The Second Academic Committee Meeting of the State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience (SKLN) was held at the Institute of Neuroscience on March 19th, 2010. Academic Committee members, including Professors Lin Chen, Ai-Ke Guo, Qi-Shui Lin, Jian-Hong Luo, Gang Pei, Mu-Ming Poo, Bo-Qin Qiang, Yi-Zheng Wang, Guo-Zhen Yang, Xu Zhang, Ping Zheng and Jiang-Ning Zhou, attended this meeting.

The meeting started with two invited lectures given by Prof. Hong-Xuan Lin from the Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, SIBS, CAS and Prof. Jia-Huai Han from Xiamen University. Representing respectively the SKLN research directions of neural development, sensory information processing, synaptic plasticity and learning & memory, neurobiology of diseases and neural stem cells, Drs. Zhen-Ge Luo, Zuo-Ren Wang, Ai-Ke Guo, Zhi-Qi Xiong and Jian-Wei Jiao gave reports of recent progress. During the Report of SKLN Director Dr. Yi-Zheng Wang, he overviewed the Laboratory's progress over the past year in scientific research, recruitment, building of core facilities, and in collaborations with other institutions. Academic Committee members gave valuable comments and suggestions following the presentations.

During the discussion, Academic Committee members suggested that SKLN provides additional financial support to groups focusing on major scientific questions with potential for breakthroughs. It was also suggested that SKLN continues to put additional efforts in the directions of neural stem cells, neural circuit function and behavior and neuropsychiatric diseases.