN2015)

1) The use of marmosets in research on the brain, nerves, and diseases has been increasing year by year, with the United States, Japan, and Australia becoming the main countries for research.

2) The latest technology developed in rats and mice (e.g., two-photon imaging) was quickly introduced to marmoset research.

3) Among the reports, in addition to those that introduced new technology to marmosets, there were also those that used the technology to obtain important knowledge about the brain. However, it was clear that the important details of the latter were concealed from the SfN presentations until they were published in the form of a paper.

4) There were reports from several research facilities on the introduction of gene modification technology, and most of them were about the progress of the technology. We speculated that the full results of this study would be published in the form of a paper in the future.

5) Regarding the attempt to introduce human neuropsychiatric disease genes into marmosets, we thought it was important to have a prospect of clearly grasping and measuring neurodegeneration and syndorome expression in marmosets. For the time being, it might be not always logically justified that any kind of neurodegeneration or behavioral change may happen to be observed if any gene is tentatively introduced or changed. By abusing the logic haphazardly, consumption of a great deal of resources of human, finance, facility, and time will increase in meaningless researches. From the perspective of effective use of limited research resources, the autjor thinks there are some cases where this is not productive.

6) On the other hand, for example, the Ca (GCaMP) gene introduction research being developed at the National Institute of Health (NIH) in the United States is a significant model that can capture neural activity in the brain, even if it happens to be expressed in a small number of marmosets. However, this requires that Ca++ is expressed not only in peripheral organs but also in the brain. What about this point?

7) Regarding preclinical research using marmosets with high disease validity, there were reports on models of Parkinson's disease administered neurotoxins and spinal cord injury models. For many psychiatric disease models, attempts were made to develop more valid and practical models. There were also reports on the use of marmosets in safety testing (e.g., visual toxicity, auditory toxicity, etc.). It was believed that there are high expectations for future use in these areas.

5. Significance of participating in SfN and other academic meetings

-Personal opinion based on personal experiences-

1) The importance of participating in academic meetings and the goals that lie beyond

Participating in academic meetings is extremely important for researchers. The reason is that it allows them to humbly accept reactions and criticisms to their research presentations and improve their own research. In addition, they can acquire the skills to understand and grasp the content of other people's research presentations, identify the problems, and carefully point them out to the other person. This may help improve the expressiveness of their own research presentations and may contribute even a little to improving the academic level of the entire academic meeting.

Depending on the academic meetings in Japan, the author has felt that there are some that do not have a culture of frankly pointing out problems in other people's research presentations because they exist in a historical and traditional Japanese society. In American academic meetings, it was common to harshly point out problems and criticize them. Of course, one should not hurt the other person's self-esteem. However, the author believes that scientific research can only develop if there is a cultural background that allows for deep and essential discussions.

For the reasons mentioned above, the author believes that attending and participating in academic meetings are extremely important, but the author has come to believe that these activities have no role in themselves. In other words, the author believes that the ultimate goal of research is to compile one's own research in the form of a paper and publish it. Many research results that remain in history are not because they were presented brilliantly at academic meetings, but because they were published in the form of a paper. The aauthor believes that the research results of Galileo, Newton, Mendel, and others were all left in the form of a paper. The predecessor of the academic publisher Elsevier published historical research centuries ago. Even if the content of an individual's research is only a small fragment, the author believes that the ultimate goal of research is to compile research into a paper (Long Steps for Publishing Papers).

2) Personal experience of attending academic meetings

Since the author began attending annual meetings of the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) every year, the author has come to think deeply about what meaning there is in attending and presenting at academic meetings. The contents of SfN are described above in  Society for Neuroscience (SfN).

When the author was just starting out as a researcher in Japan, he became a member of two domestic societies and was able to gain experience in attending and presenting at these societies. The author believes that these societies have helped him grow considerably.

Japanese Pharmacological Society:

One of these societies is the Japanese Pharmacological Society. The society was founded in 1927 and currently has 3,800 members. Its activities include publishing the Japanese Journal of Pharmacology (six times a year/in Japanese) and the Journal of Pharmacological Sciences (12 times a year/in English). It also holds academic meetings once a year, including an annual academic meeting (general meeting) and regional divisions. These divisions include the Northern Division, Kanto Division, Kinki Division, and Southwest Division all in Japan, and each division holds academic meetings twice a year, in spring and autumn.

The Japanese Pharmacological Society has participation and activities from universities across the country in Japan that have pharmacology departments, as well as other research institutions. University pharmacology departments include those in the medical, pharmaceutical, dental, veterinary, and toxicological departments. The annual and regional meetings of the Pharmacological Society have been held frequently, mainly with professors from these departments as chairpersons.

In addition to the above universities and research institutes, there are also many members from research laboratories involved in drug discovery at pharmaceutical companies. It seems that researchers at pharmaceutical companies are not as free to present their excellent research results at meetings as they are at universities, except for basic research. The author has heard that some use meetings as an opportunity to gather information. However, it is difficult for the Pharmacological Society to operate without the active participation of pharmaceutical companies, and the active participation of researchers from pharmaceutical companies among the society's officers and committee members has increased.

In this society, there is a freedom to participate or not to participate in the annual academic meeting and the twice-yearly regional meetings in spring and autumn. However, if the president (chairperson) of the meeting requires each pharmacology department to make a presentation and participate in the meeting, there may be cases where the researchers are busy for the meeting presentations. This may cause  that the time to compile a scientific paper rather than meeting presentation is limited. Historically, such frequent conferences would have been useful for improving the level of pharmacology in Japan. However, nowadays, there are many other scientific meetings, and researchers have come to think that being overwhelmed by meeting participation is not what they want. The author once privately remarked a long time ago that two regional meetings a year in addition to the annual academic meeting was too many. In response to this, the author has heard people say that there are many professors who want to become the president of a society meeting, and therefore it is better to have more opportunities to become a president of a society. The author was surprised to find that societies do not exist for the participants, but are run by the logic of the conference organizers. The author thinks that this situation has completely changed now. The author has thought that a society can only exist by satisfying the academic, intellectual, and practical needs of its participants, and that it cannot survive unless it makes improving the level of research its top priority. On the other hand, it can be said that the role of a society as a place to educate young members is important. So, some may debate what is wrong with having so many educational opportunities. However, the author has felt that it would be better to teach young members the importance of compiling the contents of their research into a scientific paper and publishing it in an academic journal if they are going to do research, rather than being overwhelmed with attending and presenting at academic meetings. Of course, in many cases, the condition for dissertation review is the publication of the paper in an international academic journal, so the author thinks that such a trend already exists.

Japanese Society of Neuropsychopharmacology:

Another domestic society in which the author participated is the Japanese Society of Neuropsychopharmacology. The aforementioned Japanese Society of Pharmacology had already become a fully mature organization by the time the author began participating. In contrast, the Japanese Society of Neuropsychopharmacology, which the author will discuss here, has been a member of the society from its birth, through its adolescence, and into its adulthood. In other words, during that process, the society first became the Psychopharmacology Discussion Group, the Psychopharmacology Research Group, and the current Japanese Society of Neuropsychopharmacology.

This society held its first Psychopharmacology Study Group in 1971. The situation at the time that led to the establishment of the study group was that the antituberculosis drug iproniazide was clinically applied to depression, chlorpromazine, developed as an antihistamine, to schizophrenia, and chlordiazepoxide, which was developed in the process of creating a compound intended for use as a dye, to anxiety neurosis. The author thought that psychiatrists at the time had high hopes and dreams for the treatment of mental illnesses through the development and introduction of the above-mentioned drugs and newly developed derivatives based on them. In addition, pharmaceutical companies also gained momentum in the development of central nervous system drugs, from a stage where research on physical diseases was the main focus. As a result, knowledge and technology from electrophysiology, biochemistry, behavioral science, etc. began to be introduced into the field of central nervous system pharmacology. In this situation, psychiatrists, basic researchers on the central nervous system, and researchers involved in drug discovery and development at pharmaceutical companies have participated in the study group from the beginning, and a new and passionate fusion was born, which became the core concept of the founding and operation of the study group. The author has already written in Japanese about the history of this group and its grown-up society (The Japanese Society of Neuropsychopharmacology) in the special feature "Remembering 50 years of JSNP (Japanese Society of Neuropsychopharmacology)" in journal of the socity (see URL below).

https://www.jsnp-org.jp/about/img/JSNP50_memorialmagazine_03.pdf

The Japanese Society of Neuropsychopharmacology is, coincidentally, the same age as the Society for Neuroscience (SfN), and each held its first meeting in 1971. The current Japanese Society of Neuropsychopharmacology has 1,800 members, holds an academic meeting once a year, and publishes the open access journal Neuropsychopharmacology Reports (NPPR).

Initially, the academic meeting was attended by only a few dozen people, but now it is attended by many people every year. In recent years, this meeting is often co-sponsored by other similar societies, and the number of participants seems to be booming. However, the author feels that the concept of this society at the time of its establishment may gradually become diluted by co-hosting with other societies. The author does not think that there is a rule that academic meeting must be held on a large scale with many participants. Large-scale academic meetings should be left to international societies such as SfN, and the author thinks that it is more important to focus on the fusion of clinical, basic, and drug development research on neuropsychiatric disorders, which was the concept behind the establishment of our society (psychopharmacology study group). If we continue to hold joint meetings with other societies with similar names in order to attract many participants, our original unique concept may become diluted. On the other hand, since societies develop in a way that suits each era, it is necessary to consider the changes in the society's form as a historical fact, regardless of the form they take. However, the author believes that any academic organization will have difficulty developing further unless it prioritizes the core concept that led to the establishment of the society and the academic, intellectual, and practical needs of its participants. 

Domestic Meetings and the Society for Neuroscience (SfN):

Domestic (inside of Japan) meetings and abroad meetings each have their own characteristics. However, domestic meetings have the advantages of being held in Japan, such as time, travel expense, and language. On the other hand, participating in international meetings such as SfN requires higher costs for participation fees, abstract publication fees, accommodation, and travel expenses compared to domestic meetings. This has become a major problem in recent years, especially due to the depreciation of the yen.

However, SfN has great advantages that cannot be obtained by participating in domestic meetimgs. One of them is that it is the largest in the world, and you can directly come into contact with the world's most cutting-edge research and the researchers who are conducting it. This is extremely important for researchers to develop their own research. On a global scale, you will be aware of the existence of people who have the same academic interests and are conducting similar research as you, and conversations with these people are extremely meaningful.

You can also see the innovative know-how of running academic meetings that you cannot see at domestic meetings, and learn what an academic meeting should be. Attending domestic meetings every year will help you form a network of close relationships, which can be useful for collaborative research or employment. Although there are opportunities to make contacts for collaborative research or studying abroad when participating in overseas meetings, the author thinks that it is generally not easy to build close and long-lasting relationships like those built at domestic meetings. As for the know-how of meeting management, SfN is remarkable for its huge number of participants and its know-how of managing presentations and exchanges with digital systems. Also, even if participants try to make a name for themselves at the conference, they usually do not succeed as much as at domestic meetings, except for top-class researchers. The university professors at the US university where the author studied abroad were not very interested in activities in the meetingsn themselves, and they quickly handed over the executive positions of the meetings to the younger generation. Instead, the author has seen cases where they were ambitious to further develop their own research activities or to assume positions such as director at NIH (National Institute of Health), an organization with a greater influence than academic meetings, where they could allocate research funds to researchers and respond to the president's consultations to make major changes to the country's administration.

3) Goals beyond Participating in the Accademic Meetings

The author mentioned that participating in SfN, the world's largest meeting where cutting-edge research is presented, offers many advantages that cannot be obtained by participating in domestic academic meetings. However, participating in meetings and presenting there is not the final goal for researchers. What is important is to improve one's own research through academic activities and summarize one's research in the form of a scientific paper. In that sense, the author thinks  that there is also the view that participating in scientific meetingss is one step that leads to publishing a scientific paper (Long Steps for Publishing Papers).