7th Biennial Symposium on Polyamines in Parasites

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The 7th Biennial Symposium on Polyamines in Parasites will be held at Pacific University, Forest Grove, Oregon, on July 10-13, 2012. The focus of the meeting will be the polyamine pathway as a drug target in parasitic protozoa and other pathogens. Disease-causing parasitic organisms contain polyamine metabolic enzymes that are structurally distinct from their human counterparts, or that do not exist in humans, and thus these enzymes represent attractive targets for antiparasitic drug discovery. The symposium will be interdisciplinary in nature; thus far, participants with expertise in molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics, synthetic chemistry, and structural biology have expressed interest in attending. The meeting will be composed of a series of 30 min talks given by meeting participants and will include a poster session for students and postdoctoral fellows to present their work. A keynote presentation and a round table discussion are also planned. Topics will include: polyamine metabolic pathways in protozoan parasites and other pathogens, validation of polyamine enzyme drug targets, biochemical and structural characterization of polyamine enzymes, drug discovery and inhibitor design, and drug resistance mechanisms. The goal of the symposium is to assess the most recent state of research in the area of polyamines in parasites, develop new scientific collaborations and coordinate drug discovery efforts, with the aim of identifying effective drug treatments for uncontrolled parasitic diseases. Participants will include principal investigators, postdoctoral fellows, and students from both United States and international laboratories that are working directly in the area of the meeting, as well as local Oregon students at the graduate and undergraduate level. The symposium was initiated in Hamburg, Germany, in 2000, and has been held biennially in San Antonia, TX, (2002); New York, NY, (2004); Portland, OR, (2006); Detroit, MI (2008); and Phalaborwa, South Africa (2010). PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The 7th Biennial Symposium on Polyamines in Parasites, to be held at Pacific University in the summer of 2012, is a meeting focused on the polyamine pathway as a potential drug target. Parasites cause severe morbidity and mortality predominantly in developing countries and the need for new therapeutic strategies is urgent. The goal of the meeting is to discuss recent scientific developments and to foster communication, networking, and collaborations.