The 44^th AnnualMeeting of The Society for Neuroscience was held in Washington DC,USA from November 15 till 19. The Society forNeuroscience (SfN) is a nonprofit membership organization of basic scientistsand physicians who study the brain and nervous system. The Society\'s primarygoal is to promote the exchange of information among researchers. For thispurpose, SfN holds a prestigious annual meeting, attended by scientists andresearchers from around the globe. As a member of the society, Dr. Jie Tu fromBCBDI attended the annual meeting and gave an oral presentation “Optogenetic stimulation of astrocytes promotes neuronaldifferentiation of mesenchymal stem cells and improves the neurological deficitin stroke rats” ina nanosymposium “Astrocyte Action in CNS Disorders”. Dr. Yang Fan, Dr. Pengfei Wei and Ms. Cheng Zhong fromthe BCBDI also participated the annual meeting and gave poster presentations.