FASEB SRC: The Biology of Calpains in Health and Disease

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SUMMARY This R13 proposal is being solicited to provide partial support for a FASEB Summer Research Conference on “The Biology of Calpains in Health and Diseases”. This conference has become a vital means for calpain researchers from different disciplines to meet and exchange unpublished data and expertise. Through these conferences (which occur every three years), productive collaborations between calpain-focused investigators, clinicians and industry have been facilitated, due to increased interaction and exposure, which are fostered by the FASEB SRC venues. The meeting has provided an intellectually engaging forum for information exchange prior to publication and has allowed faculty and their trainees to learn about emerging research and the availability of rare resources and reagents. These opportunities effectively increase the interest in calpain research, attract young investigators and propel new discoveries. Calpains comprise a large family of proteases that are tremendously conserved amongst species and are ubiquitously distributed in tissues. Since their discovery, there has been remarkable progress in understanding their diversity, structure, physiological roles and involvement in a number of diseases. Today, more than 7,000 research articles focus on the calpains. Because of the increasing relevance of calpains to diseases such as eye diseases, neurodegeneration, muscle and metabolic diseases, wound healing, gastrointestinal disease, inflammation, and cancer, the field is continuously expanding. Between the NIH, the DOD and NSF, the federal government invests more than $33 millions per year in this research area, funding more than 90 projects involving calpain proteases. The meeting is being co-organized by: Vinit Mahajan, Stanford University, Michel Baudry, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA, Leah Kottyan, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Frederic Brocard, Universite Aix-Marseille, France. The Meeting Advisory Committee includes: Peter Davies, Queens University, Athar Chishti, Tufts University, Dorothy Croall, University of Maine, Jim Geddes, University of Kentucky, Peter Greer, Queens University, Canada, and Kevin Wang, University of Florida. This FASEB-organized meeting is the primary opportunity for calpain researchers around the world to gather and exchange unpublished data and to synergize research projects and ideas. Thus, this meeting leverages NIH’s investment and catalyzes progress in the field. This year Conference has a strong component on Calpains and Eye Disorders, as recent findings have revealed the roles of various calpain mutations in several eye disorders.