New Frontiers in Neurodegenerative Disease Research

joint with Neurogenesis

Organizer(s): Li-Huei Tsai, Steven M. Paul and Michael Hutton

Sponsored by Janssen R&D, Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated. Supported by an educational donation provided by Amgen.

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Summary of Meeting:

It has been more than two decades since genes causing familial Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, motor neuron disease and other neurodegenerative disorders were identified. While numerous molecular and cellular events contributing to these devastating illnesses have been revealed, key pathological events and feasible targets for therapeutic intervention still elude us. Increasing evidence supports that mechanisms underlying neuronal demise may be shared amongst multiple neurodegenerative disorders. For example, compromised mitochondria function, although prominent in Parkinson’s disease, is also shared in Alzheimer’s and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Emerging evidence also indicates a negative influence of neurotoxic stress upon the epigenome, and that the restoration of the epigenome can be beneficial for cognition. Recent insights into the relationship between genome integrity and the aging brain have emphasized the role of DNA damage and repair in neuronal function. Particularly intriguing are the recent observations that protein misfolding can have either beneficial or detrimental effects and that misfolded proteins implicated in several neurodegenerative disease can propagate themselves. New tools for the study of neurodegenerative disorders include the use of human neurons derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) in addition to advances in the field of biomarkers and functional imaging. This meeting aims to address emerging areas in neurodegenerative disease research that may reveal novel mechanisms and targets for therapeutic intervention. It bring together experts studying various degenerative diseases using diverse approaches to provide reviews of up-and-coming areas in these fields and inspire new insights and approaches to the battle against neurodegenerative disease. Opportunities for interdisciplinary interactions will be significantly enhanced by the concurrent meeting on Neurogenesis, which will share two plenary sessions with this meeting.

Scholarship Deadline: October 4 2012

Discounted Abstract Deadline: October 4 2012

Abstract Deadline: November 1 2012

Discounted Registration Deadline: December 4 2012

Abstacts when book is in proofing process

Keystone Symposia thanks our Sponsor(s) for generously supporting this meeting:

We gratefully acknowledge additional support for this conference from:

We gratefully acknowledge additional in-kind support for this conference from those foregoing speaker expense reimbursements:

Genentech, Inc.

We gratefully acknowledge the generous grant for this conference provided by:

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Grant No. 1R13NS081943-01
The views expressed in written conference materials or publications and by speakers and moderators do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services; nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

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