2022 Bones and Teeth Gordon Research Conference and Seminar

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Summary/Abstract The skeleton is an organ composed of many tissues and with a variety of fundamental and vital functions. In the last few years, it has become increasingly clear that the metabolic pathways and local environments have a crucial role in the biology of the skeleton. Those new developments are opening exciting avenues for research. They may also lead to novel treatments of devastating conditions such as osteoporosis, osteopetrosis, bone cancer, and genetic disorders of the skeleton, as well as systemic pathologies, including the dysregulation of bioenergetic metabolism. The theme of our conference is “Metabolism and local environments in development, disease and regeneration of the skeleton”. Significant progress in the understanding of local communication among cells that form bone and maintain its integrity during the lifespan of the organism will be presented. Likewise, the interactions of bone cells with the other tissues constituting the skeleton, namely blood vessels, hematopoietic marrow, bone marrow fat, bone marrow stroma, and tendons will be examined. Lastly, the molecular and cellular mechanisms within the skeleton that integrate local interactions, bioenergetics metabolism and biomechanical forces will be discussed. The overall goal of the conference is to encourage the pursuit of new research directions and novel therapeutic approaches, as well as foster highly productive collaborations among top laboratories in the field. Based on the successful Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) that preceded the B&T GRCs in previous years, the GRC organization has approved a GRS associated with the 2022 B&T GRC. The 2022 B&T GRS, organized by Shauni Loopmans and Claire Arata, will be called "From bench-to-bedside: understanding the skeleton for developing therapies" and will focus more on the importance of understanding metabolic requirements and environmental factors in the bone for its translation toward therapies. GRS will feature a mentorship program that provides guidance to early-stage scientists on career development. This year, the mentorship component will be called “A roadmap to being successful in academia”. The organizers will select talks from submitted abstracts, and all attendees are encouraged to present posters and stay for the subsequent GRC. Based on the previous experiences, young scientists excited by GRS participation remain highly engaged at the GRC.