Nixon Co-organizes and Presents at 2023 Keystone Symposium on Autophagy and Neurodegeneration
Dr. Ralph Nixon, Director of the Center for Dementia Research, was one of the scientific organizers of the recent 2023 Keystone Symposium held at the Snowbird Resort in Utah. The topic of the three-day symposium was “Autophagy and Neurodegeneration: Mechanisms to Therapies”. In addition to organizing, Dr. Nixon presented and co-chaired two workshops.
Dr. Nixon notes that “The links between neurodegenerative diseases and autophagy disruption as a pathogenic driver in many cases have been broadly recognized. This meeting represents the first major international conference dedicated to the rapidly evolving progress toward targeting these processes therapeutically. The program offered initial glimpses of promising clinical translation originating from surging industry interest in autophagy modulation as therapy in the field of neurodegeneration. It featured new findings from a multidisciplinary panel of academic and industry speakers and a combination of conceptual themes spanning from basic biology of neuronal and glial autophagy to translational medicine and therapeutics. Appreciation of the brain’s special vulnerabilities to autophagy dysfunction has grown and promising therapeutic responses to autophagy modulation in major neurodegenerative disorders are emerging from preclinical studies.”