Cardiac Development, Regeneration and Repair

Keystone Symposia, Silverthorne CO

Investigators

Abstract

? DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Support is requested for a Keystone Symposia meeting entitled Cardiac Development, Regeneration and Repair, organized by Christine L. Mummery, Joseph C. Wu and Jonathan A. Epstein. The meeting will be held in Snowbird, Utah from April 3-7, 2016. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. There is increasing evidence that developmental mechanisms regulating cardiac and vascular cell lineage differentiation and organogenesis contribute to cardiovascular disease in childhood and throughout life and could be leveraged to reduce cardiac damage and mediate repair or regeneration once damage has occurred. This meeting will emphasize shared molecular mechanisms in cardiovascular development, regeneration and disease and consider how patient-relevant pluripotent stem cell models can contribute to understanding human disease states. Discussion of new bioassays, methods of genetic modification and bioengineering in animals and stem cells will complement these sessions, with the aim of facilitating translational approaches in cardiovascular regeneration, repair and disease modeling. Overall, the goal of the meeting is to bring together world-class speakers and researchers with expertise in cardiac embryology, molecular biology, stem cell biology, human genetics and tissue engineering to facilitate new scientific directions and therapeutic approaches in the management and treatment of cardiovascular disease. Opportunities for interdisciplinary interactions will be significantly enhanced by the concurrent meeting on Heart Failure: Genetics, Genomics and Epigenetics, which will share two plenary sessions with this meeting.