2018 AUA BASIC SCIENCES SYMPOSIUM ?UNDERSTANDING INFERTILITY AND DISORDERS AND DIFFERENCES IN SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT? PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT This application requests support to convene a two-part symposium during the 2018 Annual Meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA), to be held on May 20-21, 2018 in San Francisco, California. This symposium will continue our highly successful series, the ?Basic Sciences Symposium,? which has been held annually since 2011. The topic for 2018 is ?Understanding Infertility and Disorders and Differences in Sexual Development,? and will be devoted to featuring experts to communicate and discuss their most recent advances with physicians, physician-scientists, researchers, and other healthcare providers throughout the field. Support for this symposium would provide travel awards for approximately 15 trainees and early-career investigators to attend. An attendance of 200-400 is anticipated. Fourteen of sixteen speakers have already accepted invitations to provide presentations and answer questions on topics such as ?Genetics of Sex Determination,? ?Endocrine Disruptors and their Role in Hypospadias,? ?Gene-Environment Interaction in Cryptorchidism Etiology,? ?Genetics of Prune Belly,? ?Meiosis Defects in Male Infertility,? and ?Paternal Aging and Mechanisms of Increased Pregnancy Loss, Infant Mortality, Birth Defects and Syndromes in Children Conceived by Older Fathers,? among others. The Principal Investigator for this symposium project is Carolyn Best, PhD, AUA Director of Research. The Program Committee is comprised of: ? Co-Chair: Dolores J. Lamb, PhD, HCLD (ABB), Baylor College of Medicine ? Co-Chair: Peter N. Schlegel, MD, FACS, Weill Medical College of Cornell University ? Eric Vilain, MD, PhD, Children?s National Health System ? Robert Reiter, MD, MBA, University of California Los Angeles ? Aria F. Olumi, MD, AUA Chair of Research and Massachusetts General Hospital Speakers will include Eric Vilain, MD, PhD, Children?s National Health System; Martin Cohn, PhD, University of Florida; Linda Baker, MD, UT Southwestern and Children?s Medical Center; Larry Baskin, MD, University of California, San Francisco; Thomas F. Kolon, MD, Children?s Hospital of Philadelphia; Julia Barthold, MD, Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children; Steven Zderic, MD, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; Heino Meyer-Bahlburg, PhD, Columbia University; Peter Schlegel, MD, Weill Medical College of Cornell University; Brendan Lee, MD, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine; Francoise Baylis, PhD, Dalhousie University; John Aitken, PhD, University of Newcastle Australia; John Schimenti, PhD, Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine; Dolores Lamb, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine; Paula Cohen, PhD, Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine; Martin Matzuk, MD, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine; and Christi Walter, PhD, University of Texas Health Sciences Center at San Antonio.
2018 AUA BASIC SCIENCES SYMPOSIUM ?UNDERSTANDING INFERTILITY AND DISORDERS AND DIFFERENCES IN SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT? PROJECT NARRATIVE/PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE STATEMENT This proposal seeks support to enable the American Urological Association (AUA) to invite trainees and other early- career investigators to attend, present their work, and network with selected speakers and other research leaders at the eighth annual Basic Sciences Symposium (BSS) on May 20 and 21, 2018 held in San Francisco, California during the 2018 AUA Annual Meeting. The 2018 BSS will be focused on the problems (genetic, genomic, psychosocial) of male Infertility and disorders of sexual development; the first session will highlight the molecular and mechanistic advances and improved diagnosis that comes from translational research on congenital genitourinary birth defects, as well as the challenges that intersexuality raises for not only the patients and their families but also the physicians involved in their care; while the second session on male infertility addresses key areas of concern for scientists, urologists and their patients, namely advances in personalized medicine and its application to an improved understanding of the molecular defects causing spermatogenic failure, sperm anomalies and paternally mediated effects on the offspring. This symposium will have a major impact by taking advantage of the largest gathering of urologists and urology researchers in the world to convey important research advancements and bring young investigators into this essential yet understudied field.
