2024 Neurobiology of Brain Disorders Gordon Research Conference and Gordon Research Seminar - The Specific Aims of the 2024 Neurobiology of the Brain Disorders Gordon Research Conference (GRC) and the Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) are to promote dialogue among established and emerging leaders in neurodegenerative disease. The Co-Chairs, Drs. Karen Duff and Chris Shaw, in consultation with past chairs, and the 2026 Vice Chairs (Drs. Hemali Phatnani and Michael Ward) have planned nine oral sessions that will focus on the current and future landscape of research for the major neurodegenerative diseases, including how genetics is informing on disease mechanisms, how genomics approaches (including bioinformatics) are being used to add more mechanistic insight into genetic findings, how biomarkers are being used to understand mechanisms, diagnose and monitor disease and the status of therapeutics, for diseases, including some new therapeutic approaches that are being developed and applied to address unmet needs. In addition to these sessions there be focused sessions discussing the current understanding of Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD), FTD (including tau and TDP related dementias), PD (including LBD) and ALS, as well as aging and how it impacts these diseases. The GRC will be preceded by a GRS to facilitate the presentation and discussion of frontier research by trainees. As the Chairs and Co-Chairs place the highest priority on participation by trainees and early-career individuals, short talks will be selected from submitted abstracts to complement invited speakers. We will make every effort to increase the participation of under-represented minorities among conference participants and speakers. Conference participants will interact informally in a collegial atmosphere and have ample free time, providing ideal settings for participants to brainstorm and establish interdisciplinary collaborations. The significance of this GRC is to provide a unique forum for the international community working on the neurobiology of brain disorders, especially AD/ADRD, to discuss the latest advances and the future challenges in the field of neurodegeneration and aging-related brain disorders. The relevance of this application to public health is that the discussions will define the most important questions for AD/ADRD, FTD, PD and ALS, spanning basic biology and disease mechanisms and aid the development of novel therapeutic strategies. The long-term goal of this GRC is to provide a consistent platform for this community to meet every two years to disseminate the most recent discoveries and formulate the most important questions concerning the current state-of-the-art research on age-related neurodegenerative diseases.
