2015 Program

Sunday, July 12, 2015

1:30-5:00 p.m. – Registration and Partnering Help Desk Open
3:00-5:00 p.m. – Partnering Program
7:00 p.m. – Public Lecture – Ben Wolozin, M.D., Ph.D., Boston U. of Medicine – What Causes Dementia and Parkinson’s disease, and what can we do about it?
Special Guest: Katherine Bick, Ph.D. – How senility became a disease: the early years

Monday, July 13, 2015

7:30 a.m. – Registration & Partnering Help Desk Open

7:30 – 8:15 a.m. – Breakfast & Networking

8:15 a.m. – Opening Remarks

8:30 a.m. – Neil Cashman, M.D., FRCP(C), CAHS, U. of British Columbia (Canada) – Proteinopathies of Neurodegenerative Disease: A Research Perspective

9:00 – 10:00 a.m. – SESSION ONE – INNOVATION EXCHANGE

Gal Bitan, Ph.D., David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA (US) – Misfolded-Protein Clearance Enhancers offer new hope for neurodegenerative diseases
Erwin Bezard, Ph.D., Université Victor Segalen-Bordeaux 2 (France) – New treatment targets revealed in propagated protein misfolding

10:00 – 10:30 a.m. – Networking Break

10:30 – 12:00 p.m. – SESSION TWO – Investing in the CNS

Eric M. Parker, Ph.D. – Merck (US)
Ben Wolozin, M.D., Ph.D. – Aquinnah Pharmaceuticals (US)
Amyn P. Sayani, Ph.D. – GlaxoSmithKline (Canada)
Nathan Yoganathan, Ph.D. – Kalgene Pharmaceuticals (Canada)

12:00 – 1:00 p.m. – Lunch

1:00 – 2:30 p.m. – Partnering Program

2:30 – 3:30 p.m. – SESSION THREE – INNOVATION EXCHANGE

Jennifer Johnson, Ph.D., An²H Discovery (US) – Why do Ubiqutin-positive Inclusions form in Neurodegenerative Diseases?
Malú Tansey, Ph.D., Emory U. School of Medicine (US) – Targeting soluble TNF in neuroinflammatory neurodegenerative diseases

3:30 – 4:00 p.m. Networking Break

4:00 – 5:00 – SESSION FOUR – INNOVATION EXCHANGE

Christine Vande Velde, Ph.D., Université de Montreal (Canada) – TDP-43 in RNA granule dynamics and ALS pathogenesis
Denis Soulet, Ph.D., Centre Hospitalier de l’Université Laval (Canada) – Role of the innate immune response in intestinal alterations in Parkinson’s disease

6:30 p.m. Lobster Dinner & Social

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

7:30 a.m. – Registration & Partnering Help Desk Open

7:30 – 8:15 a.m. – Breakfast & Networking

8:15 a.m. – Opening Remarks

8:30 a.m. – Peter Reinhart, Ph.D., Alzheon (US) – Building New Types of Industry/Academia/ Government Alliances to Develop Next-Generation Therapeutics and Devices

9:00 – 10:00 a.m. – SESSION FIVE – INNOVATION EXCHANGE

Neil Cashman, M.D., FRCP(C), CAHS, U. of British Columbia (Canada) – Protein Misfolding Diseases: Novel Treatment Opportunities
Benjamin Wolozin, M.D., Ph.D., Boston U. School of Medicine (US) – Viewing Neurodegeneration Beyond the Tangle: Stress granules and Neurodegeneration

10:00 – 10:30 a.m. – Networking Break

10:30 – 12:00 p.m. – SESSION SIX – Investing in the CNS

Erwan Bezard, Ph.D. – Motac (US)
Irina Antonijevic, M.D., Ph.D. – Genzyme (US)
Denis Kay, Ph.D. – Neurodyn (Canada)

12:00 – 1:00 p.m. – Lunch

1:00 – 2:00 p.m. – Partnering Program

2:00 – 3:30 p.m. – SESSION SEVEN – INNOVATION EXCHANGE

Dirk Montag, Ph.D., Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology (Germany) – Acetylcholinesterase inhibitor modifications – A promising strategy to delay the progression of Alzheimer’s Disease
Alex Parker, Ph.D., Université de Montreal (Canada) – Rise to the bait: Using C. elegans to find causes and cures for neurodegenerative disorders
Dave Morgan, Ph.D., University of South Florida (US) – Gene Therapy Approaches to Tauopathy