Support is requested for a Keystone Symposia meeting entitled Molecular Mechanisms of Heart Development, organized by Drs. Benoit G. Bruneau, Brian L. Black and Margaret E. Buckingham. The meeting will be held in Keystone, Colorado from March 26-30, 2017. The heart is the first organ to form in the embryo, and its development and function is essential for life. Defects in heart formation result in congenital heart disease, which affects at least 1% of live births. The lessons learned from heart development are also critical for the development of strategies aimed at regenerating diseased adult hearts. This meeting will address advances in our understanding of cellular and molecular mechanisms of heart development, with a view toward congenital heart disease and cardiac regeneration. Developmental biologists, cardiologists, geneticists and basic scientists from many disciplines can discuss current findings and promote multi-disciplinary collaborations. Opportunities for interdisciplinary interactions will be significantly enhanced by the concurrent meeting on RNA- Based Approaches in Cardiovascular Disease, which will share a keynote address and two plenary sessions with this meeting. NHLBI Relevance: NHLBI, through its many programs, supports research towards understanding heart disease. In particular, the NHLBI?s Bench to Bassinet program is focused on understanding heart development and congenital heart disease, the topic of this conference.
Congenital heart disease (CHD) occurs in 1% of live born children, and results in significant mortality and morbidity. CHDs account for the highest non-infectious cause of death in the first year of life. The Keystone Symposia meeting on Molecular Mechanisms of Heart Development will bring together researchers focused on molecular and cellular mechanisms that control heart development, heart regeneration, and the genetic basis of CHDs, to exchange perspectives, to better understand the nature of the challenge that heart development and CHDs present, and to foster new therapeutic progress.
