Support is requested for a Keystone Symposia conference entitled Cerebral Fluid Flow and Function: Lymphatics, Glymphatics and the Choroid Plexus, organized by Drs. Edwin S. Monuki, Maria Lehtinen and Maiken Nedergaard. The conference will be held in Santa Fe, New Mexico from February 16-19, 2020. The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) has long been a missing link in our understanding of brain form, function, and disease. However, recent work has begun to illuminate how the CSF regulates the brain in ways that extend far beyond its passive historical roles and provides unique opportunities for studying, diagnosing, and potentially treating brain disorders. This Keystone Symposia conference brings together an interdisciplinary group of new and established scientists to discuss this newfound excitement about CSF. By exchanging discoveries about CSF sources (choroid plexus), routes (glymphatics), drainage (lymphatics), clinical utilities, and by fostering new ideas, collaborations, and training opportunities, this conference aims to coalesce an international community that can propel the CSF field forward. This conference is being held jointly with the Keystone Symposia conference entitled Brain Therapeutics: Disruptive Technologies and Opportunities for Drug Development. The goal of this paring is to stimulate thinking about CSF-based medicinal therapies, given the advantages of CSF over blood in being behind the blood-brain barrier and in equilibrating with the interstitial fluid surrounding brain cells.
Recent work has begun to illuminate how cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) regulates the brain in ways that extend far beyond its passive historical roles and provides unique opportunities for studying, diagnosing, and potentially treating brain disorders. This Keystone meeting marks the dawn of a new era for CSF biology and brings together an interdisciplinary group of scientists to discuss this newfound excitement about CSF. This Keystone Symposia conference will allow investigators to capitalize on the current potential in the field and fuel scientific growth in these critical, previously uncharted directions.
