Saturday, September 7, 2024
9/7/2024
Project Summary This proposal seeks partial support for the 2024 Enzymes, Coenzymes, and Metabolic Pathways GRC/GRS. These meetings are scheduled for July 27–28 (GRS) and July 28–Aug 2 (GRC) at the Waterville Valley Resort, in Waterville Valley, NH. The “Enzymes” GRC/GRS is the paramount conference for scientists investigating the structure and function of enzymes and their role as the metabolic basis of diseases ranging from cancer to neurodegeneration. The long-term goals of these conferences are to facilitate methodological, intellectual, and interpersonal connections borne from the characterization of enzymes’ roles in life’s essential biological processes. To reach these goals, the GRC has developed a technical program of 36 speakers (28 invited and 8 selected from poster abstracts), and the GRS has assembled a program of 9 speakers (1 invited and 8 chosen from poster abstracts) as well as a Bioscience Careers Panel consisting of ~5 leaders from various backgrounds. These oral presentations will disclose the most recent findings in enzymology, experimental method development, as well as how these are implicated in disease. The GRC Chairs have emphasized that these scholars derive from a diverse and inclusive backgrounds: with more than half of the scheduled speakers being women, while several others are from underrepresented groups. The disciplinary program will ensure participants are intellectually diverse – with sessions centered on neurobiochemical enzymology and method development, and also drug discovery for both infectious and non-infectious diseases. As such, we anticipate recruiting attendees from a similarly wide expanse of diverse backgrounds. In addition to the speaking slots, afternoon poster sessions provide an opportunity for all attendees to share their discoveries with the broader scientific community. Of particular importance is that these poster sessions encourage close interactions among both junior and senior investigators, which we further reinforce by having senior investigators aid in judging poster presentations by all participating trainees. This proposal has high significance because the “Enzymes” GRC is a pivotal conference for researchers investigating the mechanisms of biochemical reactions where, as yet unpublished findings at the forefront of the fields of biochemistry and biophysics are shared. A major outcome of these conferences will be the further expansion of the community of researchers investigating how enzymes, co-enzymes, and metabolic pathways contribute to the development of new therapeutics, especially for the treatment of infectious diseases, cancer, and CNS dysfunction.
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