Gordon Research Conference on Autophagy series

描述（由申请人提供）：本提案要求部分支持将于2010年4月25日至30日在意大利Ciocco举行的Gordon研究会议（GRC）系列自噬（3次会议），并于2012年和2014年在尚未确定的地点举行。自噬是影响正常衰老和广泛的主要人类疾病类别的基本细胞稳态机制。这些疾病作为与衰老相关的独立实体具有重要意义：癌症、神经退行性疾病、炎症、肌肉和免疫疾病以及代谢紊乱。本GRC系列的广泛和长期目标是促进一种综合的方法来定义自噬在人类衰老和疾病背后的生理和病理过程中迅速扩大的作用。自噬GRC系列将有助于阐明自噬途径以及自噬如何与正常细胞生存和死亡途径或其异常有关。这些会议的具体目标是召集40位代表自噬研究关键领域的演讲者和讨论领袖，共有120多名参与者参加三次（2010年、2012年和2014年）为期五天的会议。2010年的课程将包括一个主题演讲和八个会议，广泛讨论自噬调节、自噬信号、自噬机制、自噬体的起源、选择性自噬、自噬在代谢性疾病和癌症、先天和适应性免疫、衰老和神经学中的作用。此外，两个晚上的海报会议将允许所有参与者对这些主题作出贡献。在2012年和2014年，类似的课程将涵盖自噬的基本方面，并继续强调其在衰老、神经变性、肌病、代谢性疾病、癌症和免疫（包括感染、炎症和自身免疫）中的作用。这一应用的意义在于，自噬GRCs已成为年度系列会议的核心，这些会议对国际自噬学者的研究产生了重要影响、指导和推动。这些会议汇集了自噬领域最前沿的研究人员，并为初级科学家和研究生提供了以海报形式展示他们的工作并与该领域的领导者交流思想的机会，从而培养下一代自噬研究领导者。这一应用的健康相关性在于，自噬直接影响广泛的人类健康和疾病状态，包括衰老、神经变性、癌症、代谢紊乱、肌肉变性、免疫功能和炎症性疾病。由GRC会议推动的关于自噬的研究将使我们对正常衰老过程有更深入的了解；帮助开发治疗神经退行性疾病、肌肉萎缩、癌症、代谢疾病、感染、慢性炎症和免疫紊乱的新方法。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal requests partial support for the Gordon Research Conference (GRC) series on Autophagy (3 conferences) to be held in Il Ciocco, Italy April 25-30, 2010, and in 2012 and 2014 at yet to be determined sites. Autophagy is a fundamental cellular homeostatic mechanism affecting normal aging and a wide spectrum of major human disease categories. These diseases are significant as standalone entities while being associated with aging: cancer, neurodegeneration, inflammation, muscle and immune diseases, and metabolic disorders. The broad and long term goal of this GRC series is to promote an integrated approach in defining the rapidly expanding role of autophagy in physiological and pathological processes that underlie human aging and diseases. The Autophagy GRC series will facilitate elucidation of the autophagy pathway and how autophagy pertains to normal cell survival and death pathways or their anomalies. The specific aims of these meetings will be to convene 40 speakers and discussion leaders that represent critical areas of autophagy research with a total of over 120 participants for three (2010, 2012, and 2014) five day conferences. The program in 2010 will feature a keynote address and eight sessions that broadly address current issues in regulation of autophagy, autophagy signaling, autophagy machinery, origin of the autophagosome, selective autophagy, and roles of autophagy in metabolic diseases and cancer, innate and adaptive immunity, aging and neurology. In addition, two evening poster sessions will permit all participants to contribute to these topics. In 2012 and 2014, similar programs will cover fundamental aspects of autophagy and place continued and increased emphasis on its role in aging, neurodegeneration, myopathies, metabolic disease, cancer, and immunology including infection, inflammation and autoimmunity. The significance of this application is that the Autophagy GRCs have become the centerpiece of the yearly series of conferences that critically influence, direct and propel research in the international community of autophagy scholars. These conferences bring together investigators who are at the forefront of the autophagy field, and provide opportunities for junior scientists and graduate students to present their work in poster format and exchange ideas with leaders in the field thus nurturing the next generation of autophagy research leaders. The health relatedness of this application is that autophagy directly impacts a wide spectrum of human health and disease states including aging, neurodegeneration, cancer, metabolic disorders, myodegeneration, immune functions and inflammatory diseases. The research spurred by GRC meetings on autophagy will lead to a greater understanding of normal aging processes; help to develop new approaches in treatments of neurodegeneration, muscle atrophy, cancer, metabolic diseases, infection, chronic inflammation and immune disorders. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Autophagy is a newly appreciated fundamental biological process that impacts nearly all facets of human health, including aging, neurodegeneration, cancer, infection and immunity, inflammation and allergy, metabolic diseases and diabetes, muscle atrophy, etc. The growing realization of the broad impact of autophagy on human health is in part the result of vigorous scientific exchange facilitated by previous Gordon Research Conferences (GRC) on Autophagy. The Autophagy GRCs have been instrumental in the discovery of previously unknown connections between autophagy and human health and the translation of presently acquired knowledge into new drugs and novel treatments. In sum, the Autophagy GRCs represent a key venue fueling the unprecedented 360o growth of this field within what has emerged as an autophagy-based continuum of seemingly diverse human diseases, offering development of previously unanticipated but realistic treatments for a broad spectrum of disorders. Many of the leaders in this field are practicing physicians, further attesting to the direct relationship of autophagy to human health, aging, and disease states.