Conference Student Scholarships: Environmental Epigenomics and Disease Susceptibility
Scholarship Deadline: November 30, 2010 (Midnight US Mountain Standard Time)
There are now compelling human epidemiological and animal experimental data that indicate the risk of developing adult-onset complex diseases and neurological disorders are influenced by persistent epigenetic adaptations in response to prenatal and early postnatal exposures to environmental factors. Epigenetics refers to heritable changes in gene function that occur without a change in the sequence of the DNA. The main components of the epigenetic code are DNA methylation, histone modifications, and non-coding RNAs. The epigenetic programs in cells are normally faithfully reproduced during mitosis. Moreover, they can also be maintained during meiosis, resulting in epigenetic transgenerational disease inheritance, and potentially introducing phenotypic variation that is selected for in the evolution of new species. The objective of this conference is to provide evidence that environmental exposures during early development can alter the risk of developing medical conditions, such as asthma, autism, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, and schizophrenia later in life by modifying the epigenome. Epigenetic research promises to markedly improve our ability to diagnosis, prevent, and treat the pathological conditions of humans; however, it also introduces unique legal and ethical issues. These will also be discussed.
Keystone Symposia is offering scholarships to students and post-docs this conference season. These scholarships, of up to $1000 each, are to be used to help defray the expenses associated with conference attendance, including air (on a U.S. air carrier), ground transportation and lodging costs. Receipts will be required to receive reimbursement.
Abstracts submitted for poster presentation will be used as the basis for awarding the scholarships. Conference organizers will select the scholarship recipients based on the quality of science of the abstract and the relevance of the abstract to the conference topic. Only one application per abstract is accepted.
Keystone Symposia
221 Summit Place #272
PO Box 1630
Silverthorne, CO 80498
www.keystonesymposia.org
Financial Assistance / Student Scholarships
Phone: +1 (800) 253-0685 or
Ksenia Shambarger - +1 (970) 262-1230 extension 140
Fax: +1 (970) 262-0311
