FASEB SRC on Calpains in Health and Disease

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PROJECT SUMMARY: This R13 proposal is being solicited to provide partial support for a FASEB Summer Research Conference on “The Biology of Calpains in Health and Disease”. This conference has become a vital means for calpain researchers from different disciplines to meet and exchange unpublished data and expertise. Through these conferences (that occur every third year), productive collaboration between calpain-focused investigators, clinicians and industry has been facilitated, due to increased interaction and exposure that is fostered by the FASEB SRC venues. The meeting has provided an intellectually engaging forum for information exchange prior to publication and has allowed faculty and their trainees to learn about emerging research and the availability of rare resources and reagents. These opportunities effectively increase the interest in calpain research, attract young investigators and propel new discovery. Calpains comprise a large family of proteases that are tremendously conserved amongst species and are ubiquitously distributed in tissues. Since their discovery, there has been remarkable progress in understanding their diversity, structure, physiological roles and involvement in diseases. Today, more than 7,000 research articles focus on the calpains. Because of the increasing relevance of calpains to diseases such as neurodegeneration, muscle and metabolic diseases, wound healing, gastrointestinal disease, inflammation, and cancer, the field is continuously expanding. Between the NIH, the DOD and NSF, the federal government invests more than $33 mil per year in this research area–funding more than 90 projects involving calpain proteases. The meeting is being co- organized by: Melissa Spencer, University of California Los Angeles, and Leah Kottyan, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Meeting Advisory Committee includes: Vinit Mahajan, Stanford, Athar Chishti, Tufts University, Dorothy Croall, University of Maine, Jim Geddes, University of Kentucky, Peter Greer, Queens University, Canada, and Kevin Wang, University of Florida. This FASEB-organized meeting is the primary opportunity for calpain researchers around the world to gather and exchange unpublished data and to synergize research projects and ideas. Thus, this meeting leverages NIH’s investment and catalyzes progress in the field.