FASEB's The Dynamic DNA Structures in Biology Conference

Federation Of Amer Societies For Exper Biology, Rockville MD

Investigators

Abstract

This award will support graduate student, postdoctoral and new investigator attendance at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) meeting at the Oak Island Resort and Conference Center in Nova Scotia, Canada from June 7-12, 2020. The meeting focuses on unique DNA structures and how they affect biological and mutational processes. The meeting is co-organized by Drs. Lorraine Symington (Columbia University), Kirill Lobachev (Georgia Institute of Technology) and Karen Usdin (NIH). The format of the meeting is a combination of 36 invited talks, 14 talks selected from submitted abstracts, and several poster sessions. In addition, two keynote lectures by Virginia Zakian (Princeton University) and Tom Petes (Duke University) will begin the meeting. There are also two dedicated 1-hour sessions for trainees to interact with leading experts and three separate poster sessions held in the evenings. A career-workshop will also be held for trainees. 42% of the invited talks are by women and the organizers and session chairs seek to prioritize graduate students, postdocs and new investigators in the selection of talks chosen from the abstracts. This meeting also affords many opportunities (both formal and informal) for sharing recent research findings and exploring collaborations and seeks to include those underrepresented in science in every aspect of the meeting. This is a premier and unique meeting on alternate DNA structures that draws many national and international participants, and includes many NSF-funded investigators. The meeting began in 2008 and is held every other year. Recent advances in DNA repair, DNA replication, transcription, and non-canonical DNA and DNA-RNA structures will be highlighted in this conference, which will bring together diverse scientists from around the world. This new venue was chosen as a more easily accessible site for both US and international participation than at the last meeting. The session topics include: Expandable Repeats and Human Disease, RNA-mediated Genome Instability, Structure-Induced Genome Instability, Dynamics at Stalled Replication Forks, G quadruplexes and Telomeres, Gene Editing, Single Molecule Analysis of Replication and Repair Structures, and Chromosome Rearrangements/Fragility. The conference primarily highlights unpublished research findings and provides many experiences for young researchers to learn about the field and devise future avenues for research. The meeting will encourage career development of a new generation of researchers, including those who are underrepresented in science. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.