This application requests support for the 2019 science research conference on ?Helicases and Nucleic acid-based machines: Structure, mechanism, regulation, and roles in human diseases?. The meeting is sponsored by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) and will take place from July 21-26, 2019, in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The conference is being organized by Rick Russell (University of Texas, Austin, USA), Robert Brosh (NIA- NIH, Baltimore, USA), and Caroline Kisker (University of Wrzburg, Germany). A defining property of DNA and RNA is the stability of its base pairs, and consequently helicase enzymes are integral components of a wide range of nucleic acid processing machines. Their activities in unwinding DNA and RNA, as well as in remodeling protein-nucleic acid complexes, underlie every step of nucleic acid metabolism and the transfer of information from DNA to RNAs and proteins. Defects in these enzymes are associated with a broad spectrum of human diseases including cancer and premature aging. The critical roles of helicases in the regulation of DNA replication, repair, recombination and gene expression and their dysregulation in many diseases, and the breadth of the experimental approaches requires a robust exchange of information among the diverse group of scientists studying the structure, regulation, molecular and cellular functions, and disease-processes associated with helicases. The 11th bi-annual meeting on helicases and nucleic acid-based machines will address this need. The scientific topics at the meeting will range from structural and functional studies that deepen our knowledge of the basic principles through which helicases function all the way to how helicases contribute to the functions of key nucleic acid-based machines and how this knowledge can be exploited to improve human health. With this focus and range, this meeting has unique value for researchers studying a range of biological processes. An innovative format for professional development sessions geared towards women in science and young investigators will also provide a valuable service for these groups. Overall, the meeting will be organized to promote robust and efficient exchange of ideas and information across scientific areas and between established and new investigators in all areas of helicase structure, mechanism, regulation, and roles in human diseases.
Helicase enzymes are integral components of molecular machines that orchestrate, regulate and coordinate such processes as DNA replication, DNA repair, RNA splicing, RNA transport, and many others. It is therefore not surprising that defects in helicases are linked to premature aging and a host of human diseases including Bloom?s Syndrome, Werner?s Syndrome, Rothmund-Thomson Syndrome, Warsaw Breakage Syndrome, Fanconi Anemia, Cockayne?s Syndrome, Xeroderma Pigmentosum, Trichothiodystrophy, Crohn?s Disease, Dyskeratosis congenita and Ophthalmoplegia. This meeting will focus on science that builds our understanding of how helicases function in cancer and aging by facilitating an exchange of information among a diverse group of scientists studying all aspects of the structure, molecular and cellular functions of these important enzymes. We anticipate that the new ideas sparked by presentations and conversations at the meeting will be instrumental for understanding, diagnosing, and treating genomic instability disorders, cancer and aging.
