Cellular Stress Responses and Infectious Agents

Keystone Symposia, Silverthorne CO

Investigators

Abstract

ABSTRACT Support is requested for a Keystone Symposia meeting entitled Cellular Stress Responses and Infectious Agents, organized by Drs. Margo A. Brinton, Sandra K. Weller and Beth Levine. The meeting will be held in Santa Fe, New Mexico from December 4-8, 2016. This conference will bring together researchers studying various cellular stress responses and researchers interested in how various infectious agents activate and manipulate host cellular stress responses. Examples of cellular stress responses activated by infectious agents are: the stress granule response, the unfolded protein response, the DNA damage response, responses to oxidative stress and metabolic stress, autophagy, and other protein quality control responses. Many of these cellular homeostatic mechanisms function as part of innate and intrinsic defense mechanisms to counteract infections. Various infectious agents have evolved to subvert and manipulate many of these anti- pathogen mechanisms by utilizing, evading or inactivating components of these cellular pathways. The study of interactions between infectious agents and these pathways provides new insights about cellular stress responses and identifies new targets for the development of novel therapies for the treatment of infectious diseases. The general topic of this meeting is relevant to the NIAID mission with respect to its mission of understanding and treating infectious diseases. Specifically, studies of cell stress responses and how these responses are utilized and/or counteracted by an infectious agent will lead to a better understanding of cell-pathogen interactions.