The 18th Hemoglobin Switching Conference

描述(申请人提供)：两年一次的血红蛋白转换大会已经持续了31年，其成功的原因是多方面的。首先，组织者(Stamatoyannopoulos、Higgs和Engel)总是努力发现并突出新的发现，方法是总是包括影响血红蛋白转换过程的新的研究人员和研究。其次，这是唯一一个将基础科学家和临床医生聚集在一起讨论血红蛋白疾病的分子和发育起源以及治疗方法的场所(除了有14,000人参加的ASH年度会议)。第三，这些会议在历史上已经演变为关注科学引领的方向，因此仍然非常有针对性，不仅是展示第一个cdna克隆、第一个克隆的人类基因组位置(及其第一个突变)、促红细胞生成素结构的论坛，而且还启动了该领域许多当前领导者的职业生涯(事实上，许多博士后研究员和年轻教师在这次会议上首次在全体会议上展示了他们的工作)。第四，这是唯一一次有关这一主题的会议，来自美国国内外的调查人员出席人数大致相同，这一事实从美国和欧洲之间每两年一次的地点轮换中得到了反映。2012年，会议将再次在加利福尼亚州蒙特雷的阿西洛玛会议中心举行，因为国际通达性和经济性。 与公共卫生相关：人类最常见的遗传性疾病是血红蛋白病，这种疾病破坏了红细胞的功能，红细胞将氧气输送到组织中执行基本新陈代谢，并将废物带回肺部以换取新鲜氧气。我们现在从遗传和生化的角度对这些代谢性疾病的起源有了很大的了解，但我们才刚刚开始了解如何设计出有效的疗法来治疗它们。这次国际会议每两年在欧洲和美国轮流举行，是同类会议中唯一的一次，为研究疾病特征和病因学的分子和细胞生物学家以及治疗这些疾病的临床同行提供了一个分享信息的论坛。这次会议自觉地比任何其他论坛都更包容青年、妇女和少数群体的参与。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The biannual Hemoglobin Switching Conference has been ongoing for 31 years, and there are multiple reasons for its resounding success. First and foremost, the organizers (Stamatoyannopoulos, Higgs and Engel) strive to identify and then highlight new discoveries by always including new investigators and studies that impinge on the process of hemoglobin switching. Second, this is the only venue (other than the annual ASH meeting, with > 14,000 attendees) that brings together basic scientists and clinicians to discuss both the molecular and developmental origins of, and treatments for, hemoglobinopathies. Third, the meetings have historically morphed into focusing on wherever the science led, thus remaining extremely topical, and has not only been the forum for presenting the first cDNA clones, the first cloned human genomic locus (and the first mutations in same), the structure of erythropoietin, but it has also launched the careers of many of the current leaders in this field (indeed, numerous postdoctoral fellows and young faculty first presented their work in plenary sessions at this conference). Fourth, this is the only meeting on this topic that routinely has approximately equal attendance by investigators from both inside and outside the U.S., and this fact is reflected by the bi- annual alternation in site between the U.S. and Europe. In 2012 the Conference will again be held at the Asilomar Conference Center in Monterrey, CA, because of both international accessibility and economy. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The most commonly inherited human disorders are hemoglobinopathies, diseases that disrupt the function of the red blood cells that carry oxygen to tissues to execute basic metabolism and that also carry waste products back to the lungs for exchange for fresh oxygen. We now understand a great deal about the origins of these metabolic diseases from a genetic and biochemical perspective, but we are only beginning to understand how we might devise effective therapies to treat them. This international conference, held every two years alternating between Europe and the U.S., is the only meeting of its kind, and provides a forum for sharing information between molecular and cell biologists who study disease characteristics and etiology and their clinical counterparts who treat these diseases. This conference is consciously more inclusive of young people, women and minority participation than any other forum.