IBT Director Organizes Second International Conference on Neural Tube Defects

Dr. Richard H. Finnell, director of the Texas A&M Institute of Biosciences and Technology, is a co-organizer of the Second International Conference on Neural Tube Defects to be held in South Carolina April 19 to 23, 2002. Originally slated for Sept. 15 to 18, the conference was postponed due to the recent terrorist activity in the United States.

Drs. Helga Toriello, Mary Speer and Gary Shaw were the other co-organizers. All four are world-recognized for their contributions to understanding the pathogenesis, molecular biology, and epidemiology of neural tube defects. They were all instrumental in designing and implementing the first conference, Neural Tube Defects 1999, in Schlangenbad, Germany.

Neural tube defects occur in the brain or spinal cord and are among the most common of all serious birth defects. NTDs occur usually in the first month of pregnancy when the neural tube is open, before it closes to form the spinal cord and brain. In NTD-affected pregnancies the neural tube does not close properly, causing serious and permanent damage in the baby. The two major types of NTDs are anencephaly and spina bifida. Anencephaly is the partial or complete absence of the baby's brain, a birth defect so extensive that most of these babies are stillborn or die soon after birth. Spina bifida occurs when there is an opening of the spine. These babies need to have surgery soon after their birth to close the spine and prevent further damage. They also may need a shunt to prevent a build-up of spinal fluid in the brain called hydrocephalus. Spina bifida may cause problems with walking, bowel and bladder control, and mental retardation.

The purpose of the Second International Conference on Neural Tube Defects is to continue the work that started with the 1999 conference, and support the "Healthy People 2010" goal of reducing the number of infants born with spina bifida and other neural tube defects to 3 new cases per 10,000 live births. To help meet this goal, researchers from various disciplines will discuss findings and form small discussion groups to establish new collaborations for future research that includes sharing of biological samples. Embryology, epidemiology, mouse models, teratogens, and prevention by folate and other nutritional supplements are the principal areas and topics to be addressed.

Through the exchange of ideas, discussion of findings, and establishment of collaborations, the conference objectives include:

• Reducing the incidence of NTDs through the coordination of worldwide research efforts;
  
  
• Promoting ongoing communication with collaboration for future consortium activities; and
  
  
• Establishing a network of resources to assist in the appropriate testing of diagnosed NTDs to assure suitable genetic counseling.

"The time is ripe for investigating disorders like neural tube defects, relatively intractable until recently," notes Dr. Finnell. "The availability of well-classified mouse models for NTDs, yielding feasible candidates for direct analysis, augments traditional approaches in human genetics, underscoring the potential for genes to be implicated both by function and location. Study of the neural tube defects provides a prime opportunity to apply rapidly evolving technologies to a disorder of important public health concern and to tackle what will undoubtedly be the next frontier in human genetic analysis, categorizing the interactions between genes and between genes and the environment. Any insight into one or more genes predisposing to the development of neural tube defects will lend useful information towards more accurate genetic counseling for families and prevention of these frequent birth defects."

The complexity of the underlying problem is so immense that bringing together the collective experience of investigators from a broad base of backgrounds is necessary to ensure the translation of knowledge across disciplines. In addition to the sharing of knowledge, new collaborations will develop from this cross-fertilization, leading to novel hypotheses. Meeting participants include physicians and basic scientists in both academic and pharmaceutical environments.

For a complete list of conference presentations, see http://www.tamu.edu/ibt/ibtweb/ntdconfagenda.htm.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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