2026 Annual Retreat

Neurobiology Retreat, September 24, 2026 (All day Thursday beginning at 8:00 am)

Neurobiology hosts an annual retreat for our community of neuroscientists,to be held this year at The Cotton Club at Golden Belt in downtown Durham. The formal scientific component of the annual retreat includes a distinguished guest speaker, faculty, postdoc and student talks, and several poster sessions. Informal components of the retreat include casual scientific discussions, a student-hosted dinner for the guest speaker, highly anticipated student and faculty skits, live music, and heavy socializing.

The retreat is a student-organized event: fourth year students take the lead role in planning the retreat and, with input from the entire student body, select a speaker, choose the venue, and decide important aspects of the scientific and social planning.

Keynote Speakers: Nanthia Suthana & Leigh-Anne Royster

Nanthia Suthana, PhD
Professor, Department of Neurosurgery
Duke University

Leigh-Anne Royster, PhD
Associate Vice President for Strategy and Education Development
Duke Office for Institutional Equity

Schedule of Events--TBD

Download 2025 Retreat Agenda and Poster Sessions

Wednesday, September 24, 2025

Time	Event
12:30 pm – 1:00 pm	Conference Check-In
1:00 pm – 1:05 pm	Introduction: Steve Lisberger

1:10 - 3:45 pm: Talk Session I
Moderator: Nuo Li

Time	Speaker
1:10 pm - 1:30 pm	Rebecca Yang, PhD “From Genes to Circuits: Natural Variation in Decision Making”
1:35 pm - 1:55 pm	Emily Alway – Student, Bohorquez Lab “Trusting your gut: Adaptive responses to stimuli”
2:00 pm - 2:20 pm	Jacob Morra, PhD – Postdoc, Naumann Lab “Mapping functional connectivity with causal perturbations”
2:25 pm – 2:45 pm	Russell Ravenel – Student, Tadross Lab “Cell-type-specific pharmacology reveals astrocytic AMPAR control of striatal function”
2:45 pm – 3:00 pm	Short Break
3:00 pm – 3:20 pm	Jing Xu, PhD – Postdoc, Ji Lab “GPR37L1 regulates astrocytes signaling in neuropathic pain”
3:25 pm – 3:45 pm	Jeff Russ, PhD “The role of cortical intratelencephalic (IT) neurons in development and disease”

3:50 - 4:50 pm: Keynote I

Scott H. Soderling, PhD
“Proximity Proteomics and AI to Decode Synaptic Mechanisms of Sleep & Parkinson’s”
Introduction by

Time	Event
5:00 pm – 7:00 pm	Poster Session I Limited Light Hors D'oeuvres & Cash Bar
7:00 pm – 8:30 pm	Dinner Banquet Student Skit
8:30 pm – 10:00 pm	Dance Party with DJ, cancelled

Time

Event

5:00 pm – 7:00 pm

Poster Session I

*Limited Light Hors D'oeuvres & Cash Bar*

7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Dinner Banquet

Student Skit

8:30 pm – 10:00 pm

Dance Party with DJ, cancelled

Thursday, September 25, 2025

7:30 - 9:00 am: Breakfast available outside ballroom

9:00 - 10:10 am: Talk Session II
Moderator: Jenna McHenry

Time	Speaker
9:00 am – 9:20 am	Debra Silver, PhD “The choreography of brain development and evolution”
9:25 am – 9:45 am	Audrey Mercer – Postdoc, Mooney Lab “Cranking Song Circuits to Eleven: Dopamine’s Actions on the Teenage Songbird”
9:50 am – 10:10 am	Ziyi Gong – Student, Pearson Lab “Correctness is its own reward: bootstrapping error signals in self-guided reinforcement learning”
10:10 am – 10:20 am	Short Break

Time	Speaker
10:20 am – 10:40 am	Yoonhee Ki – Student, Li Lab “Altered Cortico-Striatal Decision Signals in a Rett Syndrome Mouse Model”

10:45 - 11:45 am: Keynote II

Ashley Wilson, PhD
“Talking to Strangers: Why your Ph.D. is the perfect launchpad to a career in tech”
Introduction by

2:00 pm - 3:20 pm: Talk Session III
Moderator: Arnaldo Carreira Rosario

Time	Speaker / Event
12:00pm – 2:00 pm	Lunch/Free time
2:00 pm – 2:20 pm	Marija Rudzite – Student, Sommer Lab “Retinotectal pathway reveals novel ganglion cell types in macaque”
2:25 pm – 2:45 pm	Zijian Zhang, PhD – Postdoc, Velmeshev Lab “Cell Type-Specific Analysis and Modulation of Neural Circuits Using Rabies Virus”
2:50 pm – 3:10 pm	Kevin Franks, PhD "Respiration coordinates olfactry cortex activity”
3:20 pm – 5:35 pm	Poster Session II Limited Light Hors D'oeuvres
5:45 pm – 6:00 pm	Awards for Best Student and Postdoc Talks Michael Mutersbaugh Award

For questions related to the retreat contact Jeremy Kay.

Previous Retreats