1:43 p.m., Dec. 18, 2008----The Delaware Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience held a poster symposium for area researchers at the Delaware Biotechnology Institute at the University of Delaware on Friday, Dec. 5.

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Nearly 60 attendees, representing undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, post doctoral and research scientists from the University of Delaware, Delaware State University, Nemours/A.I. duPont Hospital for Children and the Delaware Biotechnology Institute, participated in the event.

Twenty-four poster presenters competed for gift card prizes in undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral categories. The evening concluded with the following winners announced: Amanda Skoranski (undergraduate, University of Delaware), Janet Mendonca (graduate, University of Delaware and Nemours/A.I. duPont), and Sandra Freitas (post-doctoral, University of Delaware).

The event was sponsored to encourage interaction among Delaware Valley neuroscientists and to foster future collaborations in the areas of brain and neurological disorders research.

The Delaware Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience (DESfN) is an affiliate of the Society for Neuroscience, a non-profit, professional organization.

This event marked one of several activities sponsored by the recently reactivated chapter.

One of its larger undertakings involves advocating for the creation of a statewide network in the field of neuroscience education and research training, including the establishment of a Delaware Center for Brain Disease and Translational Neuroscience.

Currently led by a small group of scientists, with the cooperation of a number of other local neuroscientists who support the measure, they are leading an effort to foster intrastate neuroscience research and collaborations.

Scientists Leonard Davis of Delaware State University, Melissa Harrington of Delaware State University, Jeffrey Rosen, associate professor of psychology at the University of Delaware, Deni Galileo, associate professor of biological sciences at the University of Delaware, and Dr. Jeffery Twiss of Nemours/A.I. duPont Hospital for Children have been working on this initiative for more than two years.

The goal of the proposed network is to capitalize on the particular strengths found within Delaware's cadre of scientists participating in basic, clinical and translational research.

The poster session was a step to facilitate such communication and interaction among brain research scientists. The new network is being enhanced by new neuroscience master's and doctoral programs at Delaware State University, in connection with the University of Delaware's existing behavioral neuroscience doctoral program.

Additional participants in building the network include the Nemours/A.I. duPont Hospital for Children Nemours Children's Clinic, and the Christiana Care Health Care system, which are lending their clinical and translational research expertise to help enrich the learning and training process for budding neuroscientists.