The Annual Blood-Brain Barrier Consortium Meeting The 23rd Annual Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB) Consortium Meeting is scheduled for March 16-18, 2017, at Skamania Lodge in Stevenson, Washington. The overall objectives of the annual meeting are to facilitate translational interactions between scientists and clinicians studying the BBB, the neuro-vascular unit (NVU), and the specialized neural barriers in central nervous system (CNS) diseases, and to translate basic and preclinical research advances into clinical trials in neuro-oncology. Every meeting spotlights two or three research areas in which advances may impact delivery, imaging, or therapy in brain tumors and neurological disorders.
The specific aims of the 2017 meeting are:
Specific Aim 1. The breakdown of the NVU in Alzheimer's Disease. We will discuss the accumulation of potentially neurotoxic products associated with BBB breakdown, and clearance of protein and waste products from the brain.
Specific Aim 2. The impact of the NVU in CNS metastases. We will discuss pre-clinical and clinical studies of drug and protein delivery to brain metastases, methods to improve delivery, novel therapeutic and imaging modalities, and the need for chemoprotection.
Specific Aim 3. The role of the NVU in CNS viral infectious diseases. The major focus will be neurologic manifestations seen in dengue viral disease and Zika virus, and possible mechanisms for passage through the BBB. Advancing BBB Consortium clinical research will be highlighted, including implementation of new treatment and neuro-imaging protocols, and planning translational protocols to bring research from the lab to the clinic. The meeting will include presentations by experts in Alzheimer's Disease, CNS metastases, CNS viral infectious diseases, and neuro-imaging followed by large and small group discussions, panel discussions and poster sessions. In future years we plan to continue to discuss current issues, recent advances and future directions in basic science, preclinical, and clinical research in brain tumor imaging and therapy, NVU and BBB physiology, delivery across the BBB and chemoprotection. Dissemination of meeting findings to the scientific community is a major goal. During the previous funding period we published meeting reports/reviews in the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism, Nature Reviews Neuroscience, and Neuro-Oncology; and a chapter in Advances in Pharmacology. The target population for the BBB Consortium meeting includes academic, industry, and NIH clinicians and researchers with research programs in the BBB, NVU, and neuro- oncology, with an emphasis on translational research. We actively recruit participation of new, minority, and women clinicians and scientists. Since the last renewal we increased our attempts to include new BBB investigators, graduate students, women as keynote speakers, minority scientists, and disabled scientists. For example, Dr. Jose Torres (Ponce University, Puerto Rico) attends annually to facilitate participation of Hispanic medical and graduate students. This annual BBB meeting will continue to provide a forum for translational BBB research and the development of clinical trials to improve outcomes in patients with malignant brain tumors.
The overall objectives of the annual Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB) Consortium Meeting are to help translate basic and preclinical research advances into clinical trials in neuro-oncology and neurology. This annual BBB meeting will continue to provide a forum for translational BBB and CNS research and the development of new clinical trials to improve outcomes in brain tumors and CNS disease.
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