Meeting Report for Basic Cardiovascular Sciences 2011 Scientific Sessions: From Concept to Clinic: Leading Cardiovascular Translational Science

The BCVS 2011 Scientific Sessions were held on July 18 to 21, 2011 in New Orleans, Louisiana. The theme of the conference for this year was “From Concept to Clinic: Leading Cardiovascular Translational Science.” The conference gathered 526 attendants, a record number for the BCVS summer conference, from 26 countries. Among them, 280 were either students or early career investigators. There were 74 oral presentations and 352 poster presentations, which were also record numbers for the past 8 BCVS meetings. The sessions were designed around the common theme of translating the most exciting and advanced basic science to further the understanding of disease pathophysiology with an eye toward novel therapeutic approaches. Here, we will briefly highlight some presentations and new features of the BCVS 2011 Scientific Sessions. The opening session was kicked off by plenary lectures given by the pioneers of several hot spots in cardiovascular research. Dr Eric Olson (University of Texas Southwestern) discussed recent advances in understanding the mechanisms of heart regeneration in mice. Dr Olson found that the regenerative activity of cardiomyocytes declines after birth when miR-195, a member of the miR-15 family, is highly upregulated. RISC RNA sequencing showed that miR-195 targets a number of cell cycle genes, including checkpoint kinase. Cardiomyocyte proliferation is upregulated when the miR-15 family is downregulated by anti-miRNAs treatment. The meeting featured an additional entire session on miRNA biology and translational science.Dr Jeffery Molkentin (Cincinnati Children's Hospital) discussed the property of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore that regulates apoptosis and necrosis. He reported the intriguing observation that mitochondria lacking Bax/Bak do not swell but the inner mitochondrial membrane can reorganize, and permeabilization of the outer mitochondrial membrane, by any means, can restore their ability to swell and induce necrosis. Based on these observations, he proposed revised models of mitochondrial permeability …