Sunday, June 1, 2025
6/1/2025
CSHL 2025 Telomeres & Telomerase Conference - Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Conference on Telomeres and Telomerase April 29 - May 3, 2025 Abstract Telomeres are specialized protein-nucleic acid structures that protect the ends of linear chromosomes. In most eukaryotes, telomeres contain short DNA repeats that are replenished by the enzyme telomerase reverse transcriptase. It has long been recognized that age and replication-associated telomere shortening is a driver of cellular and organismal aging processes, and that telomere length and integrity are regulators of life span. Short or dysfunctional telomeres drive cells into senescence or cell death and are causative for numerous age-associated pathologies in humans, ranging from stem cell dysfunction, cognitive disorders and dementia to the age dependent increase in cancer. Mutations in several genes involved in telomere maintenance result in accelerated telomere shortening and are causative for a group of telomere biology disorders including dyskeratosis congenita. Mutation carriers age prematurely and have a reduced lifespan, emphasizing the importance of understanding telomere function in regulating human health span and prevention of age-associated pathologies. Consequently, the telomere field has evolved to represent a wide variety of research areas in which telomeres play crucial roles (aging, telomere syndromes, stem cells, cell cycle progression, cancer, meiosis and fertility, recombination, replication). The field encompasses clinical studies, as well as fundamental and pre-clinical research with a wide variety of model organisms including budding yeasts, fission yeasts, protozoa, mice, plants, nematodes, flies, birds, and frogs. This meeting focuses on understanding the roles of telomeric proteins in cellular pathways that regulate genome integrity, on progress in the fields of telomerase biogenesis and regulation, on the roles of telomere maintenance pathways in aging and immortality, and on telomere dependent pathologies as functions of telomere length, integrity and organismal age. The previous thirteen Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory meetings on Telomeres and Telomerase have served a pivotal function in bringing together a diverse group of researchers from all parts of the world and have been characterized by vigorous discussions and synergistic interactions stimulated by the presentation of mostly unpublished data. Because the CSHL Telomeres and Telomerase conference remains the only opportunity for scientists in this rapidly growing field to interact as a whole, this meeting is unique and of the utmost importance for the future of the field. Moreover, the format of CSHL meetings, for which nearly all talks are chosen from submitted abstracts, maximizes the opportunity for new independent investigators, postdocs and graduate students to present their work in a highly visible venue. The meetings have all had a uniformly high attendance rate from an international group of researchers, and the podium and posters have consistently introduced major discoveries in the field well before their publication.
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