The annual Center for Neural Circuit Mapping (CNCM) 2025 Conference took place at the Irvine Marriott from August 18 to August 20 and brought together 380 participants who represented 104 academic institutions and 16 industrial organizations from across the United States and international locations. The fifth in-person conference organized by CNCM received support from the UC Irvine Center for Neural Circuit Mapping (CNCM) and the Cajal Club and the Allen Institute for Brain Science. The conference sessions focused on "The Changing Brain" theme which led to six sessions about evolution and development and neural circuits and systems and learning and brain states and neurological disorders. The conference program included 26 invited talks and nine selected short talks and 160 poster presentations and two workshops about spatial transcriptomics and viral-genetic tools which took place at UC Irvine on August 21.

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The conference dedicated resources to graduate student and postdoctoral scholar development through funding from a National Institute of Mental Health R13 Conference Grant. The conference awarded 14 travel grants and 17 conference fee scholarships to early-career researchers who competed against more than 65 applicants. The event attracted 71.3% of participants from outside UCI and 7.3% from international locations which created an active environment for knowledge sharing and professional connections. The meeting achieved success because of the backing from UCI School of Medicine and Office of Research and the combined work of CNCM and the Cajal Club and UCI and Irvine Marriott staff.