2008 Barriers of the CNS Gordon Research Conference

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal requests partial support for an international meeting to be held on Barriers of the Central Nervous System (CNS) in Tilton, New Hampshire on June 22 to 27, 2008. The broad and long term goal of this conference is to increase our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms associated with the blood brain barrier (BBB)/neurovascular unit (NVU) in health and disease. One of the primary goals of this meeting is to understand why the BBB excludes important therapeutics from entering the brain of people afflicted with diseases of the CNS. The issue of CNS disease states and the role the BBB/NVU plays in these disease states is the central theme of our meeting. The Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Barriers of the CNS is unique because it brings together (equally) both clinical and basic science researches in a format where full and honest exchange occurs on subjects important to the patient. It is to our mutual benefit that we work together to solve the long term problem associated with an inability to treat CNS disease states because of our paucity of knowledge about the BBB/NVU. The Specific Aims of this meeting will be to convene 45 speakers that present critical areas of both basic and clinical disease research with a total of 150 participants for a five day conference in the isolated and private setting of Tilton School, Tilton, New Hampshire. The program will have two keynote addresses and eight sessions that broadly address current issues in BBB Tight Junctions and Barrier Regulation, BBB Transporters and Barrier Functions, Choroid plexus/Blood-CSF Barrier in health and disease, BBB/NVU imaging, retinal-, spinal-, and tumor barriers, BBB/NVU in stroke, BBB/NVU in Alzheimer's disease, and the BBB/NVU in inflammation. The significance of this application is that the GRC on Barriers of the CNS is one half of the total number of conferences offered in the area of Barriers of the CNS. Only one other conference is offered and it is offered in alternate years to the GRC. This GRC is our only conference every two years. This GRC conference propels research in the international community of BBB/NVU researchers. The health relatedness of this application is clear. Discussions will define strategies to treat CNS disease states with drugs. Discussions at GRC will map the future for defining how to understand CNS disease states and the BBB/NVU and discuss why many CNS therapeutics have been unsuccessful to date. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The health relatedness of this application is clear. Discussions will define strategies to treat CNS disease states with drugs. Discussions at GRC will map the future for defining how to understand CNS disease states and the BBB/NVU and discuss why many CNS therapeutics have been unsuccessful to date.