Genetics 2012: Model Organism to Human Cancer

描述(申请人提供)：这是一份申请资助的会议，由美国遗传学会(GSA)主办，题为“人类生物学的模式生物：癌症遗传学”，将于2012年6月17-20日在华盛顿特区举行。GSA认为，在这个时代，召开一次会议，将研究模型生物的研究人员与研究人类生物学和疾病重要问题的研究人员聚集在一起，是很重要的。这种结合促进了一个充满活力的论坛，让通常不进行互动的科学家之间交换结果和想法。对模式生物的研究为我们现代理解人类生物学提供了基础，从阐明转录调控的机制到为复杂人类特征的全基因组关联研究提供基础的发现。此外，这些研究以及最近的癌症基因组测序项目揭示了生物在细胞生长的最基本方面高度保守的显著程度，以及模式生物研究如何与理解人类组织发育、生理和病理学直接相关。然而，我们仍然需要学习如何最好地将整个系统发育过程中的模式生物应用于进化适合它们的癌症生物学的各个方面。这些挑战需要生物学家之间的积极讨论，他们通常在不同的圈子里活动。我们认为，这次会议填补了科学界所能获得的一项重大空白。我们还认为，这次会议可以作为NIH鼓励的跨学科倡议的催化剂，许多人将其视为癌症生物学和医学未来进展的来源。每届会议将包括两名特邀演讲者(他们也担任会议联合主席)，他们主要以模式生物为重点，或以人类/哺乳动物为重点。此外，将从提交的摘要中选择四个较短的演讲，为年轻的研究人员提供介绍他们的工作的机会，并使其能够纳入特别感兴趣的最新故事。最后，将有三个世界知名科学家(伯特·沃格尔斯坦、埃里克·兰德和安吉丽卡·阿蒙)的主题演讲。会议预计将吸引约500人参加。它将在华盛顿特区的Omni Shoreham酒店举行。除当地科学家外，所有与会者都将被安排在现场住宿，并将一起用餐，以促进他们之间的最大互动。该酒店向残疾人开放，并努力鼓励妇女和代表性不足的少数群体参加。会议的收费结构旨在鼓励年轻科学家参与。 公共卫生相关性：在了解人类疾病和开发治疗方法方面的进展往往来自开发更容易研究的模式生物(例如酵母、蠕虫、苍蝇、斑马鱼、老鼠)。基因组学告诉我们，许多重要的疾病过程发生在比之前所知的更广泛的模式生物群体中。这次会议将促进癌症生物学家和模式生物生物学家之间的科学交流和新的合作，这将加快了解癌症基础生物学的进展，并为癌症预防和治疗的新方法提供基础。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is an application for support of a conference sponsored by the Genetics Society of America (GSA) entitled "Model Organisms to Human Biology: Cancer Genetics", to be held in Washington, DC on June 17-20, 2012. The GSA believes that in this age it is important to convene a meeting that brings together investigators who study model organisms with investigators who study important problems in human biology and disease. This combination promotes a dynamic forum for the exchange of results and ideas between scientists who do not normally interact. Research on model organisms has provided the foundation for our modern-day understanding of human biology, ranging from elucidating the mechanisms for transcriptional regulation to the discoveries that provided the basis for genome-wide association studies of complex human traits. Moreover, these studies, along with more recent cancer genome sequencing projects, have revealed the remarkable extent to which organisms are highly conserved for most fundamental aspects of cellular growth, and how model organism research is directly relevant to understanding human tissue development, physiology, and pathology. However, we still need to learn how best to apply model organisms across the entire spectrum of phylogeny to aspects of cancer biology for which evolution has suited them. These challenges require active discussion among biologists who normally move in different circles. We believe this meeting fills a significant gap in what is available to the scientific community. We also believe that this meeting can act as a catalyst for the type of interdisciplinary initiatives that the NIH encourages and that many see as a source of future advances in cancer biology and medicine. Each session will include two invited speakers (who also serve as session co-chairs) divided between those with a primarily model organism focus or a human/mammalian focus. In addition, four shorter talks will be chosen from the submitted abstracts, to provide opportunities younger investigators to present their work and to enable inclusion of late-breaking stories of special interest. Finally, there will be three keynote talks y world-renowned scientists (Bert Vogelstein, Eric Lander, and Angelika Amon). The meeting is expected to attract approximately 500 people. It will be held at the Omni Shoreham in Washington, DC. All meeting attendees, except local scientists, will be housed on-site and will take most meals together, to stimulate maximal interaction among them. The hotel is accessible to the handicapped and efforts have been made to encourage participation of women and under-represented minorities. The fee structure for the meeting is designed to encourage participation of young scientists. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Progress in understanding human disease and in developing treatments often comes from developing more easily studied model organisms (e.g., yeast, worms, flies, zebrafish, mouse). Genomics has taught us that many important disease processes take place in a much wider group of model organisms than was previously known. This meeting will catalyze scientific exchange and new collaborations between cancer biologists and model organism biologists, which will accelerate progress in understanding the fundamental biology of cancer, and provide the basis for novel approaches to cancer prevention and treatment.