Barrels VI: Proceedings of a Satellite Symposium of the 1993 Society for Neuroscience Meeting

Abstract

On November 6 and 7, 1993, a meeting of somatosensory and developmental biologists was held in Washington, D.C., to consider a number of recent findings that relate to the somatosensory system. The focus of this, the sixth annual Barrels Symposium (Barrels VI), was on somatosensory circuits and plasticity and on the development of barrellike cell and fiber aggregations in the brainstem, thalamus, and cerebral cortex. Dr. Thomas Woolsey began the meeting by reflecting on the life of Dr. Hendrik Van der Loos, who made pioneering contributions to our understanding of the nervous system and, in particular, the whisker-barrel neuraxis. To quote from Dr. Woolsey's reflections, “We named the barrels … linked them to the columns discovered by Dr. Vernon Mountcastle. And so it went.” Dr. Woolsey then expounded on Dr. Van der Loos's many contributions on pathway organization: “barreloids, development of cortex, organization of the periphery, classification of inhibitory cortical cells, connections from the barrelfield, and, perhaps Hendrik's greatest personal effort, mouse whisker genetics.” He further reflected, “… the young Dutchman I first saw as a neuroanatomy professor at Hopkins, an exalted and distant teacher, became a mentor, a collaborator, a colleague, and a friend. It was too early for him to go.” He will be missed by many and leaves much behind. We take some joy in knowing that Dr. Van der Loos's idea to have an interactive annual Barrels Symposium lives on.

Key Words:

• barrels
• trigeminal
• thalamus
• cortex
• somatosensory
• development
• vibrissae