Cohn, DH Project Abstract Structural birth defects are the leading cause of infant mortality in the United States, accounting for about 20% of all infant deaths according to the Centers for Disease Control. As a result there is a deep and lasting impact of structural birth defects on public health, socioeconomic status, and family life. Accordingly, Theme 1 of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Strategic Plan is ?Understanding the Molecular, Cellular, and Structural Basis of Development?, with the ultimate goal of reducing the incidence of structural birth defects. A better understanding of these disorders and their causes holds substantial promise for improving the lives of the tens of thousands of children born with such conditions in the U.S. each year. To further this goal, for nearly two decades scientists studying structural birth defects have met eleven times (approximately every two years) to describe progress and develop collaborations in support of this NICHD mission. This proposal will fund the 2020 Structural Birth Defects Meeting and the subsequent two conferences. The goals of these meetings are a) to share recent, primarily unpublished research results to understand the causes, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of structural birth defects; b) to foster collaborations among basic and physician scientists for future progress in structural birth defects research; c) to support training and mentoring of the next generation of structural birth defects investigators including graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and medical residents and fellows through trainee- specific events during the conference; and d) to support involvement of women, underrepresented minorities and individuals with disabilities in structural birth defects research through involvement in the organization and conduct of the conference and through travel grants to attend the meeting. The three day conference will include oral and poster presentations by investigators funded under programs developed by NICHD and other NIH Institutes as well as presentations derived from submitted abstracts, talks by two keynote speakers on topics of broad interest to the attendees, a roundtable discussion of new directions in structural birth defects research, and five trainee- specific events to foster interactions with leaders in the field. Consequently, the 12th-14th Structural Birth Defects Meetings will extend the critical role and strong track record of the NICHD and the structural birth defects research community in essential, forward-looking research in this important area, accelerating the biological understanding of these disorders and new approaches for diagnosis and treatment for patients.
This is an application for partial support of the 2020 Structural Birth Defects Meeting, the 12th such meeting held since 2001. Support for the subsequent two meetings, in 2022 and 2024 is also requested to firmly establish this conference in support of research in this important area. The discoveries presented at this meeting will drive new collaborations and new directions to accelerate translation of basic knowledge and insights from clinical and laboratory studies of the etiology of structural birth defects into the development of new, innovative, and efficacious strategies for the molecular diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of these disorders.
