Seminar Examines Biology Of Pain, Nerve Repair In Peripheral Nerve Disease

[Guest guest]

Seminar Examines Biology Of Pain, Nerve Repair In Peripheral Nerve

Disease

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=39378

The Jack Center for Peripheral Neuropathy at the University of

Chicago will present its second biennial scientific symposium on

the " Frontiers of Peripheral Nerve Research, " from 9 A.M. to 4:30

P.M. on Friday, April 28, 2006, at the University of Chicago's Ida

Noyes Hall, 1212 E. 59th Street, Chicago.

The seminar will focus on pain mechanisms and peripheral nerve

development, repair and regeneration. Speakers include Rhona Mirsky

of University College, London; Elior Peles of the Weizmann Institute,

Israel; Jeff Milbrandt of Washington University in St. Louis;

Waxman of Yale; Bill Snider of the University of North Carolina; and

Clifford Woolf of Harvard.

Peripheral neuropathy is a common disorder, affecting about three

percent of all those over age 60. The disease results from damage to

the nerves and nerve processes that are located outside the brain and

spinal cord. It has many causes, including diabetes, traumatic injury

to the nerves, damage to or swelling of the sheaths around nerves,

circulation problems, genetics, or a misdirected immune attack on

nerve tissue. Symptoms include pain in the hands and arms, legs and

feet--sometimes constant and quite severe-as well as progressive

numbness and weakness in the arms and legs.

The Center promotes multidisciplinary investigations into

peripheral neuropathies, focusing on efforts to determine the cause,

at the molecular level, and finding ways to use that knowledge to

produce a cure for these disorders. The Center was founded in 1999 by

a generous gift from Jack of Lincolnshire, Illinois, founder

and president of Quill Corporation. , who suffers from

peripheral neuropathy, was frustrated by the lack of information

about the disease and decided to launch a concerted effort by

neuroscientists at the University of Chicago to investigate the basic

biology of the neuropathy and to search for better treatments and,

eventually, a cure for this common nerve disorder.

Schedule --- Friday, April 28, 2006

Ida Noyes Hall, the University of Chicago, 1212 E. 59th Street

8:15 - 9:00 Registration and Continental Breakfast

9:00 - 9:15 Opening Remarks:

L. Madara, M.D., Dean, Biological Sciences Division and

Pritzker School of Medicine and University of Chicago Vice-President

for Medical Affairs,

Gomez, M.D., Ph.D., Chair, Department of Neurology, the

University of Chicago,

Popko, Ph.D., Jack Professor in Neurological Diseases,

Director, Jack Center for Peripheral Neuropathy, the

University of Chicago, and

Jack , Founder, Jack Center for Peripheral Neuropathy

9:15 - Noon Morning Session

Rhona Mirsky, Ph.D., Professor of Developmental Neurobiology at

University College, London, UK, on " Signals that control Schwann cell

development and myelination. "

Elior Peles, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Molecular Cell Biology at

the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, on " Axon-glia interactions

at the nodes of Ranvier. "

Milbrandt, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Pathology and

Immunology, Internal Medicine and Neurology at Washington University

School of Medicine in St. Louis, on " Molecular insights into

myelination and axonal degeneration. "

Noon - 1:30 Lunch

1:30 - 4:30 Afternoon Session

G. Waxman, M.D., Ph.D., Professor and Chairman of Neurology,

and Professor of Neurobiology and Pharmacology at Yale Medical

School, Neurologist-in-Chief at Yale-New Haven Medical Center, and

Director of the Center for Neuroscience & Regeneration Research at

the VA Medical Center, Connecticut, on " Sodium channels in axonal

disease. "

Snider, M.D., Professor of Neurology and Cell & Molecular

Physiology, and Director, of the Neuroscience Center at the

University Of North Carolina School of Medicine, on " The path from

nerve growth factor to axon assembly. "

Clifford J. Woolf, M.D., Ph.D., the Kitz Chair of Anesthesia

Research at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Neural

Plasticity Research Group at Massachusetts General Hospital, on " What

the peripheral nervous system can tell us about promoting successful

regeneration. "

4:30 - 5:30 Reception

Funding for the symposium came from the Brain Research Foundation and

from grants from Pfizer, Takeda, Lilly, Athena Diagnostics and a

generous patient.

University of Chicago Hospitals

http://www.uchospitals.edu/news