USC-Chen Institute Frontiers Forum 2025
“Sensation-Motivation and AI”
Building on the success of its inaugural forum in collaboration with the Tianqiao & Chrissy Chen Institute, the 3rd iteration will retain its primary focus on the integration and processing of external and internal sensory information that drive behavioral responses. Additionally, the forum will broaden its discussions to include the rapid-growing fields of deep-learning and artificial intelligence. By bringing together esteemed researchers from various disciplines, our goal is to understand a general question of how brain circuits produce sensation and motivation. This event will serve as a hub for sharing the latest research breakthroughs, identifying salient questions and guiding principles, and fostering prospective collaborations.
Organizers:
Dr. Li Zhang, Center for Neural Circuits & Sensory Processing Disorders
Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, Keck School of Medicine, USC
Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute (cheninstitute.org)
Time: April 30-May 1, 2025
Location: Herklotz Conference Room, ZNI 112
RSVP： TBD
Invited Speakers
Sensory Information Processing
Hillel Adesnik, PhD
UC Berkeley
Optically probing the neural codes of perception
Xiaoke Chen, PhD
Stanford University
A closed-loop circuits for chronic pain
Matthew McGinley, PhD
Baylor College of Medicine
Neural correlates of arousal and motivation in sustained attention
Cris Niell, PhD
University of Oregon
Neural circuits for active vision and natural behavior in the mouse
Huizhong Whit Tao, PhD
University of Southern California
Transformation of visual signals into navigational cues via a thalamic nucleus
Social and Complex Behaviors
Zoe Donaldson, PhD
University of Colorado Boulder
Accumbal calcium-permeable AMPA receptors orchestrate social attachment
Weizhe Hong, PhD
University of California, Los Angeles
Neural Basis of Prosocial Behavior
Scott Kanoski, PhD
University of Southern California
The neural circuitry regulating impulse control
Dayu Lin, PhD
New York University
Neural plasticity supporting motherhood.
Li I. Zhang, PhD
University of Southern California
Reviving-like prosocial behavior in response to unconscious or dead conspecifics in rodents
AI and Neuroscience
Georgia Gkioxari, PhD
California Institute of Technology
New Challenges in Visual Perception in the Era of LLMs
Brian Lee, MD, PhD
University of Southern California
Engineering Artificial Somatosensation: Technical Considerations for Cortical Stimulation in Brain-Computer Interface Systems
Talmo Pereira, PhD
Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Towards models of sensation and motivation using behavior quantification
Jonathan Pillow, PhD
Princeton University
Disentangling the Roles of Distinct Cell Classes with Cell-Type Dynamical Systems
Maryam Shanechi, PhD
USC
TBD