Boston LAM/TSC Research Seminar Series Graphic with Logo
About the Boston LAM/TSC Seminar Series Horizontal Rule

Spurred by her diagnosis with Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) in April 2005, Amy Farber (Exec. Dir. LAM Treatment Alliance) and her husband Michael Nurok collaborated with basic science researcher and clinical oncologist, Dr. David Kwiatkowski at Harvard Medical School, to found this seminar series in October 2005.

The LAM/TSC Seminar Series brings researchers across disciplines as well as the basic science and clinical practitioner spectrum together on a regular basis to accelerate the pace of discovery on these two diseases.  The series is meant to:

  • Accelerate the pooling of knowledge among researchers     working directly on LAM and/or TSC and those working     in relevant fields.

  • Facilitate the identifcation of gaps in research.

  • Inspire the recruitment of additional junior and senior     researchers and clinicians to work on LAM and Tuberous     Sclerosis Complex (TSC).

  • Foster brainstorming of novel therapeutic interventions.

During the 2005-2006 flagship year of this series participants expressed great willingness to take part. We have seen a clear and strong interest from those within the clinical, scientific and medical research communities.

  • 30-55 participants in attendance at each meeting.

  • Over 100 individual participants attended one or more     meeting throughout the year.

These included over 31 MDs and over 51 PhDs and 18 MD, PhDs; approximately two-thirds were Principle Investigators. 

The insights we gained from our first year inform our future course in strengthening the impact of the series in terms of outreach, networking, distribution of information. This year we will be uploading information from each talk and discussion to this website. CME credits are available for each meeting of the LAM/TSC Seminar Series.

The 2006-2007 series is again sponsored by Harvard Medical School’s Department of Continuing Education. This year, the founders celebrate major support in the form of a three-year grant from the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance for this year’s seminar series.

Seminar Series Venue:

The LAM/TSC Seminar Series
Harvard Medical School
New Research Building
77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Room 350
5-7pm one Thursday per month

 

Global Presence Horizontal Rule

With the advent of its second year, the Boston-based LAM/TSC seminar series responds to the reality that LAM and TSC research call for transnational and even global partnerships. The organizers and funders are committed to building collaborations across institutions and stepping up efforts to disseminate the fruits of these meetings to researchers beyond Boston. This year, we expect expanded attendance by researchers from beyond Boston in addition to presentations by those from institutions across the United States. Through the generous ongoing support of Dixon Yun and Media Communications at Children’s Hospital Boston, meeting presentations will be uploaded to this website and discussion summaries will be posted.  We are hopeful that these efforts will expand the LAM and TSC research community and lead to greater interest in the scientific community at large in LAM, TSC, and other rare diseases.

 

Seminar Objectives Horizontal rule

The seminar series was created to achieve the following four objectives:

(1)   To facilitate the interdisciplinary sharing of existing information among basic science researchers and clinicians working independently within and beyond Boston, creating an opportunity for networking as well as greater and more swift aggregate impact of published and unpublished ideas and data on LAM and TSC;

(2)   To identify gaps in research that might help to target and direct future work on LAM and TSC; 

(3)   To create a regular meeting space where novel therapeutic approaches to finding effective treatments for LAM and TSC can be presented and critically peer reviewed; and

(4)   To recruit new junior and senior researchers and clinicians to work on LAM and TSC. 

While the Boston-area medical research community provides an ideal base for the series, given the rich concentration of relevant expertise, this series brings researchers from across and beyond Boston to present their work regularly. These presentations are further disseminated and discussion pursued, by way of this website.