ABSTRACT
Support is requested for a Keystone Symposia conference entitled From First Breath: Lung Development,
Infection, Repair and Aging, organized by Drs. Carla Kim, Benjamin Singer and Nan Tang. The conference will
be held in Snowbird, Utah from April 23 - 26, 2023.
Lung diseases represent leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Beginning with antenatal
development, the lung undergoes changes throughout the life course because of aging, as well as in response
to infection and other injurious stimuli. There exist knowledge gaps in how individual cell populations
coordinate and respond to these changes in states of health and disease over time. Therefore, this conference
was designed to address how specific cell populations contribute to the formation and regeneration of the lung
over the life course, as well as to examine metabolism, epigenetics, stress responses, and cell-cell interactions
as features that control lung biology and how control mechanisms change over stages of life. This program will
also aim to understand how emerging technologies and models will elucidate fundamental mechanisms of lung
health and disease, and finally, how to articulate how the host immune response to infection determines
reparative and regenerative processes. As a result of this meeting, attendees will have a more comprehensive
view of dynamic mechanisms that drive pulmonary biology as it relates to health and disease as well as the
newest approaches with which to understand these concepts. Finally, this conference will be held with another
Keystone Symposia Conference, “Inflammation in the Lung: Friend or Foe in Viral Infections?” This pairing will
allow participants to bridge the gap between classical antiviral responses carried out by innate and adaptive
immune cells, and the involvement of other lung cells such as epithelia and stroma cells, and to deepen the
understanding on how these cells interact. Ultimately, this Symposium will impact the field of lung biology by
bringing together interdisciplinary groups of scientists that will synergize to propel discovery of mechanisms
underlying lung health and disease.