2007 Keystone Symposium on Autophagy in Health and Disease

The first Keystone Symposium on Autophagy in Health and Disease was held in Monterey, a scenic city on the Pacific coast in central California, April 15-20, 2007. The symposium brought together approximately 280 participants, from basic researchers to physicians and journalists. The meeting was composed of a joint keynote session with the meeting "Apoptotic and Non-Apoptotic Cell Death Pathways", and eight plenary sessions, covering the molecular mechanisms of autophagy and many emerging concepts and functions of autophagy in organelle degradation, physiological regulation, cell death and survival, and disease. Three afternoon workshops focused on short talks selected from the posters, and a special discussion session led by experts dealt with techniques and concerns regarding experimental detection of autophagy. The symposium highlighted autophagy as a potential therapeutic target in a wide range of diseases, including cancer, microbial infection, myopathies and neurodegenerative disorders.