WASHINGTON — Free media registration is now open for Neuroscience 2026 , the largest and most influential gathering of brain scientists and clinicians in the world. This year’s annual meeting will take place November 14–18 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. , and online .
Approximately 20,000 leading neuroscientists from around the globe will convene to share cutting-edge research across more than 8,000 presentations. Topics will span the full range of neuroscience, including:
Neuroscience 2026 offers registered journalists exclusive access to world-renowned experts, emerging science, and compelling stories that shape the future of medicine, technology, and public health. Whether attending in person or virtually, registered media will receive :
Don’t miss this opportunity to cover the frontiers of brain science . Register today to secure your access to Neuroscience 2026. Visit the meeting’s webpage to learn more.
Preliminary Program Highlights:
Tuesday, November 17, 10:30–11:30 a.m. EST
AI poses a challenge to neuroscience: What is important and distinctive about human cognition? Winston Chiong, MD, PhD , of the University of California, San Francisco will draw on clinical observations and cognitive neuroscience to illustrate the centrality of personal values in human decision-making. While such values have previously been considered topics just for philosophical theory, this lecture will propose approaches for empirical investigation into the mechanisms underlying these core aspects of human experience.
Fernanda G. De Felice, PhD , of the Centre for Neuroscience Studies at Queen’s University, will describe the critical intersection of Alzheimer’s disease, hormonal signaling, and physical exercise. How lifestyle interventions, specifically physical exercise, drive cognitive resilience and hold the potential to preserve brain health and delay the progression of neurodegeneration will be discussed.
Sunday, November 15, noon–1 p.m. EST
Neurosurgical opportunities to record and stimulate single neurons in humans who can report their memories and intentions provide a unique window into the biology of mind. Itzhak Fried, MD, PhD , of the University of California, Los Angeles will present neuronal codes for space, time, and conceptual content, review modulation across wake-sleep cycles to enhance memory encoding and consolidation, and discuss ongoing work on targeted modification of specific memories.
Sunday, November 15, 10:30–11:30 a.m. EST
Emotions shape nearly every aspect of human experience. In this lecture, Katalin M. Gothard, MD, PhD , of the University of Arizona invites a reconsideration of where emotions reside — not in a central structure, but in the dynamic interplay between brain and body that unfolds over multiple time scales. This lecture proposes that the emotional and social functions of the brain emerge from closed-loop interactions between central neural circuits and body physiology.
Monday, November 16, 9–10 a.m. EST
Although opioids predominate in the management of chronic pain, severe adverse side effects, including respiratory depression and dependence development, greatly limit their use. Allan I. Basbaum, PhD , of the University of California, San Francisco will address the latest preclinical approaches to manage chronic pain, including in silico screening of novel pharmacotherapeutics, neuromodulation, gene therapy, and selective targeting of peripheral nervous system pain mechanisms. There is reason to be optimistic.
Monday, November 16, 10:30–11:30 a.m. EST
Social behaviors, such as aggression and parental care, are thought to be genetically and developmentally hardwired through the neural circuits underlying these behaviors. However, despite their innate nature, the readiness to express these behaviors is highly plastic and can be shaped by social experience and reproductive state. In this talk, Dayu Lin, PhD , of New York University Langone Medical Center will present recent findings on the neural mechanisms that enable this flexibility in social behavior.
Media are required to register in order to access press conferences, embargoed materials, events, and recordings. View SfN’s credentialing policy .
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The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) is an organization of nearly 30,000 basic scientists and clinicians who stu