IBANGS Annual Meeting 2026:
Genes, Brain and Behavior
June 8-11, 2026
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Conference Agenda
Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).
|
Daily Overview | |
| Location: Assembly Room/Ballroom |
| 4:00pm - 5:30pm |
Data Blitz: Data Blitz Location: Assembly Room/Ballroom |
| 6:00pm - 7:00pm |
Plenary 1: Presidential Address: Location: Assembly Room/Ballroom From GWAS to Function: finding genetic mechanisms for brain disorders Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam |
| 10:30am - 12:30pm |
Symposium 1: Encoding and Decoding Behavior: Computer Vision for Genetic and Neural Analysis Location: Assembly Room/Ballroom Chair: Jacob Beierle Chair: Gregory Corder Behavioral State Space Modeling Reveals Hidden Structure in Spontaneous Pain and Analgesia University of Pennsylvania Genotype-dependent behavioral signatures of opioid withdrawal revealed by automated behavioral quantification Jackson Laboratory Mapping the landscape of social behavior Harvard University Decoding neuronal regulation of aggression across sexes using Drosophila Southern Methodist University |
| 1:30pm - 3:30pm |
Symposium 2: From Sequence to Structure: Decoding the Gene Regulatory Grammar of Addiction Location: Assembly Room/Ballroom Chair: Francesca Telese Long noncoding RNAs form R-loops to shape emotional experience–induced behavioral adaptation Medical University of South Carolina Nucleus accumbens Drd3 medium spiny neuron abundance is associated with opioid in-take in outbred rats University of California, San Diego A single cocaine exposure rewires the 3D genome structure of midbrain dopamine neurons Johns Hopkins Re-engineering brain transcription factors connects transposable elements and neuroimmune response to cocaine-use Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine |
| 4:00pm - 5:30pm |
Plenary 2: Keynote Address (Professor Erich Jarvis) Location: Assembly Room/Ballroom Chair: Sean Farris Chair: Daniela Gil Brain pathways for vocal learning and spoken language Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Rockerfeller University |
| 8:00am - 10:00am |
Selected Talks 1 Location: Assembly Room/Ballroom Chair: Megan Mulligan Chair: Justine Anne Guevarra Chair: Andre Lucas Borges Chair: Markos Chatzigiannis From perception to valence: Fox neurons assign state-dependent valence to nutrient taste cues in Drosophila University of Delaware Specialized enhancer activity associated with convergent evolution of vocal learning Carnegie Melon University In vivo brain imaging and ex vivo permeability assays support a BBB mechanism underlying increased brain oxymorphone levels in Zhx2 knockout females following oxycodone administration Northeastern University Genomic associations with 24-hour food and fluid intake in heterogeneous stock rats University at Buffalo Dissecting the strain and sex specific connectome signatures of unanesthetized C57BL/6J and DBA/2J mice using magnetic resonance imaging Penn State University Using a Connectome to Identify Motivational Neurons for Specific Conflict Resolution University of Utah |
| 10:30am - 12:30pm |
Symposium 3: Dissecting the Development of Opioid Use Disorder Using Cross-species Systems Genetics Approaches Location: Assembly Room/Ballroom Chair: Marissa Ehringer Initial QTL Mapping of Oral Oxycodone Self-Administration in the Hybrid Rat Diversity Panel University of Tennessee Health Science Center Genetic and neurobiological correlates of opioid use disorder vulnerability and resiliency using a rat model Baylor University Voluntary oxycodone self-administration reveals genetic variation in analgesic tolerance and hyperalgesia in rats University of Colorado Boulder Sex-specific Concordance of Striatal Transcriptional Signatures of Opioid Addiction in Human and Rodent Brains University of Pittsburgh |
| 1:30pm - 3:30pm |
Symposium 4: Functional Implications of co-transmission in Regulating Neuroplasticity and Behavior Location: Assembly Room/Ballroom Chair: Lewis Sherer A Co-Transmitting Neuron Regulates Aggression Through Pre- and Postsynaptic Mechanisms Brown University Experience-Dependent Co-Transmission Shapes Thermosensory Navigation Yale School of Medicine Sex-specific mechanisms of dopamine neuron resilience across species University of Pittsburgh Separating glutamatergic and dopaminergic subtypes in motivated behavior University of Colorado Boulder |
| 5:00pm - 5:30pm |
Additional Selected Talk Location: Assembly Room/Ballroom Chair: Paul Meyer Binary partitioning of human brain organization due to divergent human cytoskeletal evolution SUNY at Buffalo |
| 8:00am - 10:00am |
Selected Talks 2 Location: Assembly Room/Ballroom Chair: Gregg Homanics Chair: Carlos Novoa Chair: Aijun Zhang Chair: Antonio Marini-Davis CaMPARI2 enables stimulus-locked whole-brain activity mapping at cellular resolution in unrestrained larval zebrafish Haverford College Molecular signatures of maladaptive plasticity in the amygdala in a rat model of chronic neuropathic pain Texas Tech University Central Amygdala Ninein Deletion Alters Ethanol Anxiolysis, Consumption, and GABAergic Function Virginia Commonwealth University Long Noncoding RNA Gas5 Modulation of the Stress-Related Phenotypes of Chronic Intermittent Ethanol Vapor Exposure University of Pittsburgh Dimensional mapping of mouse behavior reveals clusters enriched for neuropsychiatric disorder related phenotypes Fujita Health University Core circadian clock neurons regulate activity of insulin-producing cells Rutgers University |
| 10:30am - 12:30pm |
Symposium 5: Bridging the Rodent to HumanTranlational Gap: Marmosets as Model Systems for the Study of Alzheimer's Disease Location: Assembly Room/Ballroom Chair: Lauren Bailey Chair: Stacey Rizzo Generation of genetically engineered marmosets with AD risk mutations University of Pittsburgh Behavioral characterization of marmosets with genetic risk for AD University of Pittsburgh From Marmosets to Man: Building a Translational Platform to Advance Alzheimer's Disease Research University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Comparative genetics of AD: from mice to marmosets to humans The Jackson Laboratory |
| 2:30pm - 4:00pm |
Plenary 4: Distinguished Investigator Award Lecture (Professor Leslie Griffith) Location: Assembly Room/Ballroom Chair: Karla Kaun Location, location, location Brandeis University |