Support is requested for a Keystone Symposia meeting entitled Neuroepigenetics, organized by Hongjun Song and Li-Huei Tsai. The meeting will be held in Santa Fe, New Mexico from February 22-26, 2015. Following the completion of the Human Genome Project, much of biology's focus has been shifted from the raw sequence of genes to their regulation over time and in response to environmental stimuli, in which epigenetics represents a core mechanism. To date, an increasing body of evidence has surfaced indicating that multiple neurological disorders are, in part, caused by aberrant epigenetic modifications. While tremendous progress has been made in understanding epigenetic regulation of gene expression in the nervous system, we have yet to learn how neural epigenome responds to positive (such as learning experiences, enriched environment) and negative (such as epilepsy, injury, stroke) signals as a whole and at the individual gene level, and how the epigenome is regulated at the molecular level. This knowledge is important for us to further understand normal brain development, plasticity and function and how the epigenome becomes malfunctioned in diseases. Different from proliferating cells commonly studied in epigenetics, one major subject of the emerging new field of neuroepigenetics deals with various post-mitotic neurons. This Keystone Symposia meeting aims to will bring together experts and pioneers in studying neuroepigenetics to provide an up-to-date and comprehensive picture of epigenetic mechanisms in neural development, plasticity, neuronal function and dysfunction. The program for this meeting is highly likely to attract a wide variety of investigators, many of whom might not otherwise interact.
An increasing body of evidence has surfaced indicating that multiple neurological disorders are, in part, caused by aberrant epigenetic modifications. Neuroepigenetics is an emerging new field that cuts across many disciplines, including cellular and molecular biology, biochemistry, development, plasticity, physiology, and medicine. The Keystone Symposia meeting on Neuroepigenetics aims to bring together experts and pioneers in studying neuroepigenetics to provide an up-to-date and comprehensive picture of epigenetic mechanisms in neural development, reprogramming and cell identity, plasticity, neuronal function and dysfunction.
