2007 Neurofibromatosis Conference

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application requests funding support for the 2007 annual meeting of the Children's Tumor Foundation International NF Conference. The Meeting will be held June 10-12, 2007, at the Canyons Resort in Park City, Utah. This annual meeting has had a fruitful history since its inception in 1985, and it plays a lynchpin role as the premier annual gathering of researchers and clinicians in the NF community. The meeting is a forum for research information exchange and discussion for researchers from around the world, and has traditionally fostered collaboration, consensus building, and advances in translational research culminating in clinical trials. This is a time of tremendous advances in NF research on many fronts, from basic through clinical, and this is reflected in the theme of the 2007 meeting - 'Models, Mechanisms, and Therapeutic Targets'. Seven individual sessions will take the Consortium from molecular mechanisms of NF through translational models to clinical therapies. Speakers will include both junior and senior researchers. The goal of this meeting is to juxtapose current findings in biochemical, cellular and organismal systems with preclinical and clinical studies. Each session will also include a keynote address by a leading investigator from outside of NF research to open up broad ranging discussions. Competitive travel awards will bring young investigators for oral presentations, and two poster sessions will allow investigators to present their work to the NF community. We have taken two new approaches in order to increase the visibility of this meeting and of the state of NF research. First, to increase industry awareness of NF, we will seek fiscal sponsorship for this meeting from a large number of pharmaceutical companies. Incentive sponsorships will be offered at diamond, platinum, gold and silver levels. Secondly, the co- chairs and the Foundation will work together to seek publication of a Consortium Report in a peer-reviewed journal. This will promote to the research community at large the status of NF research, the link with other cancers and neurological disorders and the key barriers to be addressed.