Neurodegeneration: From Neurocentric to System-Wide Perspectives

About This Grant

Abstract Support is requested for a Keystone Symposia conference entitled Neurodegeneration: From Neurocentric to System-Wide Perspectives, organized by Drs. Julia TCW, Christian Haass and Emma Mead, with scientific programming input from Keystone Symposia. The meeting will take place June 22–25, 2026 at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler in Whistler, BC, Canada. Neurodegenerative disorders have devastating health impacts that increase disability and mortality in the human population. Despite decades of research, therapeutic approaches for treating neurodegenerative diseases have had limited success in the clinic. Neurodegenerative diseases share many overarching disease mechanisms, which include deposition of insoluble prion-like proteins but also strong non-neuronal contributions such as vascular and peripheral modifiers of disease progression and neuro-immunological risk factors. This Keystone Symposia conference on Neurodegeneration: From Neurocentric to System-Wide Perspectives focuses on the idea that a system-wide perspective on neurodegeneration, which includes all non-neuronal brain cells and influences from peripheral organs, will be essential for understanding neurodegenerative diseases and identifying new diagnostic biomarkers and potential disease-related targets for therapeutic intervention. The conference will therefore cover a broad spectrum of neurodegenerative disorders and include targeted sessions to discuss system-wide mechanistic research and the exciting possibility to identify unexpected therapeutic targets that may span diseases. The systems-based approach throughout the conference program will also illuminate common features of neurodegenerative disease biology that may identify potential biomarkers that will reveal new early detection and therapy surveillance. Additionally, this conference will be held jointly with a related Keystone Symposia conference on Neuroinflammation in Health and Disease, which provides a unique opportunity to focus on the intersection of neurodegenerative disease and inflammation pathways. Through shared keynote and joint scientific sessions, meals and poster sessions, participants will have an opportunity to network and share cross-disciplinary insights, encouraging innovative collaborations towards a deeper understanding of neurodegenerative disease and neuroimmune interactions, and the pathways that interconnect them.