Esteemed Colleagues, Dear Students,
We are honored to announce the 6th Suna Kıraç Conference on Neurodegeneration Istanbul, titled Advances in Gene and Molecular Therapies for Neurodegenerative Diseases: Recent Subcellular and Clinical Insights and the launch of the Conference website (ndal.ku.edu.tr/en/skcon23). The Conference is organized by the Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts (UMass), Harvard University, and Koç University, School of Medicine KUTTAM-NDAL. This is the first Conference after Suna Kıraç’s passing and the first virtual Suna Kıraç Conference at the same time. We wholeheartedly assure you that our dedication to honoring Suna’s legacy remains unwavering, and we will explore meaningful ways to commemorate her contributions during the virtual event.
We plan to have five sessions, each session will be followed by a dedicated moderated discussion. The Conference will commence (Day 1) with a focus on genes associated with neurodegeneration and the underlying cellular mechanisms of neuronal vulnerability. On Day 2, the sessions will emphasize RNA dysfunction in neurological disease, non-neuronal pathology, and exploring sporadic ALS, which has become increasingly indistinguishable from familial ALS in recent years.
As in previous Conferences, this meeting also offers an extensive program with world-renowned speakers who will present their latest work. Please kindly find the final version of the program, along with brief biographies and abstracts of our prestigious speakers.
The Conference will be held in English and for the first time online. There is no registration fee.
Professors, assistants, specialists, and graduate students of medicine, neurology, biology, molecular biology, and other related departments of universities, public and private hospitals are welcome to attend the Conference.
Please register through this link (active on March 18th). The registration deadline is April 15th, 2024. You will receive a link upon acceptance. Only registered people will be authorized to use the link.
Attention: All people who have registered earlier in 2023 for the postponed Conference have to register again.
We kindly request your help in sharing the information on the 6th Suna Kıraç Conference on Neurodegeneration Istanbul with your colleagues, residents, and students, who you think will be interested, and thank you in advance for your valuable support.
We hope to welcome you on April 19-20th, 2024, and promise an exciting Conference.
With most sincere regards,
Prof. A. Nazlı Başak and KUTTAM-NDAL Team
Koç University
School of Medicine
April 19th-20th, 2024, Online Platform
| Program starts: UK 1:30pm | |
| CEST 2:30pm | |
| TR 3:30pm | |
| NY 8:30am | |
1:30pm - 2:00pm
Welcome
İpek Kıraç, Robert H. Brown, Jr., Jeffrey D. Macklis, A. Nazlı Başak
Video film: The Legacy of Suna Kıraç
Session 1: Genes and Gene Targeting in Neurodegenerative Diseases
2:00pm - 2:40pm - Ammar Al-Chalabi (UK)
What do we know about ALS genetics?
2:40pm - 3:20pm - Robert H. Brown, Jr. (USA)
Toward Gene Modulation Therapy in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
3:20pm - 4:00pm - Pamela J. Shaw (UK)
The journey to develop better neuroprotective therapies for ALS: Are we winning?
4:00pm - 4:30pm - Moderated Discussion
4:30pm - 5:00pm - Meet the speakers 1-3 from Day1 (Al-Chalabi, Brown, Shaw) *
Session 2: Subcellular Insights to Selective Vulnerability in Neurodegenerative Diseases
5:00pm - 5:40pm - Michael E. Ward (USA)
Lysosomes moonlight as central regulatory hubs of local protein synthesis in axons
5:40pm - 6:20pm - Jeffrey D. Rothstein (USA)
Nuclear pore complex dysfunction and repair: Common contributor to sporadic ALS and TDP-43 loss of function
6:20pm - 7:00pm - Jeffrey D. Macklis (USA)
Building and maintaining precise and durable corticospinal circuitry is complex:
Subtype- and context-dependent subcellular molecular machinery in cerebral cortex
7:00pm - 7:30pm - Moderated Discussion
7:30pm - 8:00pm – Meet the speakers 4-6 from Day1 (Ward, Rothstein, Macklis) *
Session 2 cont.: Subcellular Insights to Selective Vulnerability in Neurodegenerative Diseases
1:30pm - 2:10pm - Zoltán Molnár (UK)
Differential role of SNARE proteins in various cortical projection neuron populations
2:10pm - 2:50pm - Anne Engmann (USA)
Dynamic subtype- and context-specific subcellular RNA regulation in growth cones of neocortical projection neurons
2:50pm - 3:20pm - Moderated Discussion
3:20pm - 4:00pm - Meet the speakers 1-2 from Day2 (Molnár, Engmann) *
Session 3: Dysfunction of RNA Processing in Circuit-Specific Neurologic Disease
4:00pm - 4:40pm - Paul Donlin-Asp (UK)
Resolving the localization and dynamics of RNA and protein synthesis within neurons
4:40pm - 5:20pm - Jean-Michel Cioni (IT)
mRNA association with endosomes in neurons
5:20pm - 5:50pm - Moderated Discussion
Session 4: Non-neuronal Pathology in Neurodegenerative Diseases
5:50pm - 6:30pm - Ludo Van Den Bosch (BE)
Gain-of-function and loss-of-function effects of iPSC-derived astrocytes from ALS patients on human motor units
Session 5.1: The Anatolian Peninsula:
A Rich Genetic Resource for Neurodegenerative Diseases
6:30pm - 7:10pm - A. Nazlı Başak (TR)
SUNA KIRAÇ MEMORIAL LECTURE
The Complex Architecture of ALS in Turkey
7:10pm - 7:50pm - Meet the speakers 3-6 from Day2 (Donlin-Asp, Cioni, Van Den Bosch, Başak) *
Session 5.2: Thinking out of the Box
7:50pm - 8:50pm - Moderators: Ammar Al-Chalabi – Robert H. Brown, Jr.
Sporadic ALS
8:50pm - Closing Remarks
Robert H. Brown, Jr., Jeffrey D. Macklis, A. Nazlı Başak
NOTES:
Lectures: 40’ (30’ talk + 10’ Q&A)
Moderated discussions: 30’
* We encourage all speakers and participants to attend the "Meet The Speakers Sessions".
