Support is requested for a Keystone Symposia meeting entitled Common Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration, organized by Bradley T. Hyman, Adriano M. Aguzzi and Ricardo E. Dolmetsch. The meeting will be held in Keystone, Colorado from June 12-16, 2016. Recent advances in understanding the genetics and underlying mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases including prion diseases, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia have revealed overlaps of phenotypes, genetic risks and biological mechanisms across this spectrum of disorders. The common mechanisms include protein templating, glial and inflammatory mechanisms, new understanding of RNA-based toxicity and toxicity associated with protein misfolding, and common downstream mechanisms affecting synaptic function. Moreover, because there appear to be common mechanisms at play, recent progress in therapeutic approaches targeting one of these disorders may have applicability across the whole range of disorders. This Keystone Symposia meeting will enable the in-depth exploration of these various aspects of commonality across neurodegenerative disorders. The concurrent meeting addressing Microglia in the Brain will enhance opportunities for interdisciplinary interactions.
Neurodegenerative diseases, especially Alzheimer's disease, affect over 10 million Americans; nearly every adult in America knows someone who is affected. The costs are staggering and threaten to undermine the solvency of the nation's medical system; and thus far cures remains elusive. In the last several years it has become apparent that Alzheimer's disease might share underlying disease mechanisms with rare diseases such as prion disorders, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/frontotemporal dementia, and Parkinson's disease. The Keystone Symposia meeting on 'Common Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration' will gather experts in each of these disease entities who have examined various aspects of each disease process to present their recent data, with an eye towards learning from comparing and contrasting similarities and differences.
