The biennial Hemoglobin Switching Conferences have been ongoing for 43 years, and there are multiple reasons for its resounding, continued success. First and foremost, the organizers Higgs, Engel, Zon and Sankaran strive to identify and then highlight new discoveries by always including new, young investigators and studies that impinge on the process of globin biosynthesis. Second, this is the only venue (other than the annual ASH meeting, with more than 25,000 participants) that brings together basic scientists and clinicians to discuss both the molecular and developmental origins of, and treatments for, the hemoglobinopathies, the most common inherited diseases in man. Third, the meetings have historically evolved with intense focus on wherever the science led, thus remaining extremely topical, and has not only been the forum for presenting the first cDNA clones, the first cloned human genomic locus (and the first mutations in same), the structure of erythropoietin and the discovery of the GATA and KLF transcription factor families, but it has also launched the careers of many of the current leaders in this field (indeed, numerous former postdoctoral fellows and current faculty first presented their work in plenary sessions at this conference). Fourth, this is the only meeting on this topic that routinely has approximately equal attendance by investigators from both inside and outside the U.S., and this fact is reflected by the biennial alternation in conference site between the U.S. and Europe. In 2020 the Conference will be held in Crete, Greece.
The most commonly inherited human genetic disorders are the hemoglobinopathies, diseases that disrupt the function of the red blood cells that carry oxygen to tissues that execute basic metabolism and that also carry CO2 back to the lungs for exchange for fresh oxygen. We now understand a great deal about the origins of these metabolic diseases from a genetic and biochemical perspective, and we have recently developed effective therapies to treat them. This international conference is held every two years is unique. It provides a forum for sharing information between molecular and cell biologists who evaluate disease phenotypes and etiology and their clinical counterparts who treat these diseases. This conference is intentionally more inclusive of young scientists, women and minority participants than any other forum.
