2007 Gordon Research Conference on Small Integrin Binding Proteins
The introductory session on Sunday
featured Dr. Joanne Murphy-Uhlrich (University of Alabama at Birmingham) who
provided an orientation to integrin signaling from a non-SIBLING/CCN perspective
and Dr. Elizabeth A. Komives (University of California,
San Diego) who presented NFkB/IkB molecular
dynamics and interactions.
The
first morning session (“The SIBLING and CCN Families – the Inside Story”), chaired
by Dr. Jaro Sodek (University of Toronto), featured presentations by Dr Maria
Shinohara (Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Dr. Maurice Ringuette (University of
Toronto), Dr. Peter Zahradka (University of Manitoba), and Dr. Benard Perbal
(Université Paris, France). These talks addressed new research on intracellular
localization and activity of SIBLINGs and CCNs. The Monday evening session (“Genomic
and Cis-Regulatory Analysis of SIBLING and CCN Genes) was devoted to
state-of-the-art knowledge on the enhancer, promoter and other regulatory
regions involved in modulating the expression of these two gene families. This
session is facilitated by Dr. Stephen Harris (University of Texas Health
Science Center at San Antonio) and features presentations by Dr. Masaki Noda
(Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan) and Margarett Goppelte-Struebe
(Universitat Erlangen-Nurnberg, Germany) as well as Dr. Harris.
The
Tuesday morning session (“SIBLINGS and Cancer”), chaired by Dr. Vincent
Castronovo (University of Liege, Belgium), contained four talks addressing new
research on SIBLINGs as biomarkers of cancer detection, bone metastases, and
disease progression and potential molecular mechanisms of SIBLING action. These
talks were given by Dr. Akeila Bellahcene (University of Liege, Belgium), Dr.
Lelage Wakefield (National Cancer Institute), Dr. Alison Allan (University of
Western Ontario), and Dr. Susan Rittling (Forsyth Institute). The Tuesday
evening session (“Bioactive Fragments”) was facilitated by Dr. Cecilia
Giachelli (University of Washington) and featured presentations by Dr. Lucy
Liaw (Maine Medical Research Institute), Dr. Dennis Clegg (University of
California at Santa Barbara), and Dr. Vijaya Rao (Texas Cancer Research
Institute).
The
Wednesday morning session (“CCNs and Cancer), chaired by Dr. David Brigstock
(Ohio State University), featured presentations by Dr. H. Phillip Koeffler
(UCLA School of Medicine), Dr. Mauhara Takigawa (Okayama University, Japan),
Dr. Min-Liang Kuo (National Taiwan University Hospital, Taiwan), and Dr.
Sushanta Banerjee (V.A. Medical Center, Kansas City, Missouri). Analogous to
the Tuesday morning session devoted to SIBLINGs and cancer, this session addressed
state-of-the-art research on CCN expression and activities in cancer. The
Wednesday evening session (“SIBLINGs/CCNs and Normal Physiology”) concerned new
studies using transgenic mouse models and naturally occurring human mutations
to address SIBLING function. The presentations, chaired by Dr. Jerry Feng (University of Missouri-Kansas City), were by Dr. Susan
Schiavi (Applied Genomics, Genzyme Corp), Dr. Ken
White (Indiana University) and Dr. Feng.
The Thursday morning
session (“Inflammation and other Hot Topics”), chaired by Dr. David Denhardt
(Rutgers University), was devoted to SIBLING expression and activity in
inflammation, obesity, macrophage function and immune response to stress. These presentations were being given by Dr.
Dennis Bruemmer (University of Kentucky), Dr. Marta Scatena (University of
Washington), and Dr. Kathryn Wang (Rutgers University). In addition, A fourth
schedule talk by Dr. Lester Lau (University of Illinois) discussed recent
research on CCN1 and inflammation.
