This application is to request support for a Keystone ymposia meeting entitled Integration of Developmental Signaling Pathways, organized by Dr. Jim Woodgett and Dr. Joseph Kelleher, which will be held in Victoria, British Columbia from March 23 - 28, 2010. While the importance of developmental signaling pathways such as Wnt, Notch, TGF?, Hedgehog, Hippo, etc., in controlling cell fate determination, tissue organization/homeostasis, and their frequent abrogation in disease has been realized over the past few years, the molecular processes by which these pathways conspire combinatorially and temporally to build sophisticated cellular outcomes is only now becoming apparent. Moreover, simplistic approaches that selectively interfere with one pathway in isolation have resulted in unpredicted outcomes and revealed the presence of interdependencies that require consideration of contextual interactions. Therefore, effective therapeutic manipulation of these systems will require understanding of the mechanisms and interdependencies that determine complex physiology. This is emerging from diverse areas of biology and so requires a meeting of different minds to assimilate the findings. This symposium will bring together experts addressing the interactive mechanisms of developmental signaling with the aim of promoting better models of networks and the design of more effective therapeutic strategies. Opportunities for interdisciplinary interactions will be significantly enhanced by the concurrent meeting on New Paradigms in Cancer Therapeutics which will share a keynote address and a plenary session with this meeting.
While the basic components of the major signaling pathways have been well elaborated, the degree of their integration, feedback and inductive mechanisms and the consequences of their contemporaneous activation are poorly understood. The research discussed at the Keystone Symposia meeting on Integration of Developmental Signaling Pathways will influence the scientific community by increasing awareness of the need to consider multiple pathways and should encourage the development of more selective and effective therapeutic molecules.
