Rationale & Objectives
The conference will focus on aspects of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and other movement disorders which are still insufficiently understood or have been recently challenged on genetic, pathogenetic, clinical and/or therapeutic grounds. The 3-day symposium will be led by 23 leading young investigators and senior clinical scientists sharing ideas aimed at advancing the clinical and scientific disciplines within our field. Each topic will close with a summary of the knowledge gaps and with a proposal on how to bridge or minimize them.
All sessions are grouped thematically. The first day will be dedicated to PD, ranging from pathogenesis (alpha-synuclein aggregation and propagation) to novel disease modifying treatments.
The second day of the conference will be dedicated to non motor features of PD and advanced treatments, including functional neurosurgery and infusional therapies. The latter part of the second day will concentrate on the knowledge gaps in non-PD movement disorders, focusing particularly on Essential Tremor, genetic and pathophysiology of dystonia and experimental treatments of Huntington’s disease.
The third day will conclude the conference with a session updating the new molecular findings shaping our knowledge on movement disorders caused by gene mutations, such as cerebellar ataxias, spastic paraplegias, and dystonia-parkinsonism syndromes. The closing session will be dedicated to the pathophysiology and treatment of functional movement disorders and the relevance to the understanding of voluntary movements.
The conference is geared for physicians and scientists interested in Parkinson’s disease and movement disorders, as an opportunity to update on recent developments and to brainstorm on various research options to advance the field. It is also intended to foster the creation of working groups for international collaborative research projects.
