Conference Description
This conference has been deferred to 2023 due to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Please check back soon for the 2023 schedule.
The CAG triplet repeat diseases include Huntington’s disease (HD), the spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs) 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 12 and 17, spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) and dentatorubral pallidoluysian atrophy (DRPLA). They are all rare and all currently untreatable. However, these are exciting times in research into the CAG Triplet repeat disorders as we are at the point of treatments for these diseases coming to clinic – phase 3 trials are under way now. Treatments in development include multiple modalities from small molecules to advanced gene-based therapeutics.
New insights into the mechanisms of these diseases are also being revealed giving new therapeutic targets. This is revealing common mechanisms that may underpin multiple diseases of this type alongside mechanisms that underpin specific aspects of each disease. Such common mechanisms may extend to non-CAG/CTG repeat disorders. Our ability to better define the mechanisms underpinning disease is in turn allowing the translation to novel therapies for these untreatable diseases. The multiple-disease nature of this conference allows cross-fertilization of research from one disease to another to enhance research progress.
At the 2021 Gordon Research Conference on CAG Triplet Repeat Disorders we will hear from researchers at the very basic cutting edge of defining disease mechanisms, those conducting translational research to advance from mechanisms to possible treatments, alongside those at the forefront of using treatments in these intractable diseases. The conference will bring together leading senior and rising junior researchers, with a broad range of experts from related areas intimately involved in the investigation of CAG repeat diseases, and foster diversity of speakers and discussion leaders. Among others, scientists will include neurobiologists, pathologists, geneticists, biochemists, cellular and molecular biologists, structural biologists, computer scientists, clinicians and clinical researchers.