6th Suna Kıraç Conference on Neurodegeneration – Istanbul

We are proud to welcome all of you to the 6th Suna Kıraç Conference on Neurodegeneration in Istanbul. Like its predecessors, this conference will take a multi-faceted and multi-disciplinary approach to understanding and treating ALS and degenerative diseases of the central nervous system.

Since 2005, the Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Neurodegeneration Research Laboratory (NDAL) has been part of the international effort to better understand and treat neurodegenerative diseases. We are honored to work with acclaimed academics around the world, including our close partnerships with University of Massachusetts, Harvard University and Brown University.

In July 2018, NDAL moved to its new home at the Koç University Hospital in Topkapı, İstanbul. NDAL is now part of an elite research hospital and KUTTAM, Koç University’s Translational Medicine Research Center, strengthening its ability to collaborate, innovate, discover and contribute to the field. Operating within a hospital setting allows NDAL to access more patients and explore interdisciplinary research projects in new, highly effective ways. Among its efforts, NDAL has in recent years become an active member of several ambitious international consortia, such as Project MinE on sporadic ALS; EJP-RD Initiative PROSPAX on spastic ataxias; and the GP2 Project, Global Parkinson’s Genetic Program.

Since its inception, the Suna Kıraç Conference on Neurodegeneration has evolved into an internationally acclaimed meeting point for the global scientific community. The Conference offers a valuable opportunity for prominent scientists to exchange and develop ideas, setting the stage for new collaborations and research projects.

This year’s Conference, entitled ‘Advances in Gene and Molecular Therapies for Neurodegenerative Diseases: Recent Subcellular and Clinical Insights’ will kick off by exploring the genes associated with neurodegeneration and the underlying cellular mechanisms of neuronal vulnerability, continuing with RNA dysfunction in neurological diseases and non-neuronal pathology. The complex architecture of ALS in Türkiye and an interactive discussion on sporadic ALS will close the Conference, which is the first one held since the passing of its eponymist, the bright, and inspired Suna Kıraç. This Conference, like the previous ones, is held in Suna Kıraç’s honor and dedicated to her respected memory.

On behalf of the millions of patients who suffer from neurodegenerative diseases, and their families, we would like to extend our deepest gratitude to everyone who has contributed to this year’s Conference, in particular to Profs. A. Nazlı Başak, Robert H. Brown, Jr. and Jeffrey D. Macklis. We wish you a productive and inspiring conference, as well as a pleasant stay in Istanbul. More importantly, we hope that this Conference contributes to your efforts in the area of neurodegenerative disease and that you discover new ideas, questions and information that build and strengthen your work.

Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation