Travel Awards for the 11th International Conference on Environmental Mutagens Abstract The purpose of this application is to request funding to support travel awards for a select number of students and invited speakers to attend the 11th International Conference on Environmental Mutagens (ICEM) to be held in Foz Do Iguacu, Brazil, November 3 - 8, 2013. The ICEM conferences are held every four years on different continents, bringing together students and scientists from academia, industry and government interested in basic mechanisms of environmental mutagens and their impact on human health. The International Association of Environmental Mutagen Societies (IAEMS) is submitting this grant as it is the organization that coordinates the activities of the EMS sister organizations worldwide and is together with Latin American Association of Environmental Mutagenesis, Carcinogenesis and Teratogenesis (ALAMCTA) and Brazilian Society of Environmental Mutagenesis, Carcinogenesis and Teratogenesis (SBMCTA) organizing the 11th ICEM. The program of the 11th ICEM is almost completed and the invited speakers selected to give keynote addresses and symposia presentations are representing cutting edge research of the field of environmental mutagenesis and genomics. The conference should be outstanding and is projected to attract more than 1000 attendees from around the world. The theme for the 11th ICEM is """"""""The Inclusion of Nations in Science: Environmental Mutagens"""""""" and is the premier conference in the field of environmental mutagenesis. The 11th ICEM conference will consist of 23 keynote lectures including world renowned scientists such as: Susan Wallace, USA;Jan Vijg, USA;Jan Hoeijmakers, The Netherlands;Philip Hanawalt, USA;William Bohr, USA; Leona Samson, USA;Fabrizio D'Adda di Fagagna, Italy;Alan Lehman, UK;Jean Marc Egly, France;Hiroshi Kasai, Japan;Thomas Kunkel, USA;Wei Yang, USA;Michael Fenech, Australia, Alain Sarasin, France and Stefano Bonassi, Italy. The program also includes 51 symposia,15 platform/forum sessions and 6 poster sessions. Scientific areas to be covered include cutting edge basic science of DNA damage and repair, cellular stress responses, epigenetics, transcription, replication, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Furthermore, the influence of the environment on the aging process and the induction of cancer and other diseases will be thoroughly covered. Finally, a centerpiece of the conference is discussions on how mutagenic agents can be better identified and detected, what risk to human health they pose, how the environmental levels of these agents could be best regulated and controlled and how to best harmonize regulatory decisions globally. An awards committee selected by the organizers representing different geographical and scientific areas will select 10 graduate students and 10 emerging independent investigators on the merits of their submitted abstract. In addition to the awards to young and emerging scientists, we are requesting funds to cover travel for 2 invited speakers. The funding of this R13 grant application allowing for travel awards will be extremely inspiring for these young aspiring scientists from around the world and should have career defining impact. This next generation of scientists that will be selected to receive these awards will most likely be among the leaders in our field in the near future.
Travel Awards for the 11th International Conference on Environmental Mutagens Many fundamental categories of human disease are driven by mutation, including cancer, inherited genetic disease and aging, and risk factors for essentially all forms of disease include genetic variation that results from germline mutagenesis. Environmental factors are a key contributor to ongoing somatic and germline mutagenesis, as well as to the epigenetic landscape that shapes the consequence of mutations and the health of biological systems more generally. Support for the 11th International Conference on Environmental Mutagens (ICEM) will allow scientists from around the globe to discuss progress and make plans for meeting the health challenges presented by the mutagenic and epigenetic consequences of human environmental exposures.
