The purpose of this application is to support a new initiative at the 29th annual meeting of the American Society for Neurochemistry (ASN) in 1998. We propose to organize a portion of the conference under the theme of Aging and Neurodegenerative Disease , in order to address these topics in depth. There will be symposia on the topics of Genetics of Aging and Neurodegenerative Disease , Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration in Aging and Disease and Treatment of Neurodegenerative Disease. The speakers in these symposia will include young investigators, women and minorities, if possible, and will be selected by trans-symposia coordinators , who are experts on the topics of aging (Dr. Eugenia Wang), Parkinson's Disease (Dr. Barry Hoffer), Alzheimer's Disease (Dr. Donald Price) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Dr. Jeffrey Rothstein). Each symposium will include talks on aging and on each disease, to provide an integrated picture of the genetics and mechanisms of neurodegeneration in normal aging and the neurodegenerative diseases. The symposium on treatment will assess the development of new therapeutic approaches that are based on research advances. Each symposium will be chaired by an expert in the main topic of the symposium (e.g.,genetics). At the close of each symposium, there will be a roundtable discussion that includes the speakers, the chairs and the trans-symposia coordinators. We have also planned a plenary talk associated with the theme, to be delivered by M. Flint Beal, MD. In addition, the Program Committee will solicit and select workshops related to the theme from among those submitted by the membership, and will solicit poster presentations related to the theme that will be grouped in special sessions. From among these submitted poster presentations, the Program Committee and trans-symposia coordinators will select junior investigator awardees whose attendance at the meeting will be supported financially. This aspects of the program will contribute to our objective of providing a training/mentoring experience for junior investigators (including graduate students). As a further training opportunity, we have planned Meet the Scientist sessions to allow for more interaction between junior and senior investigators. The meeting-within-a-meeting will allow for fertile intellectual interactions among NIH-supported extramural scientists and others academia, industry, government, and private institutions. In addition, the theme-related sessions will allow young investigators the opportunity to present their work and to interact in an informal and collegial environment with senior scientists working in similar research areas.
