13th Annual Midwest DNA Repair Symposium

第13届年度中西部DNA修复研讨会（AMDRS）将于2011年5月14日至15日在俄亥俄州托莱多市托莱多大学健康科学校区的Dana会议中心举行。AMDRS于1999年在密歇根大学启动，此后每年在中西部的多所大学举办。中西部DNA修复研讨会最初被设想为一个论坛，每年将中西部地区的DNA修复研究人员聚集在一起，讨论正在进行的研究并促进合作。DNA修复是维持基因组稳定性和去除DNA损伤的关键过程，如果不进行修复，可能导致基因组突变。DNA修复途径的破坏与许多遗传性癌症以及大多数（如果不是全部的话）散发性癌症有关。了解这些DNA修复途径及其调控将对人类健康产生重大影响。AMDRS现已进入第二个十年，自成立以来，这一系列专题讨论会非常成功。在过去几年中，出席人数显著增加，每年都促进新的合作。这次会议取得成功和出席人数增加的一个重要因素是使参加这次会议的费用保持在较低水平。为了实现这一目标，组织者每年在其本国机构举办研讨会，并获得校内和校外资金来支付一些主要费用。在AMDRS会议上，PI们可以带着他们的整个实验室与该领域的顶尖科学家互动，并在同行中展示他们的工作。AMDRS的三个主要目标是：1)为主要来自中西部各州的科学家提供一个场所，展示和讨论DNA损伤、修复和突变领域的当前研究，并提供促进科学合作的机会。(2)为学生、博士后和刚开始独立研究的人提供机会，向同行展示他们的工作，并与该领域的领导者进行互动。(3)提供这些研讨会的特殊价值，保持他们负担得起。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The 13th Annual Midwest DNA Repair Symposium (AMDRS) will take place in Toledo, OH on May 14 - 15, 2011 at the Dana Conference Center on the University of Toledo Health Science campus. The AMDRS started in 1999 at the University of Michigan and has been hosted at various universities across the Midwest every year since then. The Midwest DNA Repair Symposium was originally conceived as a forum to bring together DNA repair researchers from the Midwestern region on an annual basis to discuss ongoing research and to stimulate collaborations. DNA repair is a critical process to maintain genomic stability and remove DNA damage that if left unrepaired, could result in genomic mutations. Disruption of the DNA repair pathways has been linked to many inherited cancers as well as most, if not all sporadic cancers. Understanding these DNA repair pathways and their regulation will have a significant impact on human health. The AMDRS is now in its second decade, and since its inception, this symposia series has been extremely successful. Over the past several years, there have been significant increases in attendance and new collaborations are fostered each year. One of the important factors to this success and the increase in attendance has been to keep the costs of attending this meeting low. To achieve this goal, the organizers for each year hold the symposium at their home institutions and secure both intramural and extramural funding to cover some of the major expenses. The AMDRS is one meeting to which PI's have been able to bring their entire labs to interact with leading scientists in the field and to present their work among peers. The three principle goals of the AMDRS are: 1) to provide a venue for scientists mainly from the Midwestern states, to present and discuss current research in the field of DNA damage, repair and mutagenesis, and to provide opportunities to foster scientific collaborations. (2) To provide students, postdoctoral fellows, and beginning independent investigators the opportunity to present their work to peers and to interact with leaders in the field. (3) To provide an exceptional value of these symposia by keeping them affordable. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: DNA repair is composed of several cellular processes that remove damaged DNA for repair. Efficient DNA repair is fundamental to the prevention of cancer, selectively disabling DNA repair pathways is essential for chemotherapeutic strategies against cancer. The dissemination of research findings at a centrally located scientific meeting that is highly focused within the field of DNA Repair is an ideal venue towards collaborative determination of the cause, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of human cancer.