Upcoming meetings

2013 FRAXA Investigators Meeting: Treatment Strategies for Fragile X

September 29-October 2, 2013
Southbridge Hotel and Conference Center, Southbridge, MA

We are pleased to announce that registration is open for the 2013 FRAXA Investigators Meeting. We expect another lively meeting with presentations of recent advances in the field of Fragile X research. This meeting, as with past ones, will provide ample opportunity for discussion, debate and collaboration.

Meeting Announcement
Preliminary Meeting Outline
Registration Form
Presentation Preference Form

Gordon Conference in Fragile X and Autism-related Disorders

Gordon Research Conferences provide an international forum for the presentation and discussion of frontier research in the biological, chemical, and physical sciences, and their related technologies. The Gordon conferences in Fragile X and Autsim are held in even years (2012, 2014, etc.) and FRAXA Investigators Meetings are planned bi-annually in 2013, 2015, etc.

June 1-6, 2014
Mount Snow Resort
West Dover, VT
Chair: Jennifer C. Darnell and Vice Chair: Michael R. Tranfaglia

Immediately preceeding each Gordon Research Conferences will be a bi-annual Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) on Fragile X and Autism. This is a forum for graduate students and post-docs to present and discuss their cutting edge research among peers and mentors. The small size and focus on young investigators provide an ideal interactive and unintimidating atmosphere.
The 2014 Gordon Research Seminar
May 31 - June 1, 2014
Mount Snow Resort
West Dover, VT
Chair: Aditi Bhattacharya

More details about the 2014 conferences at the Gordon Conferences website

Previous Meetings to advance research

2011 FRAXA Investigators Meeting: Pursuing Pathways to Treatment

The goal of the meeting was to further the mission of finding and implementing viable treatments for Fragile X. Over 150 scientists from a dozen countries attended. It was held September 18-21 in Southbridge, MA.
Meeting Report

Annual Fragile X Banbury Meetings

Fragile X Banbury meetings were established in 2000 at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, thanks to Nobel Laureate James D. Watson, who proposed them to stimulate new research. The annual meetings from 2000 through 2005 were funded by a grant from NIMH with additional help from NICHD; Co-Principal Investigators were William Greenough, of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Katie Clapp, of FRAXA. The meetings run for two and a half days and are wonderfully intense, with people discussing Fragile X from 8am until late in the evening.

In 2006, NIMH funded an additional five years of annual meetings through a grant awarded to William Greenough (Univ. of Illinois), Elizabeth Berry-Kravis (Rush University), and Katie Clapp (FRAXA Research Foundation). The 2008 meeting was organized by Eric Klann (Emory), Peter Vanderklish (Scripps), in addition to W. Greenough, E. Berry-Kravis, and K. Clapp.

The 2005 meeting focused on identifying outcome measures which are needed to test potential treatments. A number of practical measures have been validated in studies with human patients and with animal models of Fragile X. These measures are being used in a number of labs to test potentially therapeutic compounds.

The 2004 meeting was co-chaired by Will Spooren, a drug development scientist of Hoffman LaRoche, and Bill Greenough. The focus was pharmacological treatments for Fragile X: which existing drugs and experimental new compounds might be effective for treating Fragile X. Participants were equally drawn from the pharmaceutical industry, representing seven different companies including Novartis, Addex, Lilly,Merck, and Hoffman LaRoche, and the university-based basic research community. Several collaborations between industry and university scientists were established at the meeting.

FRAXA Investigators' Meeting

FRAXA sponsored a research meeting at Arden House in Harriman, NY, in July 2005. Participants included Story Landis (Director, NINDS), Bill Greenough (University of Illinois), David Nelson (Baylor College of Medicine), Tom Jongens (U Penn), Jennifer Darnell (Rockefeller), Samie Jaffrey (Cornell), Miklos Toth (Cornell), Mark Bear (MIT), Holly Cline (CSHL), Walter Kaufmann (Kennedy Krieger Institute), Eric Klann (Baylor), Yue Feng (Emory), Stephanie Ceman (Illinois at Urbana Champaign), Justin Fallon (Brown), Gary Bassell (Albert Einstein), Ted Brown (New York IBR), Carl Dobkin (New York IBR), Bob Denman (New York IBR), Bob Wong (SUNY Downstate), Suzanne Zukin (Albert Einstein), Todd Sacktor (SUNY Downstate), Sam Schacher (Columbia), Henri Tiedge (SUNY Downstate), Carolyn Beebe Smith (NIMH), Daniela Zarnescu (Emory).

At the Crossroads: Fragile X and Autism

In July 2004, scientists gathered at Salve Regina University in Newport, RI, to investigate the common neurobiological pathways in Fragile X and autism spectrum disorders. The meeting was sponsored by FRAXA and three of the National Institutes of Health (NIMH, NICHD and NINDS).

Researchers have found similarities in individuals with Fragile X and autism spectrum disorders. At least 25% of people with Fragile X also have autism, and Fragile X is the most common known genetic cause of autism.

Many people believe that there are shared genetic mechanisms between Fragile X and a subgroup of individuals with autism. Further study of the Fragile X gene and genes it regulates could offer important insights into the genetic basis of autism. But little research has been conducted involving direct comparison between individuals with autism spectrum disorders, Fragile X, and autism with Fragile X.

This workshop brought together leaders in these fields to develop future directions for research that will accelerate progress on each of the disorders. We thank Steve Moldin of NIMH, Laura Mamounas of NINDS, and Alice Kau of NICHD, the co-chairs, Dr. Dan Geschwind and Dr. Robert Wong, and all the participants for an extraordinary meeting.

Meeting Report