2011 Neurotrophic Factors Gordon Research Conference

描述（由申请人提供）：我们要求为2011神经营养因子戈登研究会议提供部分支持。会议将于2011年6月5日至10日在罗得岛州纽波特的萨尔维里贾纳大学举行。该会议每隔一年举行一次，被视为传达神经营养因子领域最高意义的发现的最重要会议。它吸引了几乎所有研究神经生长因子、其作用机制及其在神经系统发育、可塑性和疾病中的作用的顶尖科学家。此外，近年来，许多发育神经科学、神经和精神健康障碍等相关领域的临床医生和科学家以及其公司从事神经和精神健康障碍研究的行业代表参加了会议。多年来，该领域的许多重大突破都在这次会议上得到了展示。会议通过将年轻和成熟的研究人员聚集在一起，在建立神经科学社区方面发挥了催化作用，他们对神经营养因子有不同的兴趣，并在分子生物学、细胞生物学、信号转导、突触传递、发育、行为和疾病方面具有专业知识。2011年会议的首要目标是加强在不同学科工作的科学家之间的交流，以提高他们理解神经营养因子的能力，并推断如何利用它们的作用使我们能够改善神经系统紊乱患者的生活。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We ask for partial support for the 2011 Neurotrophic Factors Gordon Research Conference. The conference will be held from June 5th through 10th, 2011, at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island. This conference, held every other year, is viewed as the most important meeting for conveying discoveries of the highest significance in the neurotrophic factor field. It attracts virtually all of the leading scientists studying neuronal growth factors, their mechanisms of action and their roles in development, plasticity and diseases of the nervous system. Moreover, in recent years it has been attended by a significant number of clinicians and scientists in the related fields of developmental neuroscience, and neurological and mental health disorders and by industry representatives whose companies engage in research in neurological and mental health disorders. Over the years, many of the major breakthroughs in the field have been showcased at this meeting. The Conference has played a catalytic role in building the neuroscience community by bringing together both young and established investigators with diverse interests in neurotrophic factors and with expertise in molecular biology, cell biology, signal transduction, synaptic transmission, development, behavior and disease. The overriding objective for the 2011 conference is to enhance communication between scientists working in diverse disciplines to increase their ability to understand neurotrophic factors and to deduce how exploiting their actions may allow us to enhance the lives of individuals with disorders of the nervous system. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The public health relevance of the Conference is its ability to accelerate the transmission of knowledge from fundamental neuroscience to the benefit of patients that suffer with a variety of disorders - Alzheimer's disease, Down syndrome, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, depression, obesity, epilepsy, stroke, and peripheral neuropathies, including those that complicate diabetes and other chronic medical disorders. As such, it fills an important gap in creating and sustaining research with enormous potential benefit to the health and well being of America and the rest of the world. Indeed, we expect this conference to catalyze many new collaborations that address questions important to understanding and treating neurological and mental disorders.