DNA damage: from causes to cures
Robinson College, Cambridge, UK
15 - 17 December 2008

Link: http://www.biochemistry.org/meetings/programme.cfm?Meeting_No=SA084

New England Biolabs Poster Prize
New England Biolabs are pleased to sponsor a Postgraduate Poster Prize Award - to be presented to the best poster displayed at the meeting.

The proceedings of the meeting will be published as a stand-alone issue of Biochemical Society Transactions (online and in print) and a stand-alone volume of the online Symposia Series.

All cells contain a diverse range of repair pathways that have evolved to optimize their survival following damage to their DNA. These pathways involve the actions of a large number of DNA repair proteins to remove the damage and maintain genome stability. Clearly, when these processes do not function correctly, a likely result will be instability of the genome. A large body of experimental data has demonstrated that such genetic instability can cause a wide variety of human diseases. This meeting will highlight recent major advances in understanding biochemical details about how DNA repair intersects with cellular pathways that lead to cancer or ageing. The meeting is particularly timely since it is now apparent that these biochemical processes offer significant potential for novel therapies to treat diseases such as cancer.

One reason why there has been such rapid recent progress in this research area is that excellent model systems are available to study DNA repair. These range from in vivo prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, to high-resolution structural analysis of macromolecular complexes that are influenced by protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions. To highlight the significance of these diverse systems and to assist in stimulating further interactions between this varied group of researchers, speakers will be included from all areas. Each day of the meeting will have at least 1 plenary lecture to be given by one of the Biochemical Society Awards winners for 2008. In addition to the invited lectures, there will be the opportunity to present posters. All attendees of the meeting will be invited to submit an abstract to report on their research and, in each session of the meeting, some submitted abstracts will be selected for short (15 minutes) oral presentations.