FASEB SRC on Transcriptional Regulation During Cell Growth, Differentiation & Dev

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Funding is requested for partial support of a 5 day FASEB Summer Research Conference on "Transcriptional Regulation during Cell Growth, Differentiation, and Development", which will be held in Snowmass, Colorado June 27-July 2, 2010. Many human diseases and disorders, including cancer and congenital birth defects, are related to defective developmental events that are controlled in large part by altered patterns of gene transcription. In the last 10-12 years, these transcriptional changes have been linked to alterations in chromatin organization. Despite great progress in understanding how chromatin remodeling, gene transcription, and specific developmental processes are linked, a number of fundamental questions remain unanswered. A number of histone modifications have been identified, for example, but how histone modification patterns are established or maintained is far from clear. Nor is it known how particular modification patterns affect chromatin folding, transcription factor loading, or recruitment of additional chromatin modifying activities. Genome wide studies have identified the locations of individual transcriptional regulators in given types of cells, under given conditions. Yet it is not clear how, or even how often, such associations are passed from one cell to the next to facilitate epigenetic inheritance of cell behaviors, identities, and functions. We are just beginning to understand how epigenetic events contribute to the plasticity of stem cells or how we can use such events to reprogram differentiated cells back to a self-renewing, pluripotent state. The purpose of this conference is to bring together researchers in these areas for information exchange, thereby fostering collaboration and more rapid progress towards these and other fundamental problems. An outstanding group of scientists that includes both leaders in the field as well as new investigators just establishing their own research programs has been recruited as speakers for this conference. These speakers will highlight diverse and cutting edge approaches to advancing our understanding of the regulation of gene networks during cell growth, differentiation, and development. Although other conferences address questions in transcription, in chromatin, or in development, this conference is unique in that it brings researchers interested in all of these important areas of research together. An understanding of these processes is critical to understanding cancers, neurological disorders, infertility, and developmental abnormalities, so the research areas covered by this conference are critically important to improving human health and well being. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Proper regulation of gene expression is centrally important for normal cell growth and behavior, and abnormal patterns of gene regulation are associated with many disease states, including human cancers. This conference will bring together researchers using cutting edge technologies to define fundamental molecular mechanisms of gene regulation during cell growth, differentiation, and development. Understanding these processes will drive development of new therapies for a wide range of human diseases aimed at correcting abnormal transcriptional states.