This proposal requests partial funding for an international meeting (GRC + GRS) to be held about """"""""Barriers of the Central Nervous System (CNS)"""""""" in Colby Sawyer College, New Hampshire, on June 19.-20., 2010 (GRS) and 20.-25, 2010 (GRC). The overall goal of this conference is to increase the understanding of the basic mechanisms underlying the function of the blood brain barrier (BBB) / neurovascular unit (NVU) and the Choroid Plexus in health and disease. One major topic of this conference is to provide information how these barriers prevent therapeutics from entering the brain of patients suffering from diseases of the CNS. Therefore, alterations of the NUV and the Choroid Plexus under pathological conditions are central themes of this conference. Since it covers a rather specialized area of research it is one of the very few opportunities, which brings together basic scientists as well as clinicians. They both will benefit from the collaborative effort to approach and solve the problems being related to the treatment of CNS diseases because of our very limited knowledge about the Blood/CNS barriers.
The specific aim of this meeting will be to bring together approximately 51 speakers, who will present the key issues of BBB research and 100 additional participants for a five-day conference in the isolated setting of Colby Sawyer College, New Hampshire. The program will include 2 Keynote Lectures and 8 sessions, that address tight junction molecules and signaling at the BBB, developmental biology of the cerebral vascular system and early and late stages of ageing of the BBB, Blood / CNS Barrier alterations in metabolic/genetic diseases, Blood/CNS Barriers in inflammatory disease states, BBB changes in stroke, trauma and epilepsy, molecular biology and regulation of the blood-CSF barrier / choroid plexus, transporter function and regulation at the blood / CNS barriers and BBB from an industrial perspective - Drug delivery to the CNS The importance of this application is highlighted by the fact that this Gordon Conference is one of the only 2 international conferences being held on this specific research topic in an alternating cycle. So this GRC is the only Gordon Conference every 2 years. The health relatedness of this application is obvious. The presentations and discussions will help to define novel strategies to overcome the barriers in order to achieve effective drug treatment and to understand, why many drugs and drug candidates are of limited effectiveness. Moreover, the conference will help to come to a better understanding of the relationship between CNS diseases and the BBB/NVU. For the first time this conference will be accompanied by a 2-day (Saturday/Sunday) Gordon Research Seminar, which is thought to introduce younger scientists (postgraduate students, Post-docs, junior faculty) to the relevant methods to be applied in blood-brain-barrier research. At the first day in vitro- methods will be discussed, at the second day in vivo-methods will be introduced to the audience.
The health relatedness of this application is obvious. The discussions will define strategies to analyze alterations of the blood brain barriers in disease states and to overcome the blood brain barrier to deliver drugs to the CNS. The meeting will define future research goals to better understand the underlying mechanisms of alterations of the blood brain barrier / neurovascular unit and discuss where the major drawbacks of a successful treatment of CNS diseases are located.
