Protein aggregation is a key feature associated with a wide range of neurological and systemic diseases of aging, yet the molecular mechanisms, precise role in disease, and therapy to inhibit or reverse aggregate formation remain poorly understood. Recent discoveries have shown that protein aggregation and self- assembly may be a key component of normal cellular organization and regulation, raising the question of how these ?functional assembly? processes are controlled, and why disease-related aggregation is not alleviated in the same way. This R13 proposal seeks core support for a FASEB Summer Research Conference on ?Protein Aggregation, from Structural Variants to In Vivo Sequela?. The twelfth conference in a series that began in 1995, our program seeks to leverage the breadth of proteins, systems, and approaches available to advance our understanding of the full range of biological phenomena linked to protein aggregation and assembly with the goal of ultimately intervening in these processes. The conference will be held in Snowmass, CO, on June 9th-14th, 2019, and will provide a forum for the presentation and discussion of newly arising advances and for establishing collaborative relationships to address the grand challenges in the field. The small size (typically 150 participants) of this conference and its innovative representation of the full range of research on aggregation and self-assembly in both normal cellular function and disease provides a unique opportunity to capture and integrate the complexity of this process and synergistically advance the field.
Diseases associated with protein aggregation, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's, prion disease, amyotropic lateral sclerosis, and type II diabetes, affect an estimated 100 million people worldwide, a significant individual, societal, and economic burden. For most of these diseases, there is no effective treatment or cure. The proposed conference will provide scientists investigating all aspects of protein misfolding diseases a platform for the timely exchange of advances in the field and thereby support the accelerated development of diagnostic, therapeutic, and preventative strategies.
