Annual Midwest DNA Repair Symposium

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant) Environmental exposures contribute to the development and progression of human disease, including cancer, cardiovascular disease and neurodegeneration. Detailed study of the cellular and molecular impact of environmental exposures provides insight into disease etiology as well as identifying humans predisposed to environment related disease. Many environmental exposures induce DNA damage and can impact DNA repair, damage tolerance and/or cellular responses to DNA damage, leading to the accumulation of DNA lesions, mutations, chromosomal aberrations or cell death. Therefore identifying environmental exposures that promote genotoxic stress and understanding how cells respond to DNA damage is critical for understanding cancer and degenerative diseases including aging. The Annual Midwest DNA Repair Symposium (AMDRS) provides a regular forum for deliberating basic and applied research focused on DNA damage and repair as it relates to human genetic diseases, environmental exposures, cancer and aging. The 10th AMDRS will bring together scientists from the U.S. Midwestern States with the goal of enhancing collaborations and disseminating current knowledge about the mechanisms of DNA repair and their influence on environmentally induced DNA damage and human disease. The basic objectives guiding the conduct of this symposium were established in 1999 at the first meeting in Ann Arbor, MI. The three specific aims of the AMDRS are: (1) to provide a venue for scientists, from principally Midwestern states, to present and discuss the current research in the field; (2) to provide students, postdoctoral fellows and junior independent investigators the opportunity to present their work to peers and interact with leaders in the field, and (3) to enhance interactions between researchers and foster collaborations to address important issues in the field of environmentally induced DNA damage and its impact on human disease. A congregation of innovative ideas and novel observations and their dissemination in an intimate setting is anticipated to promote meaningful cross talk amongst researchers in the field leading to rational strategies for combating disease. A second important purpose served by AMDRS is to provide a forum for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to present their work and interact closely with high caliber scientists studying the repair of DNA damage caused by environmental exposures. Topics of discussion will include gene-environment interactions that modulate responses to genotoxic stress, the impact of DNA damage on human cells and developing model systems to study genome instability syndromes. The AMDRS has provided a very economical and effective scientific forum for the past nine years, fostering interactions, forging new collaborations and helping to attract young investigators to careers in environmental health sciences.