DECIPHERING NEURODEGENERATIVE DISORDERS

23 – 26 May 2017 Edinburgh

Please use the programme below to view each day of the conference.

Please note that this is the provisional programme and may be subject to change.

For a short biography on each speaker, please click on the speaker’s name.

Opening Plenary

13:30	Introduction to Meeting	Chair: Professor Jean Manson
13:30	Opening Address	Professor Andrew Morris	Chief Scientist, Scottish Government Health Directorates	United Kingdom
13:45	Public Health Challenges in Prion Disease: past, present and future	Professor Bob Will Consultant Neurologist who established CJD surveillance within the UK in 1990. Prof Will was also involved in the identification of vCJD in 1996	National CJD Research & Surveillance Unit, University of Edinburgh	United Kingdom
14:15	Cellular and Molecular Aspects of Prion Disease Pathogenesis	Professor Bruce Chesebro Prof Chesebro is the Chief of the laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Montana. He was elected a Fellow of American Academy of Microbiology in 2011	Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institutes of Health, USA	United States of America
14:45	Personal reflections on the effect of dementia	Sally Magnusson		United Kingdom
15:15	Coffee & Tea Break
15:45	Junior Research Forum	Chair: Dr Alison Green
15:45	Reversible unfolding of infectious prion assemblies reveals the existence of an oligomeric elementary brick	Dr Angélique Igel-Egalon	INRA	France
16:00	Molecular Mechanisms of PrP^Sc Synaptotoxicity	Dr Cheng Fang	Boston University	United States of America
16:15	Risk modifiers tangled in rapid progression of Alzheimer’s disease	Dr Saima Zafar	Clinical Dementia Center and DZNE, University Medical Center Goettingen (UMG), Goettingen	Germany
16:30	MiniBrain for Prion-like diseases: A novel platform to engineer and study 3D human neuroectodermic organoids derived from iPSCs	Mr Ferid Nassor	CEA	France
16:45	Pathways of prion spread during early chronic wasting disease in deer	Dr Clare Hoover	Colorado State University	United States of America
17:00	Amyloid-β accumulation in human growth hormone related iatrogenic CJD patients in the UK	Dr Diane Ritchie	University Of Edinburgh	United Kingdom
17:15	Stem cell transplantation in the investigation and treatment of genetic Prion Diseases	Miss Kati Frid	Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem	Israel
17:30	Genetic Susceptibility of Free-ranging Cervids to Chronic Wasting Disease in a Recently Infected Region of the United States	Mr William Miller	The Pennsylvania State University	United States of America
17:45	Welcome Reception

Mechanisms of Protein mis-folding

09:00	Mechanisms of Protein mis-folding	Chair: Dr Andrew Gill
09:00	Single molecule studies of prion aggregation and replication	Professor David Klenerman Physical Scientist involved in research into protein aggregation in Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom
09:30	The cell membrane and amyloid-β oligomers: a key to understanding Alzheimer’s disease	Dr Natalia Carulla Research Chemist with an interest in amyloid-beta oligomers	Institut Européen de Chimie et Biologie (IECB), Pessac, France, Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcalona), Barcelona, Spain	Spain
10:00	Prion protein misfolding: beyond a protein-centric view	Professor Ilia Baskakov Professor, Center for Biomedical Engineering and Technology and Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. Prof Baskakov has an interest in protein mis-folding	Center for Biomedical Engineering and Technology, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine	United States of America
10:30	Coffee & Tea Break
11:15	Abstract Presentations “Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration I”	Chair: Prof. Neil Mabbott
11:15	Prion protein does not protect neuroblastoma cells from stress, but may affect key cellular properties by modulating growth factor signalling	Dr Andrew Gill	University Of Edinburgh	United Kingdom
11:30	Key asparagine and glutamine residues promote cross-species prion conversion	Dr Christina Sigurdson	UC San Diego	United States of America
11:45	ADAM10-mediated shedding of the prion protein: Investigating its mechanism & regulation	Ms Luise Linsenmeier	Institute of Neuropathology, University Medical Center HH-Eppendorf, Hamburg	Germany
12:00	Muskelin regulates PrP^C vesicle transport and membrane levels and influences prion disease incubation time	Dr Susanne Krasemann	Institute For Neuropathology	Germany
12:15	α-Synuclein Amyloids Bind To Prion Protein to Facilitate Cell Entry, Cell-To-Cell Spreading And Inhibit Prion Replication	Dr Guiseppe Legname	SISSA	Italy
12:35	Lunch and Poster Viewing

Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration

14:00	Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration	Chair: Dr. Tara Spires-Jones
14:00	Neurodegeneration in the enteric nervous system-and Prion and Parkinson’s Disease Perspective	Associate Professor Victoria Lawson Neuropathologist with an interest in prion diseases	University of Melbourne, Australia	Australia
14:30	Targeting the UPR for treatment of neurodegeneration	Professor Giovanna Mallucci Professor of Clinical Neuroscience with an interest in understanding mechanisms of neurodegeneration	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom
15:00	Microglia, protein misfolding and neurodegeneration	Professor Jean Manson Research Scientist studying brain changes in ageing and neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, particularly the role of synaptic changes.	University of Edinburgh	United Kingdom
15:30	Coffee -Tea Break
16:10	Abstract Presentations “Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration II”	Chair: Prof. Colin Smith
16:10	Comparison of the neuronal lysosomal response in human neurodegenerative diseases	Prof Gabor Kovacs	Institute of Neurology/Medical University Vienna	Austria
16:30	Rescuing TACE alpha-secretase activity upon inhibition of PDK1 kinase mitigates prion and Alzheimer’s diseases	Dr Benoit Schneider	Inserm UMR-S 1124 – Université Paris Descartes	France
16:45	Expanding roles for PrP^Cin Alzheimer Disease: an ancient conserved interaction	Dr Ted Allison	Centre For Prions & Protein Folding Diseases, University Of Alberta	Canada
17:00	Induction of transmissible tau pathology by traumatic brain Injury	Dr Roberto Chiesa	Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri	Italy
17:15	Identification of a highly reactive α-synuclein species in primary neurons exposed to fibrillar α-synuclein.	Prof Corinne Lasmezas	Scripps Florida	United States of America
17:35	End of Sessions

Current Concerns in Prion Disease: Chronic Wasting Disease

09:00	Current concerns in prion disease: Chronic wasting disease	Chair: Dr Fiona Houston
09:00	Chronic wasting disease: An agent of global change?	Dr Alastair Ward Senior Lecturer in Zoology with an interest in Ecology and the environment	University of Hull	United Kingdom
09:30	Chronic wasting disease: Unveiling modes of transmission	Dr Candace Mathiason Research Scientist with an interest in the mechanisms of CWD prion transmission and in vitro prion detection	Colorado State University	United States of America
10:00	CWD in Norway	Dr Sylvie L. Benestad Senior Researcher, specializing in the identification and characterization of animal prion diseases .	National Veterinary Institute, Norway	Norway
10:30	First evidence of intracranial and peroral transmission of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) into Cynomolgus macaques: a work in progress	Dr Stefanie Czub Director of International & OIE Reference Laboratory for BSE	University of Calgary Faculty of Veterinary Medicine/Canadian Food Inspection Agency	Canada
10:45	Coffee & Tea Break
11:15	Abstract Presentations “Disease Transmission and Pathogenesis”	Chair: Dr Natalia Carulla
11:15	α-Synuclein prions from MSA patients exhibit similar transmission properties as PrP^Sc prions	Dr Amanda Woerman	University Of California, San Francisco	United States of America
11:30	Prion replication without host adaptation during interspecies transmissions	Dr Jifeng Bian	Colorado State University	United States of America
11:45	Incongruity between prion conversion and incubation period following co-infection	Prof Jason Bartz	Creighton University	United States of America
12:00	Increased Abundance of M cells in the Gut Epithelium Dramatically Enhances Oral Prion Disease Susceptibility	Dr David Donaldson	The Roslin Institute	United Kingdom
12:15	Epitope identification of toxic propagating strains of Aβ oligomers	Prof Neil Cashman	University Of British Columbia	Canada
12:30	Lunch and Poster Viewing
14:00	Current clinical concerns of prion disease	Chair: Prof.Simon Mead
14:00	Funding opportunities for CJD research	CJD Foundation The mission of the Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Foundation is to support families affected by Prion Disease, raise awareness, and support medical education and research.	Debbie Yobs	United States of America
14:05	A global collaboration supporting patients, their families and those at increased risk of developing prion diseases.	CJD International Support Alliance The CJD International Support Alliance is a group of international nonprofit organisations whose aim is to support individuals affected/at-risk of prion disease	Suzanne Solvyns / Deana Simpson	United States of America
14:35	The prevalance of abnormal prion protein in a UK sample largely unexposed to BSE: The Appendix-3 Survey Results	Professor Noel Gill	Public Health, England	United Kingdom
15:05	What are the Appendix Studies telling us?	Professor Richard Knight Professorial Fellow in Clinical Neurology, with an interest in the clinical presentation, diagnosis and epidemiology of human prion diseases	National CJD Research & Surveillance Unit, University of Edinburgh	United Kingdom
15:35	Coffee & Tea Break
16:15	Abstract Presentations on “Clinical Aspects of Prion Disease”	Chair: Prof. Masahito Yamada
16:15	Iatrogenic CJD after human cadaver-sourced growth hormone treatment in France: identifying risk factors associated with susceptibility	Ms Laurene Peckeu	Institut Du Cerveau Et De La Moelle Épinière (ICM) – Team “alzheimer’s And Prion Diseases “inserm Umr-1127/cnrs Umr 7225	France
16:30	Lessons learned from the systematic public health follow-up of all diagnoses of CJD for surgical risk, in England	Dr Katy Sinka	Public Health England	United Kingdom
16:45	Widening the phenotypic spectrum of sporadic fatal insomnia: clinical findings, results of diagnostic investigations and neuropathological features of new cases.	Dr Samir Abu Rumeileh	University of Bologna	Italy
17:00	Transmissible prions in the skin of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease patients	Dr Wenquan Zou	Case Western Reserve University	United States of America
17:15	End Session
19:00	Conference Ceilidh

Diagnostics/Therapeutics

09:00	Diagnostics/Therapeutics	Chair: Prof Victoria Lawson
09:00	A new sensitive diagnostic-assay for vCJD in preclinical and clinical blood samples	Dr Chantal Fournier-Wirth Scientific Director	Univ.Montpellier-Inserm-EFS	France
09:30	Genomic and Epigenomic Associations in Sporadic and Variant CJD	Professor Simon Mead Simon Mead is now a consultant neurologist and Clinical Lead of the UK National Prion Clinic based at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. His clinical interests include cognitive disorders, particularly the prion diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease	National Prion Clinic, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London	United Kingdom
10:00	Latrogenic CJD related to Dura mater grafts	Professor Masahito Yamada Consultant Neurologist with an interest in prion diseases, particularly iatrogenic CJD	Kanazawa University, Japan	Japan
10:30	Coffee &Tea Break
11:00	Promotional Presentation for Prion 2018	Dr Jesus Requena	CIMUS Biomedical Research Institute, University of Santiago de Compostela-IDIS	Spain
11:15	Abstract Presentations on “Treatment and diagnosis of prion diseases”	Chair: Prof. Richard Knight
11:15	Treatment with a Non-toxic, Self-replicating Anti-prion Delays or Prevents Prion Disease In vivo	Dr Charles Mays	The University of Texas – Health Science Center at Houston	United States of America
11:30	Rational design of anti-PrP antibodies to block prion induced neurodegeneration	Dr Assunta Senatore	University of Zurich	Switzerland
11:45	Detection of mammalian prions by PrP transgenic Drosophila	Dr Raymond Bujdoso	Cambridge University	United Kingdom
12:00	Type-dependant diverse extension patterns of hyperintensity on diffusion-weighted MR images in dura mater graft-associated Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease	Dr Kenji Sakai	Kanazawa University	Japan
12:15	Early preclinical detection of prions in blood of macaques peripherally infected with the variant CJD agent	Dr Luis Concha	University Of Texas; Universidad De Los Andes	United States of America
12:35	Lunch

Closing Session

14:00	Closing Session	Chair: Prof. Jean Manson
14:00	Mechanisms of synapse degeneration in neurodegenerative diseases	Dr Tara Spires-Jones Research Scientist studying brain changes in ageing and neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, particularly the role of synaptic changes.	University of Edinburgh	United Kingdom
14:45	Modelling of neurodegeneration	Professor Siddharthan Chandran Professor Siddharthan Chandran is Director of CCBS. His work spans clinical and laboratory activity in the area of Regenerative Neurology.	University of Edinburgh	United Kingdom
15:30	Close of Meeting

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Edinburgh, EH3 8BL
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