We Do Hope You Can Join Us in Dublin
Dear Colleague,
We are pleased to invite you to a Research Conference dedicated solely to the ataxias, which is being jointly organised by Ataxia UK and the Friedreich’s Ataxia Society of Ireland (FASI) on the 25th September, 2008. This date is also International Ataxia Awareness Day, an ideal opportunity to highlight the vital research happening all over the world.
The event will bring together researchers from across Europe, the USA and Australia, as well as more locally from the UK and Ireland. There will be sessions specifically for cerebellar ataxia and Friedreich’s ataxia and presentations highlighting recent key developments in ataxia research.
We do hope you can join us in Dublin.
Best wishes
Barbara Flynn Sue Millman
Chief Executive, FASI Chief Executive, Ataxia UK
9.30h: Conference opened by Mary Harney, Minister for Health & Children
09.40h: Welcome - Professor Barry Hunt (Ataxia UK) and Dr Raymond Murphy (FASI)
09.50 - 13.30h: Friedreich’s Ataxia Research
Chair: Professor Massimo Pandolfo
Professor Richard Festenstein (ImperialCollegeLondon, UK):
Restoringfrataxin gene expressionin Friedreich's ataxia - epigenetics meets transcription
Dr Joel Gottesfeld (Scripps Research Institute, US)
Drugs that target frataxin gene silencing
Dr Piyush Vyas (Indiana University, US)
TAT conjugated frataxin as novel non-viral therapy for Friedreich's ataxia
11.00 – 11.30h: Coffee break
Professor Dolores Cahill (UniversityCollegeDublin, Ireland)
Proteomic Studies on Friedreich’s Ataxia
Professor Massimo Pandolfo (Hôpital Erasme-UniversitéLibre de Bruxelles, Belgium)
Update on idebenone and other trials
Dr Arnold Munnich (Hôpital Necker-Enfants-Malades and Université Paris V René Descartes, France) Deferiprone trial update
Professor Martin Delatycki (Murdoch Childrens’ Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia)
Clinical outcome measures in Friedreich’s Ataxia
Discussion on results from latest trials – facilitated by Professor Pandolfo
13.30 - 14.15h: Lunch
14.15 - 17.15h: Research into the Cerebellar Ataxias
Chair: Professor Koenig (Université Louis Pasteur de Strasbourg, France)
Professor Olaf Riess (University of Tΰbingen, Germany)
Update on EuroSCA scientific projects
Dr Thomas Klockgether (University of Bonn, Germany)
Update on EuroSCA clinical projects
Dr Matthew Wood (University of Oxford, UK)
RNAi as potential therapy for dominant ataxias – focus on SCA7
15.45 – 16.15h: Tea break
Dr Sylvia Krobitsch (Max-Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Germany) Spinocerebellar ataxia type 2: Functional characterization of ataxin-2 by inhibitory molecules
Dr Alastair Wilkins (University of Bristol, UK)
Bone marrow-derived stem cells and their potential role in treating degenerative ataxias.
General discussion
euro-ATAXIAConference
Friday 26thSeptember 2008
At the Stillorgan Park Hotel, Dublin, Ireland
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PROGRAMME
Friday 26th September 2008
9.30 – 12.30h
Welcome: Tom Kelleher, Chairperson – Friedreich’s Ataxia Society Ireland
Researchupdates
Chair: Professor Michel Koenig
Professor Massimo Pandolfo (Hôpital Erasme-UniversitéLibre de Bruxelles, Belgium)
Update on clinical trials in FA
Dr Joel Gottesfeld (Scripps Research Institute, US)
Update on therapies for overcoming frataxin gene silencing
Professor Andrew Greene (Consultant Geneticist, National Centre for Medical Genetics, Dublin)
Practical Genetics of Ataxias
Questions
11.00 - 11.30h: Coffee break
Dr Thomas Klockgether (University of Bonn, Germany)
Overview of EuroSCA project
Professor Michel Koenig (Université Louis Pasteur de Strasbourg, France)
Update of the recessive ataxias
Dr. Pierre Vankan (Santhera Pharmaceuticals, Switzerland)
Friedreichs Ataxia prevelance in Europe: ice age origin of the observed distribution
Questions
13.30-14.15h: Lunch
14.15 - 16.30h: Living with Ataxia
Chair: Mrs Sue Millman, Chief Executive, Ataxia UK
…/..
Professor Martin Delatycki (Clinical Geneticist, Melbourne, Australia)
The Melbourne Friedreich’s Ataxia Programme
Dr Julie Greenfield, (Research Projects Manager, Ataxia UK)
Ataxia UK Accredited Ataxia Centres
Dr Raymond Murphy (Neurologist, The Adelaide & Meath Hospital, Dublin) - Specialist Ataxia Clinic: an example from Ireland
14.45 – 15.15h: Tea break
Margot Barnes (Occupational Therapist)
Long-term Housing for People with Ataxia
Fiona Hill (Senior Speech & Language Therapist, the Adelaide & MeathHospital, Dublin)
The Benefits of Speech Therapy
Elisabeth Cassidy (Physiotherapist, Brunel University London)Contemporary physiotherapy practice in the UK
Results of a survey
Questions
20.00h: Dinner