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Calling All Community Leaders! Join SfN in our re-introduction of the Community Leaders program. Community Leaders (CL’s) are members who spearhead the Neuronline Community by creating insightful posts on professional development and scientific advancement, as well as advising SfN staff on what may be interesting programming for members. Qualifications Be an active SfN member Able to commit for one (1) year Interest in leading discussion for the neuroscience community Program Requirements Participate in a monthly Community Leader check-in Interact with fellow Neuronline Community users Recap at least two SfN webinars throughout the year Author or be interviewed for an article on Neuronline Develop discussion and coverage of various topics, scientific or non-scientific Contribute one (1) post per month to the Neuronline Community discussion APPLY NOW Frequently Asked Questions for the Neuronline Community Leaders Program How long does the Neuronline Community Leaders program participation last? Community Leaders serve for one year upon selection. The application period opens this year in early September and will close on September 26. Invitations to those selected will be sent in October 2022. A virtual welcome event (Zoom meeting) will take place after acceptance and conclude their service a year from that day. SfN reserves the final right to select Neuronline Community Leader at its sole discretion. What are the benefits of being a Neuronline Community Leader? Lead conversations about scientific and professional development issues that matter to you Showcase your writing and thought leadership Be part of SfN’s volunteer community, helping to shape the future of the Society Help shape the direction of the Neuronline Community, making it the most useful resource possible for the field Join exclusive meetings and events to network with your fellow Community Leaders Access to a private online forum for Neuronline Community Leaders What are the requirements for maintaining the role as a Neuronline Community Leader? Neuronline Community Leaders should plan on regular participation throughout the year (October 2022-September 2023). We understand that schedules vary and there may be times people can be more or less engaged. In general Community Leaders will be: Contributing 1-2 posts per month, starting or responding to discussion topics Welcoming new users to the Neuronline community Participate in one or more of the following community activities, selecting a special project to lead through the year, such as: Host an open thread Facilitate a journal club discussion Author a blog Manage a community group Recap an SfN webinar Develop your own unique idea! Interacting with and supporting fellow Neuronline community users Attending and contributing to monthly Neuronline Community Leaders live chats and calls Helping to promote and participate in SfN online events, such as live chats in the Neuronline community Working with SfN staff on ways to continue growing the Neuronline Community and its usefulness as a resource to SfN members Writing or being interviewed for a piece of written content for the resource side of Neuronline While there is flexibility in participation, SfN reserves the right to remove Neuronline Community Leader status for an individual. Reasons may be but are not limited to: Not being active in the program for an extended period Identifying oneself as an SfN representative Attacking or negatively inflaming online conversations or otherwise making disparaging comments, including not following Neuronline community guidelines Behavior that goes against the Community Guidelines

Lead Us Not Into Error: Practical Advice From Statistical Reviewers Statistical analyses can reveal important patterns in neuroscience data but can also lead us into error. Watch this webinar and gain practical advice from experienced statistical reviewers on issues like covariate selection, sample-size planning, and p-value interpretation. How to Submit an Impactful Abstract for Neuroscience 2022 Webinar The abstract submission period may be over, but watch this webinar to learn more about the abstract review process and how you can submit the most impactful abstract for next year’s annual meeting. Then, read the extended Q&A on the Neuronline Community forum. Advice to Underrepresented Trainees on Building Better Mentor/Mentee Relationships Andrea Morgan explains why underrepresented trainees may face unique barriers when forming mentor-mentee relationships, and steps that they can take to build better relationships with their mentors in this Neuronline article. The Benefits of Creating Art While Working in Science Peter Dallos is the John Evans Professor of Neuroscience Emeritus in the department of neurobiology at Northwestern University, but he is also an artist. In this article, he suggests there are remarkable similarities between the artistic and scientific methods.

This resource has been adapted from the webinar How to Submit an Impactful Abstract for Neuroscience 2022, which took place June 6, 2022. Watch the full recording on Neuronline. Q: What is the character limit for an abstract? A: The body of the abstract should be no more than 2,300 characters, including punctuation but not spaces. The instructions for how to submit an abstract are available on the SfN website: https://www.sfn.org/meetings/neuroscience-2022/call-for-abstracts/how-to-submit Q: What makes an abstract more likely to be chosen for a talk over a poster presentation? A: The best way to get a talk at SfN is to organize a nanosymposium! It’s a terrific networking opportunity, because you can reach out to trainees and PIs in your field to invite them to participate in your nanosymposium. As Program Committee members, we love to receive nanosymposium proposals. Even if you have only a few abstracts, submit your proposal and the program committee members will look for other abstracts to flesh your session out to create an exciting platform session. Q: Can we still submit nanosymposium proposals? A: The best way to get a talk at SfN is to organize a nanosymposium! It’s a terrific networking opportunity, because you can reach out to trainees and PIs in your field to invite them to participate in your Nanosymposium. As Program Committee members, we love to receive nanosymposium proposals. Even if you have only a few abstracts, submit your proposal and the program committee members will look for other abstracts to flesh your session out to create an exciting platform session. Q: How do you know which theme/topic to choose if your project does not fall nearly into any of the categories? and what keywords should you use? A: Think about which scientists you’d like feedback from. If you are between two disciplines, chose the theme/topic that you are most excited about. Q: Does SfN accept trial in progress style posters, with background pre-clinical data and the design and details of an ongoing clinical trial (with no clinical data)? A: The Rules for Abstracts state that the abstract must contain original research. As trial-in-progress poster is like a registered trial, so it will count as original research. Q: Can I bring my recently published results? What should I change from my original paper? A: Your abstract should contain original, unpublished data. At the time of abstract submission, the study should not have been previously published verbatim as a scientific article or meeting abstract. Note that interim research products, including manuscripts deposited to a preprint server, are eligible for abstract submission. Q: If our results are in preprint at time of abstract submission, but is published in a journal by the time of the conference, we cannot use only that data but need to add to it? A: SfN abstracts are published abstracts, just like journal abstracts. This means that they can’t be plagiarized. So, if your SfN abstract is word-for-word the same as your pre-print/journal article, your abstract is likely to be rejected. Q: Can we submit an abstract for clinical research that is still ongoing and has partial results that can be included on the abstract, but likely will have more results by the time of the actual presentation (November)? A: Absolutely! But your abstract must have some results, not just (‘results will be discussed’) Q: How long after an abstract is submitted will I get a response whether or not it has been accepted? A: Presenting authors will be notified about their abstract's acceptance status by early August. Q: When doing the poster, can I add other results that were not on the abstract in the moment it was submitted? A: Yes! Q: Can I submit abstract (poster) for a work for which I have some data now but will have more by November? A: Absolutely! Your abstract should describe the results you have so far. Q: According to the unique virtual experience, I became happy with this year's virtual option when I saw it by chance. On the other hand, many people are unaware of this option change. I would like to ask for the probability of extending the deadline. A: If you plan to attend the meeting, we encourage you to choose BOTH the in-person and the virtual option. You don’t have to choose. Q: If I am working on a paper and planning to submit it by the time of the conference (but not by the time of abstract submission), can I use those results in the abstract? If the text (and maybe narrative) is different, but results are the same? A: That is fine. If you plan to submit your paper by SfN, it will not be published before the meeting. Q: Does abstract title, author list or affiliations count towards the character limit? A: No, it does not. Q: Is it possible for student associations to submit an abstract? A: If this topic of the poster is about the work that your group is doing, you may want to consider submitting a theme J poster. I presented theme J posters a few times and thought it was really great! One author must be a SfN member, so the SfN member must be named as an author in the abstract. Q: Should the abstract have references (e.g., in the intro when citing previous work)? A: Hi, you do not need to include references in your abstract. Your abstract should focus on your original work and should only contain one or two sentences to provide context. Q: Since SFN abstracts are published, will this affect when I want to publish in a journal the results published in the SFN abstract? A: No — the abstract summarizes the results but doesn’t publish all of your results. But you will have to write a different abstract so that plagiarism filters don’t flag your abstract as plagiarism. Q: If I am presenting my research at another conference in July, but my abstract submitted is different than the Neuroscience 2022 Conference abstract, is that okay? I expect to report new data in November than the conference in July so there will be some unique aspects A: At the time of abstract submission, the study should not have been previously published verbatim as a scientific article or meeting abstract. You can, of course, present some of the same results but there should be something new! Q: How can I increase my chance of being accepted for a nanosymposium? A: Organize a nanosymposium in your area of neuroscience! Create a linking group of exciting abstracts submitted by presenters who chose ‘nanosymposium preferred’. Q: If you have data but it is early on in the process and have no stats yet, would that be acceptable? A: Yes! Q: Will the deadline extend for abstract submission? A: We can’t expect a deadline extension because the Program Committee starts to session abstracts right after abstract submission closes. But you do have one day to edit your abstract after you submit it. Q: Should we include the statistics of the result in the abstract? A: Including statistics and group sizes increases the rigor of your research. But, if you are in the middle of data collection, you will not have performed the statistics yet. That’s okay! Q: What percentage of submitted abstracts are accepted? A: >99%! Only a handful of abstracts get rejected each year because they are plagiarized or do not include original research. Q: Does that include submitted but not accepted patent applications? A: Yes - disclose all potential conflicts of interest. Q: What if I submit an abstract with a specific finding but by November collect data that I’d prefer to present instead, could the abstract be changed a bit to reflect the new findings/conclusions? A: The abstract cannot be edited after the edit window closes (1 day after abstract submission closes). But, you can certainly include new data on your poster! Q: After submitting our abstract, can we present our research at another conference before the Neuroscience 2022 conference in November? A: I encourage you to present a new poster at SfN. Of course, you may include some data you’ve already presented at another meeting, but I hope that you will bring exciting new results to the meeting Q: Do you encourage submissions from related fields to neuroscience, such as psychology/neuropsychology? A: Yes! Q: How many presenters in a nanosymposia? A: 7 – 14 Q: I am in a process of writing my results and planning to submit my manuscript by Aug/Sept. Can I use the same abstract for submission in SfN or I should write a different one with modifications? A: There may be differences in how you present your findings in the abstract for the conference vs the manuscript, so it will likely not be exactly the same, but you can definitely use the same data since it will not be published by the time SfN comes around. Q: I have brain MRI data results, studied on non-meditators, meditators and patients with migraine, a cross-sectional study. For me 2 themes suit for my work. Theme-D and Theme H. Can I select both or is only one theme allowed to be selected? A: You can only choose one Theme at this time. Q: Where exactly will it be held in SA? A: The meeting will take place in the San Diego Convention Center. Q: Can I submit a part of the result from the manuscript that not yet submitted for publication? A: Yes!

Extended Q&A: Exercise in Brain Health and Disease This resource has been adapted from the webinar, Exercise in Brain Health and Disease, which took place on April 28, 2022. In the full recording on Neuronline, Henriette van Praag, Áine Kelly, David Jiménez-Pavón, and Swathi Gujral discussed different mechanisms by which exercise positively influences brain health and function across the lifespan, from modulation of inflammation to regulation of adult neurogenesis. URL: https://community.sfn.org/index.php?/topic/5207-extended-qa-exercise-in-brain-health-and-disease/ How to Advocate for Mental Health Research In this panel, NMH Director Joshua Gordon, Maria Oquendo, Pat Kobor, Patricia Conrod, and Lori McMahon address current foundational research on mental health issues, advocacy efforts to increase public awareness and funding, and how the COVID-19 pandemic heightened the importance of addressing mental health across all ages. URL: https://neuronline.sfn.org/advocacy/how-to-advocate-for-mental-health-research How Models Clarify Our Understanding of the Brain Stephen Grossberg illustrates the importance of neural models by taking a close look at the stability-plasticity dilemma, and how neural models can help answer questions such as, how do we learn things quickly but remember them for a long time, or why does a fast-learning rate not force a fast-forgetting rate? URL: https://neuronline.sfn.org/scientific-research/how-models-clarify-our-understanding-of-the-brain How Science Communication Can Improve Your Career Effective science communication refers to the ability to discuss science in terms that your audience will understand. Read how scientists can communicate inwardly to colleagues, or outwardly with important stakeholders such as the public, government, industry, educators, or even scientists outside of one’s field. URL: https://neuronline.sfn.org/outreach/how-science-communication-can-improve-your-career

Interested in what happened this month on Neuronline? Find the latest advice, discussions, and resources published in April 2022 below. Teaching Neuroscience: Reviving Neuroanatomy Students often find neuroanatomy a daunting exercise of rote memorization in a dead language. Watch this workshop to learn how to make neuroanatomy a more approachable topic and exciting area of focus for students. Genetic Forms of Dementia in a Unique Clinical Setting — The Story of Colombia In this on-demand webinar as a part of the Meet the Experts collection, Kenneth Kosik discusses international research that meshes clinical experience with molecular biology and neurogenetics. This work focuses on the largest kindred of familial Alzheimer’s disease in the world, located in Columbia, and is the basis of a trial for a prevent drug administered before the onset of dementia symptoms. Expanding Diversity in Biomedical Sciences at Historically Black Colleges Melissa Harrington of Delaware State University, a Historically Black institution, has a keen appreciation of the potential for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to enhance diversity in biomedical sciences. Read and watch as Harrington and Christine Charvet explain the challenges of and potential solutions for enhancing diversity in STEM fields and hear from two students benefiting from DSU’s efforts. Be Prepared to Defend Against Animal Rights Oppositional Efforts Read this recap article of the webinar SfN hosted, How to Prepare for, Defend Against, and Recover from Animal Rights Oppositional Efforts, featuring Katalin Gothard, Eric Nestler, Sharon Juliano, and Matthew Bailey. Due to the sensitivity of the topic, the webinar was not recorded.

Hello everyone, The recordings from the live course at the Instituto de Fisiología Celular (IFC) at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México (UNAM) are available. Click here to watch.