Saturday, May 18, 2024
5/18/2024
PROJECT SUMMARY: C. elegans Metabolism, Aging, Pathogenesis, Stress and Small RNAs Symposium The C. elegans Metabolism, Aging, Pathogenesis, Stress and Small RNAs symposium (MAPS) is a biennial international gathering that brings together researchers using C. elegans to study aging and the related disciplines of stress, metabolism, pathogenesis and small RNAs. With the advent of the 8 hallmarks of aging, it has become clear that aging is a multifaceted process that will require interdisciplinary approaches to fully understand. Since each of the areas of focus of MAPS 2024 have been shown to have important roles in the aging process, the meeting provides a unique opportunity for aging researchers to learn about new discoveries in the aging field, to obtain innovative perspectives and to initiate interdisciplinary collaborations. This is the only conference focused on a single model organism used for aging studies. C. elegans is a major platform for aging research and many foundational discoveries and mechanistic insights have originated through worm studies. Indeed, this meeting is a prominent convention for the wider aging community and attracts world leaders in the field. Major goals of the 2024 MAPS meeting are (i) to provide a platform for presentation of predominantly unpublished, cutting-edge discoveries in worm aging from both established and new investigators, (ii) to provide opportunities for postdoc and graduate-student trainees, especially women and under-represented minorities (URMs) to present their research in oral talks and posters, (iii) facilitate mentoring and networking platforms for new faculty and trainees, particularly women and URMs. The 2024 meeting roster so far includes confirmed invited speaker presentations from 41 renowned scientists (17 women (41%), 3 international). Four of the six session chairs are rising-star women in aging research (66.7%). The program contains 6 innovative, interdisciplinary session of talks and features intended to increased participation and visibility of new faculty, post-doctoral trainees and graduate-students: 1) slots for 17 short presentations by speakers selected from submitted abstracts, 2) 40 lightning-round oral presentations by junior trainee poster-presenters aimed at attracting more interest in poster presentations and improving junior participant visibility, and 3) two poster sessions. Based upon feedback from prior meetings, the 2024 meeting also includes two novel workshop initiatives: a strategic ‘Paired-Mentoring’ of young faculty with senior scientists, and ‘Concepts in Geroscience’ initiative to bring new and out-of-the-box thinking to aging research. Through this application, we are requesting funds to support the attendance of the invited speakers as well as the investigators at various career stages, from graduate students and post-docs to newly-independent faculty, who will be participating in the meeting. We will allocate 55% of the funds from this grant to support attendance of female scientists and members of ethnicities under-represented in science. We will offer on-site child-care services to attendees to facilitate participation of young scientists, especially women, with family responsibilities, and to make the meeting fully accessible to individuals with disabilities.
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