This proposal requests partial support for the 12th Gordon Research Conference (GRC) and the 2nd Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) on ?Salivary Glands and Exocrine Biology? entitled ?Linking form to function: developmental, regenerative and evolutionary processes defining secretory organ physiology and pathology? to be held from February 2-8, 2019 at the Hotel Galvez in Galveston, Texas. The GRC will include plenary sessions on exocrine organ development and aging, tissue engineering and regenerative strategies, head and neck cancer, salivary protein function and evolution, membrane functions in exocrine glands, autoimmune disease pathogenesis and treatment, and current topics in cell biology of exocrine glands. Invited speakers for the GRC will include eminent scientists from academia, industry, and government. The talks will include both senior and junior scientists from diverse fields who will present current unpublished research findings on subjects identified by previous meeting organizers and attendees as of greatest interest to the field. Several keynote and plenary speakers will be invited to deliver seminars on organ aging, glycobiology and disease outcomes, immunotherapy, clinical genomics and clinical trials for Sjgren's syndrome, a common autoimmune disease that affects exocrine glands and negatively impacts the quality of life of patients for whom no suitable and effective therapies are available. An innovation at this GRC will be inclusion of a ?power hour? for supporting the professional growth of women by providing an open forum for discussion, networking, and mentoring, as well as a ?poster slam? where posters are previewed through mini-presentations at the podium. In addition, poster sessions will be held daily at the GRC to enable all attendees to present and discuss their data in an open forum. We also offer for the first time an informal workshop on saliva collection for investigators to exchange their experiences, methodologies, and protocols for collection of salivary secretions from humans and rodents. The overall goal of the GRC and GRS will be to foster scientific exchanges and engender research collaborations in disciplines that are viewed as having a major impact on the development of novel strategies to improve human health.
Specific Aims i nclude: 1) to present a program of topical interest to scientists in academia, industry and government and to assemble junior and senior investigators in a pleasant setting where they will have opportunities to present unpublished findings before a knowledgeable audience and engage in a wide range of critical research discussions; 2) to offer for the first time, a GRS to be attended by graduate students and postdoctoral associates who will present their novel research findings before an audience of their peers and; 3) to emphasize presentations on state-of-the- art methodologies of interest to the exocrine biology field towards the goal of developing innovative approaches to the improvement of human health by preventing disorders of secretory organs.
Exocrine biology includes a variety of secretory organs, including salivary glands, lacrimal glands and the pancreas. Current research is focused on preventing diseases of these tissues, including autoimmune diseases that lead to tissue degeneration, and environmental and genetic factors that lead to the loss of secretory function. The major goal of the GRC and GRS on Salivary Glands and Exocrine Biology is to foster scientific exchanges and engender research collaborations in disciplines related to exocrine biology and disease that will have a major impact on novel strategies to improve human health.
