UK-Singapore Symposium on p53: The Next 30 YearsHeld under the auspices of the "UK-Singapore Partners in Science" Programme, Prof Sir David Lane of Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and Dr Chandra Verma of A*STAR's Bioinformatics Institute (BII) are pleased to co-organise a 2-day UK-Singapore Symposium on p53: The Next 30 Years.
Since its discovery 30 years ago, the p53 gene has proved a source of continuous fascination and intellectual surprises. First described as a host protein binding to viral oncogenes, p53 flirted briefly with being an oncogene itself. But in 1990, it was found to be a tumour suppressor gene mutated in over half of all human cancers. Germ line mutations in p53 are responsible for the "Li-Fraumeni " cancer family syndrome. Mutations in p53 have proved to be the perfect "smoking gun" in epidemiological studies of human cancer causation, and polymorphisms in p53 and it regulators affect cancer incidence and aging in man. A sequence specific DNA binding protein and highly regulated transcription factor induced by DNA damage p53 was reborn as the "Guardian of the Genome". Efforts in Singapore have recently identified all the chromosomal DNA binding sites for p53 and highlighted the role of newly discovered p53 isoforms in development.
47,000 papers later, much is known but much more is still to be learnt. Enormous efforts are now being made to develop p53 based therapeutics, and indeed p53 gene therapy is now in widespread use in China for the treatment of Head and Neck cancer. The activity of p53 is regulated by a ubiquitin E3 ligase MDM2 and its partner protein MDM4 and new drugs that activate p53 by blocking MDM2 activity are now in clinical trial.
Celebrating the establishment of the p53 Lab under the leadership of Prof Sir David Lane FRS at A*STAR in the Biopolis of Singapore, this symposium brings together a celebrated group of international speakers who will discuss the latest developments in the field including the growing role that p53 has been shown to play in organismal aging, fertility, metabolism and disease in addition to its role in cancer suppression.
The details of the symposium are as follows:
Date: 25 November 2009 (Wednesday)
26 November 2009 (Thursday)
Time: 9:00am - 5:30pm
Venue: Breakthrough (Level 4), Matrix Building @ Biopolis
Admission to the symposium is FREE and advanced registration is required.
Registration for the symposium will include:
You're most welcomed to register for this event by 18 November 2009.
