2024 Barriers of the CNS Gordon Research Conference and Seminar - Project Summary / Abstract This proposal requests support for partial funding of the 2024 “Barriers of the Central Nervous System (CNS)” GRC and GRS that will be held at Colby Sawyer College, New Hampshire, on June 8-9, 2024 (GRS) and June 9-14, 2024 (GRC). The overall goal of this international conference is to improve understanding of the highly complex cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating the function of the endothelial (e.g., blood-brain barrier (BBB)/blood-retina barrier (BRB) or neurovascular unit (NVU)), epithelial (e.g., blood-CSF barrier (BCSFB) and arachnoid), and other neural barriers in health and disease. The 2024 meetings will achieve this goal by covering major aspects of CNS barrier sciences and by making a special translational effort to include novel methods of gene therapy, drug delivery to the CNS, delivery of macromolecules (such as antibodies and siRNA), and organoid based approaches to understanding barriers of the CNS. Moreover, we have a dedicated session on in vitro models and trafficking at the BBB and how these may be employed to examine drug delivery and BBB (NVU) development and regulation. Additionally, our session on genetic diseases and gene therapies will seek to explore how the power of molecular genetics can drive the development of the next generation of drugs for CNS diseases. This interdisciplinary, highly translational knowledge exchange will be fostered by invited talks, talks selected from abstracts, daily poster presentations and ample time for non-structured scientific discussions amongst participants. The program will start with a keynote session addressing the role of the blood retina barrier (BRB) in regulating disease severity for conditions such as diabetic retinopathy (DR) and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). We will also have a keynote address focusing on brain barriers in drug delivery and novel approaches to overcome the barrier to treat neural malignancies such as high-grade gliomas. The conference will conclude with a trendsetting keynote session focused on regulating the BBB to treat diseases. This is a fast developing area and seeks to develop methods aimed at stabilising BBB integrity to treat disease. An additional 7 sessions will address: i) Genetic diseases and gene therapies targeting BBB biology, ii) In vitro models and trafficking at the BBB, iii) Drug delivery to the CNS, iv) Understudied cell types and novel barriers of the CNS, v) BBB regulation in neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases, vi) Neuroinflammation and neuroinfections in BBB regulation, and vii) Dynamic flow and novel concepts in the CNS barriers. The inclusion of clinicians in the meeting is a critical part of fostering translational discussion and establishing new collaborations between basic and clinical scientists in this field. Additionally, we have sought to strike a balance between academic and industry associated speakers as we believe that fostering cohesion between these groups will push the translational focus of the meeting. This application addresses a major public health concern; diseases of the CNS. Instructing young researchers to think of innovative and novel solutions, and to bridge disciplinary interfaces in established laboratories will advance the capacity to develop new therapies for CNS diseases.
