FASEB SRC Calcium and Cell Function 2023

University Of Pittsburgh At Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

Project Summary This is an application for partial support of the FASEB Science Research Conference (SRC) on Calcium and Cell Function, which will be held from June 24th – June 29th 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal. The objective of this conference is to stimulate discourse, seed new ideas, and inspire collaborations to accelerate new discoveries on calcium signaling at the basic and translational levels. Calcium is regarded as a signal for life and death, arguably one of the most ubiquitous second messengers in biology that plays indispensable roles in a myriad of biological processes, ranging from heart beating, vascular tone, muscle contraction, synaptic transmission, development, gene expression, cell migration and immune response. Defects in the calcium signal handling machinery can lead to a large number of serious diseases, including neurological disorders, immunodeficiencies, developmental defects and cardiovascular disorders (hypertension, stroke, and cardiac arrhythmia). Because of this extreme diversity of functions and pathologies, researchers working in the calcium signaling tend to present their work at different meetings with little overlap, even though there are many common mechanisms, approaches, and insights into calcium signaling that transcend these boundaries. To address this, a primary purpose of this biennial FASEB SRC is to bring together leading investigators from a diversity of fields to share the latest and most exciting developments in Calcium and Cell Function, with the aim of sharing information across disciplines, establishing new personal contacts, fostering future collaborations, and promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in biomedical research. The co-chairs of the 2023 conference will be Drs. Mohamed Trebak (University of Pittsburgh) and Yubin Zhou (Texas A&M University), as well as Drs. Jen Liou and Ilya Bezprozvanny (University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center), who are all recognized leaders in the calcium signaling field. The Program consists of nine scientific sessions, one keynote address and three special mentoring sessions. A significant portion of talks will focus upon the molecular and cellular basis of cardiovascular diseases. There will be 36 session speakers giving full talks, including 16 women (44% of speakers) and 9 session chairs (5 of whom are women, 56%). Most of the invited speakers have not presented at this conference during prior meetings. We also reserved talk slots to encourage the participation of early career stage investigators and members of under-represented minorities in science, the numbers of which will be bolstered in 9 short talks to be selected from submitted abstracts. The conference venue has appropriate facilities for disabled attendees. The topics and themes covered in this conference will be timely and highly relevant for a broad population of scientists, clinicians, and the general public.