FASEB Summer Conference on Transcriptional Regulation During Cell Growth

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Partial funding is requested for a five day FASEB conference on "Transcriptional Regulation During Cell Growth, Differentiation, and Development" to be held at Snowmass Village, Colorado in June 2008. The ability to globally analyze transcription factor pathways and chromatin modification has revolutionized the fields of signal transduction, developmental biology and oncology. An emerging theme is that epigenetic modifications of chromatin and DNA accompany all aspects of gene regulation. This is also the case during the gene misregulation that leads to human diseases including cancer. Yet many fundamental questions remain as to how covalent modifications of chromatin impact the assembly and disassembly of the transcriptional machinery in different contexts. An understanding of the specific mechanisms is central to determining, for example, how tumor suppressor genes are epigenetically inactivated in some cancers and how can a fibroblast be reprogrammed to generate a pluripotent stem cell? The purpose of this conference is to foster new transcriptional approaches to solving problems like these. We have assembled an outstanding group of established, midlevel and newly minted scientists that are at the cutting-edge, examining disparate issues ranging from fundamental mechanisms of transcription to deciphering global networks of interacting genes and transcription factors during development. This FASEB meeting is unique within these fields because it brings together scientists who employ vastly different approaches to study transcriptional regulation. The key objective of the conference will be to leverage the diversity of approaches and systems to generate a new paradigm for studying transcription in complex biological systems. Our philosophy is that knowledge of basic mechanisms provides an important perspective for understanding how networks of genes are activated and silenced during development, differentiation and disease, including cancer. As transcription is the ultimate endpoint for many regulatory processes an understanding of its mechanism will have profound implications for human health.