Conference: April 5 - 9
Exhibits: April 6 - 8

Today’s Research: Tomorrow’s Health

More than 13,000 biological and biomedical scientists will gather for the Experimental Biology 2008 meeting, themed "Today’s Research: Tomorrow’s Health" in San Diego April 5-9. Scientists and clinicians from different disciplines, from laboratory to translational to clinical research, from throughout the US and the world, gather to discuss the newest scientific concepts and share the latest research findings with colleagues looking at similar biomedical problems through the lens of different disciplines.

The seven sponsoring societies for Experimental Biology 2008 are:

• American Association of Anatomists (AAA)
• The American Association of Immunologists (AAI)
• The American Physiological Society (APS)
• American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB)
• American Society for Investigative Pathology (ASIP)
• American Society for Nutrition (ASN)
• American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET).

Association of American Anatomists presentations include a lecture on links between essential self-renewal in embryonic and adult stem cells and cancer cell proliferation. Several sessions focus on advances in imaging, including demonstration of a new method of in vivo imaging of the cell motions and interactions that build embryos and discussion of vivo imaging to trace cell lineage. Other sessions involve treatment of smell disorders and the role of mitochondria in estrogen-induced neuroprotection against Alzheimer’s.

The American Association of Immunologists sessions open with a presidential address by Dr. Olja Finn on how immunologic weapons acquired early in life win battles with cancer late in life. Other symposia focus on the genetics of autoimmunity; microenvironmental influence on immune function; regulation of immune responses to viruses, TB and other pathogens; and the question of whether immunology can cure cancer.  Other symposia topics include how aging affects immunity; reports on the use of targeted immunologic therapeutics for rheumatoid arthritis, inflammation, infectious disease and other medical problems; and an interdisciplinary discussion of an immunological quandary: why don't we generate broadly neutralizing antibodies to HIV-1?

The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology program highlights research in related fields, focusing on RNA biology and how single molecule-, chemistry- and systems-drive approaches are changing the ways that biological problems are studied and solved.  Other symposia topics include DNA replication, repair, and recombination response; aspects of RNA-mediated gene expression and regulation; the emerging non-coding RNA world; molecular structure and dynamics; new understanding of metabolic control mechanisms in cancer, diabetes, and neurodegeneration; signal transduction and post-translational modifications in cancer, microbial pathogenesis and progeria; therapeutic targeting of signaling pathways in human diseases; new strategies for imaging protein localization and dynamics; enzymes as drug targets; energetics (laws governing the physical or mechanical) and design; chemical probes for identifying new therapeutics; and challenges and successes in target-based drug discovery.

The program of the American Society for Investigative Pathology includes a keynote lecture by Dr. Carlo Croce on the role of micro RNA genes in cancer, the Rous-Whipple Award lecture by Dr. Michael Gimbrone on vascular endothelium in the post-genomic era, and other lectures on trafficking signals to prevent neurodegeneration; the spectrum of CNS inflammatory demyelinating diseases, classification of brain tumors, and the pathogenesis of Chagas disease. The ASIP Presidential symposium features therapeutics and non-linear systems pathobiology. Other major symposia include bench to bedside immunology; regenerative biology of hepatic cells; epigenetics of cancer; new technologies to identify disease-associated genetic variants; role of membrane rafts in human disease; the immune system in vascular diseases; leukocyte-endothelial interactions; new frontiers in pulmonary fibrosis; diseases of epithelial transport; regulation of epithelial and endothelial junctions.

The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics symposia include: past, present, and future drug discovery paradigms; the cocaine challenge for pharmacotherapeutics; neuroplasticity in addiction; pharmacology and the obesity epidemic; new experimental approaches to the treatment of schizophrenia and behavioral pharmacology to discover novel targets in psychiatric disorders; implications for the treatment of bladder disease in integrative urogenital pharmacology; promise of pharmacogenetics as a diagnostic tool; and implications of pharmacogenomics for health disparities.  A symposium on the emerging science of drug safety includes talks on drug safety in the outpatient setting, identification of drug-induced disease, the European experience with active surveillance methods to identify drug safety problems, and development of informatics to support post-marketing drug surveillance in the U.S.

Other features of the event include:

• The Experimental Biology 2008 and FASEB MARC Genomics Symposium and Poster Session is on the genetic and therapeutic implications of health disparities in obesity.
• The National Institutes of Health joins with Experimental Biology and FASEB to offer sessions on grant writing.
• The FASEB Career Resources Center, arranged by Experimental Biology 2008, will feature a virtual career fair (before, during and after the meeting), on-site interview facilities, and various career development seminars and workshops.
• Exhibits of the latest research-related technologies, products and services will be open April 6-8.
• Exhibitor workshops cover a variety of topics.