This proposal requests partial support for the Bioenergetics Gordon Research Conference (GRC) (2 conferences) to be held at Proctor Academy, June 23 - June 28, 2013, and in the summer of 2015 at yet to be determined site. Bioenergetics is a fundamental cellular mechanism affecting aging and a wide spectrum of major human disease, including cancer, neurodegeneration, and metabolic disorders. Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2013, the Bioenergetics GRCs have witnessed, shaped and fostered a remarkable scientific development both in terms of understanding its basic mechanisms and its impact on an ever increasing scope of human disease. The broad and long term goal of this GRC is to promote an integrated approach for the expanding role of molecular and cellular bioenergetics in physiological and pathological processes that underlie human aging and diseases. The Bioenergetics GRC offers a venue to communicate progress toward an understanding of mitochondrial energy transduction and the consequences of defects in oxidative phosphorylation.
The specific aims of these meetings will be to convene about 32 speakers and discussion leaders that represent critical areas of bioenergetics research with a total of over 130 participants for two (2013, 2015) five day conferences. The program in 2013 will feature eight sessions that broadly address current issues in bioenergetic systems in health and disease, including adaptation, structures, functions, mechanisms, supramolecular organizations, and emerging techniques. In addition, poster presenter short talks and discussion session will permit all participants to contribute to these topics. In 2015, a similar program will cover fundamental structural and mechanistic aspects of bioenergetic systems and place continued and increased emphasis on its role in aging, neurodegeneration, metabolic disease, and cancer. The significance of this application is that the Bioenergetics GRC is the premier international scientific meeting covering nearly all aspects in the continuously expanding field of bioenergetics. These conferences direct and propel a broad community of bioenergetics scholars by gathering premier senior and the most promising junior international scientists who represent the future leader in this field. They provide opportunities for graduate students and post-docs to present their work in poster format and exchange ideas with leaders in the field thus, nurturing the next generation of bioenergetics research leaders. The health relatedness of this application is that bioenergetics is a fundamental biological process that impacts nearly all facets of human health. Altered energy metabolism is causative for a significant number of inherited disorders and is involved in biological aging, neurodegeneration, cancer, metabolic diseases, etc.
Bioenergetics is a fundamental biological process that impacts nearly all facets of human health, from biological aging to neurodegeneration, cancer, and metabolic diseases. The broad impact of bioenergetics on human health is in part the result of vigorous scientific exchange facilitated by previous Bioenergetics Gordon Research Conferences. The 2013 and 2015 Bioenergetics GRCs seek to promote an integrated, multidisciplinary view of energy metabolism by promoting exchange of information leading toward an understanding of mitochondrial energy transduction and the consequences of defects in disease.
