ABSTRACT
Support is requested for a Keystone Symposia conference entitled Neurodegenerative Diseases: Genes,
Mechanisms and Therapeutics, organized by Drs. Eric J. Huang, Alison Goate and Richard M. Ransohoff. The
conference will be held in Keystone, Colorado from June 5-9, 2021.
Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and AD-related disorders (ADRD) are quickly
becoming a global burden. The number of diagnosed cases of neurodegenerative diseases is staggering and
rising at an alarming rate as the population ages. While it is well-recognized that neurodegenerative diseases
are characterized by aberrant protein misfolding and aggregate formation, the mechanisms that initiate or
promote proteinopathy in disease-specific neural circuits remain poorly understood. Recent advances in
human genetics and genome-wide association study (GWAS) have uncovered several genetic loci that are
critical for the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. Furthermore, technological advances in
transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics offer many critical new insights into the disease mechanism, as
well as opportunities for the development of novel therapeutics that can reverse or mitigate neurodegeneration.
Despite these exciting new developments, there are significant gaps in connecting genetic information with
disease mechanism and in harnessing the critical role of glia-neuron interactions to develop therapeutic
interventions. This conference aims to provide an integrated discussion of the latest advances in research and
therapeutic development for neurodegenerative diseases. This conference program will focus on the roles of
genetic risk factors and their contributions to glial and neuronal health in the aging brain, the biophysical
properties of protein misfolding and the propagation of disease-specific proteinopathy, the role of intracellular
vesicular trafficking in disease pathogenesis, new insights into the diverse role of glia, innate immunity and
microbiomes in neurodegeneration, and novel therapeutic approaches that specifically target each of the novel
biological areas. It is anticipated that this conference will stimulate more discussions and promote new
collaborations among scientists in the academia and industry that ultimately lead to new therapeutic targets to
combat neurodegenerative diseases.