The purpose of this conference on Early Life Programming of Neurodevelopmental Disorders is to bring together both basic and clinical scientists to facilitate collaborative efforts between these groups with overlapping interests in affective disorders, schizophrenia, and obesity. This meeting is designed to have brief talks by speakers on their most recent studies and include new directions that their work is heading. This will allow attendees to determine what resources could be shared, what information may benefit new studies, and will encourage a more rapid endpoint to translational outcomes. The meeting will have a format where talks are centered on disease focus. Each session will include basic, clinical, and non-human primate speakers. Each afternoon will have a breakout session focused on each disease. These sessions will include the speakers from that day as well as all attendees interested in that disease, and will be led by the session chair. Each participant will present one slide detailing their interest in the field and what their future plans and goals are. Discussion will then promote collaborative interactions such that materials, reagents and resources can be effectively utilized, new mechanistic findings can be applied to proposed studies, and funding opportunities focused on translational abilities will be emphasized. Discussion will focus on defining the direction the field needs to go and what resources would get us there faster and more effectively. This conference will allow experts in the field from all disease areas to come together and build networks and promote collaborations that will undoubtedly facilitate our understanding of disease treatment and prevention. Bale, Tracy L. Neurodevelopmental disorders currently impact 6-10% of Americans. As studies support a major contribution of early life programming in disease susceptibility, there is a critical need for a forum in which basic and clinical scientists can share their most recent findings and future directions in order to facilitate collaborations and the best utilization of materials, and for the promotion of cross-disease interest discussions to occur such that underlying mechanisms, genes, and strategies can be shared. The justification for this meeting is for the initial presentation of science to provide the stimulus for the critical discussions to occur in the afternoon Breakout Sessions by providing the time and forum to do so where scientists across these diseases can share information and build networks and collaborations that will promote faster and more effective outcomes in translational research.
Bale, Tracy L. Neurodevelopmental disorders currently impact 6-10% of Americans. As studies support a major contribution of early life programming in disease susceptibility, there is a critical need for a forum in which basic and clinical scientists can share their most recent findings and future directions in order to facilitate collaborations and the best utilization of materials, and for the promotion of cross-disease interest discussions to occur such that underlying mechanisms, genes, and strategies can be shared. The justification for this meeting is for the initial presentation of science to provide the stimulus for the critical discussions to occur in the afternoon Breakout Sessions by providing the time and forum to do so where scientists across these diseases can share information and build networks and collaborations that will promote faster and more effective outcomes in translational research.
| Bale, Tracy L; Baram, Tallie Z; Brown, Alan S et al. (2010) Early life programming and neurodevelopmental disorders. Biol Psychiatry 68:314-9 |
