Grant: Planning Grants

Nitric oxide is a gas that is normally produced by cells in our body. It has well characterised functions as a neurotransmitter and a regulator of blood vessel tone. There is now a large body of evidence that this intriguing molecule has important functions in the regulation of aggressive properties in cancer cells. This relatively new knowledge opens novel potential avenues for the treatment of cancer through the use of pharmacological agents known to modulate the nitric oxide signalling pathway. Our research over the last 12 years on the effect of nitric oxide on cancer cell behaviour has made us leaders in the field. Because of that, Dr. Benjamin Bonavida (UCLA), the inaugural organiser of this meeting, asked us to host the next meeting in Kingston. The workshop will last two days and will be attended by 16-17 principal investigators and their trainees, mostly from Europe, Japan and North America. We believe that Queen's will be an excellent venue for this conference, which we plan to hold on June 1-3, 2013. Hosting the world top nitric oxide researchers will be beneficial to our research group, our institution, and to Canada as a whole. Moreover, it is likely that out of this workshop will emerge new transdisciplinary collaborative ventures because participants will include a combination of basic and clinical scientists.