Fourth Annual Promega Neurosciences Symposium: Genetic and Environmental Interactions in Neurodegeneration Los Angeles, CA, USA November 7, 1998

Promega Neurosciences, in collaboration with the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI), Stanford University College of Medicine and the University of Rochester, sponsored the symposium held one day prior to the 28th Annual Society for Neuroscience Meeting. H. Federoff (Univ. Rochester, NY, USA) moderated the half day of talks, which emphasized the interplay of environmental and genetic factors that can lead to neurodegeneration. Views and data presented offered promising and extraordinary advances from a better understanding through mouse models of the risks from genetic factors neurons. The theme of both genetic and environmental factors leading to increased risk of neurodegenerative disorders was woven through each of the presentations. Speakers presented illuminating evidence on key factors resulting in some forms of neurodegeneration based on studies of transgenic mouse model systems as well as human epidemiological studies. Possible courses to pursue to prevent or treat the debilitating and widespread effects of neurodegeneration also were discussed. Herein we review the talks in the order that follows. Symposium speakers and their presentations included W. Mobley (Stanford Univ. Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, USA): “New Insights into Neurodegeneration Disease Mechanisms”; D. Bredesen (The Burnham Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA): “The Emerging Relationship Between Developmental and Degenerative Neural Cell Death”; M. MacDonald (Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA): “The Molecular Genetics of Huntington’s Disease”; F. van Leeuwen (Netherlands Institute for Brain Research, Amsterdam, The Netherlands): “Mutations in RNA: A First Example of Molecular Misreading in Alzheimer’s Disease”; C. Tanner (The Parkinson’s Institute, Sunnyvale, CA, USA): “Genetic and Environmental Interactions in Parkinson’s Disease”; and D. Price (Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD, USA): “Neurodegenerative Diseases: Lessons from Model Systems.”