PI Charles H. Halsted The proposal requests travel and registration support for speakers and trainees to attend the 13th biennial FASEB Summer Research Conference on Folic Acid, Vitamin B12, and One-Carbon metabolism which will be held August 1-6, 2010 at Carefree, Arizona, and for travel support for speakers and trainees to attend the two succeeding conferences in 2012 and 2014. The overall goal of the conference is to provide a venue for formal and informal interactions among established and new scientists and trainees in the field.
The specific aims of the conference include provision of up to date stimulating presentations on established and emerging topics and to encourage new concepts and collaborations among basic and clinical scientists within the field. Initiated in 1984, the conference has evolved from discussions of the roles of folate and vitamin B12 in megaloblastic anemias, fetal development, and cancer to now cover wide ranges of basic and clinical topics consistent with the rapid evolution of science the field. Over a 5 day period with a keynote and 9 different 4-hour sessions, the 2010 conference will address basic and clinical topics that include methylation and epigenetic regulation of gene activation in varied diseases, folate and vitamin B12 transport, fetal development and birth defects, one- carbon metabolism and cancer, hyperhomocysteinemia and mechanisms of disease, one carbon metabolism and cognitive disorders, folate and physiologic distress, the biochemical regulation of methionine metabolism, and a workshop on public health aspects of folate and vitamin B12 deficiencies. Based on prior attendance, about 150 participants are expected to attend, and the program will include 39 confirmed speakers and an additional 12 trainees and new investigators who will be selected for short talks based on quality of their abstract submissions. There will be in addition two poster sessions and two special luncheons for interactions of trainees with session chair senior scientists. This biennial conference has been a major influence on the field through stimulating new ideas for research, enhancing collaborations between basic and clinical scientists, and attracting new investigators and the planned current and future conferences will continue this tradition.
Project Narrative PI: Charles H. Halsted, MD The proposal requests $35,000 per year to cover partial speaker and trainee travel and registration costs to attend the FASEB Summer Research Conference on Folic Acid, Vitamin B12, and One-Carbon Substances that will be held in 2010 in Carefree, Arizona and on two other occasions in 2012 and 2014. Each 5-day conference brings basic and clinical scientists together for stimulating up to the date presentations on various aspects of the field and for encouraging new concepts and collaborations among established and new investigators and trainees. The field is relevant to methionine and homocysteine metabolism, genetic and epigenetic regulation of disease processes, and understandings and development of new treatments of diseases that include cancer, birth defects, cognitive disorders, lipid disorders, liver and cardiovascular diseases.
