Annual Hope Center Retreat: Leonard Petrucelli (Mayo Clinic Florida), Brian Kaspar (AveXis, Inc.)

April 10, 2018
8:00 am - 5:00 pm
Danforth Plant Science Center (975 North Warson Road)

Leonard Petrucelli: “Mechanistic and Therapeutic Insights into c9FTD/ALS”
Brian Kaspar: “Gene Delivery Translation in Spinal Muscular Atrophy”


The Eighth Annual Hope Center Retreat will be held at the Danforth Plant Science Center.

2018 Retreat program

8:00a    Shuttle departs from the Farrell LTC (66o S. Euclid)

8:30a    Continental Breakfast

9:00a    Welcome and Opening Remarks from David Holtzman, MD and Anneliese Schaefer, JD, PhD

9:05a    Hope Center Lecture – Leonard Petrucelli, PhD (Mayo Clinic Florida) 

“Mechanistic and Therapeutic Insights into c9FTD/ALS”

10:05a    Session 1: Neurodegeneration Group (Chair: Timothy Miller, MD PhD (Neurology))

  • Kiersten Ruff, PhD (Pappu Lab, Biomedical Engineering)
    “Polyglutamine length dependent structural properties and phase behavior of huntingtin exon 1”
  • Tien-Phat Huynh (Holtzman Lab, Neurology)
    “Age-dependent effects of apoE reduction using antisense oligonucleotides in a model of β-amyloidosis”

10:35a    Break

11:00a    Session 2: Lysosome Processing & Transport and NeuroRestorative Therapy Groups (Chairs: Bruno Benitez, MD and Albert Kim, MD & Fumihiko Urano, MD PhD (Medicine))

  • Devi Annamalai, PhD (Kim Lab, Neurosurgery)
    “Epigenomic reprogramming as a therapeutic strategy for malignant gliomas”
  • Sidhartha Mahali, PhD (Karch Lab, Psychiatry)
    “Lysosomal dysfunction and altered tau metabolism in stem cell models of autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s disease”

11:30a    Session 3: Neurovascular Injury & Repair Group (Chair: Jin-Moo Lee, MD, PhD (Neurology))

  • Charise Garber (Klein Lab, Medicine)
    “T-cells promote microglial activation and prevent cognitive recovery from viral encephalitis via interferon gamma”
  • Deepti Diwan, PhD (Zipfel Lab, Neurosurgery)
    “Sirt1 mediates hypoxic conditioning-induced delayed cerebral ischemia protection in subarachnoid hemorrhage”

12:00p    Lunch

1:15p    Hope Center Lecture – Brian Kaspar, PhD (AveXis, Inc.)

“Gene Delivery Translation in Spinal Muscular Atrophy”

2:15p    Session 4: Neurogenetics & Transcriptomics Group (Chair: Carlos Cruchaga, PhD (Psychiatry))

  • Umber Dube (Cruchaga Lab, Psychiatry)
    “Circular RNAs in Alzheimers disease brain tissues”
  • Denis Avey, PhD (Milbrant Lab, Genetics)
    “Single cell RNA-seq facilitates characterization of glial and neuronal responses to morphine”

2:45p    Session 5: Axon Injury & Repair Group (Chair: Valeria Cavalli, PhD (Neuroscience))

  • Scott Karney-Grobe (DiAntonio Lab, Developmental Biology)
    “HSP90 is a chaperone for DLK and is required for axon injury signaling”
  • Deng Pan (MacKinnon Lab, Developmental Biology)
    “Reduced T cell accumulation in long gap nerve injuries inhibit peripheral nerve regeneration”

3:15p    Poster set-up

3:30p    Poster session

5:45p    Shuttle departs

Click here for more information.

For more information please contact Jan Konrad.