Project Description Narrative:
The Mellowes Center symposium, "Rare Diseases and Rare Cancers in the Era of Systems Biology," is a two-day hybrid event featuring seminars and panel discussions from expert researchers and clinicians in five focus areas: precision medicine, innovative technology, mitochondrial system dysfunctions, immune system dysfunction, and systems biology. Invited speakers, from regional to international, will focus on the current and desired future state of rare disease research and advocate for greater understanding and therapeutic interventions for rare diseases and rare cancers. Specifically, our goals are 1) to share and promote novel strategies for genomic analyses and precision medicine, 2) to foster cross-disciplinary collaborations, and 3) to initiate an annual gathering for rare disease and rare cancer researchers.
At its core, this symposium emphasizes the need to create a common language and understanding for studying and interpreting the genes of rare diseases and cancers. Inherently, rare disease research is a multidisciplinary and multifaceted endeavor with potential for misunderstanding, underutilized advancements, and academic isolation. As this community meets, a shared understanding of what is feasible, applicable, and available will be gained with the opportunity to further advance and invent novel mechanisms for diagnosing and treating rare diseases. We have designed this symposium so that experts with similar areas of focus will present sequentially, with time after each panel for questions and discussion. With the utilization of the zoom platform, investigators will be able to review content, and engage in individual and global conversations to innovate, initiate, and extend collaborations. We expect this symposium to be a nucleating event that will repeat annually to engage new researchers and facilitate rewarding interactions to advance rare disease and rare cancer research.