# CSHL 2021 Telomeres & Telomerase Conference

> **NIH NIH R13** · COLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY · 2021 · $29,935

## Abstract

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Conference on Telomeres and Telomerase
May 4 –8, 2021
Abstract
 Telomeres are specialized protein-nucleic acid complexes that protect the ends
of eukaryotic chromosomes. In most eukaryotes, telomeres contain short DNA repeats
that are maintained by the telomerase reverse transcriptase. It has long been recognized
that age and replication-associated telomere shortening is a driver of the cellular and
organismal aging process, and that telomere length and integrity are regulators of
human life span. Short or dysfunctional telomeres drive cells into senescence or cell
death and are causative for numerous age-associated pathologies in humans, ranging
from stem cell dysfunction, cognitive disorders and dementia to the age dependent
increase in cancer risk. Mutations in telomere and telomerase components causing
accelerated telomere shortening, such as observed in Dyskeratosis Congenita are
directly associate with age-associated disorders and reduced lifespan, emphasizing the
importance of understanding telomere function for the human health span and
prevention of age-associated pathologies. As a result, the telomere field is now highly
diverse and dynamic, representing a wide variety of research areas in which telomeres
play crucial roles (aging, telomere syndromes, stem cells, cell cycle progression, cancer,
meiosis and fertility, recombination, replication). The field encompasses research with
mouse and human systems as well as insights gained from a wide variety of different
model organisms (birds, frogs, flies, plants, nematodes, protozoa, budding yeast, fission
yeast). This meeting focuses on understanding the interplay of telomeric proteins with
cellular pathways that regulate genome integrity, on progress in the fields of telomerase
regulation and biogenesis, on the regulation of aging and immortality by telomere
maintenance pathways and on telomere dependent pathologies as function of telomere
length, integrity and organismal age.
 The previous eleven Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory meetings on Telomeres and
Telomerase have been crucial in bringing together a diverse group of researchers from
all parts of the world, and have resulted in vigorous discussion and synergistic
interactions stimulated by the presentation of mostly unpublished data. Because the
CSHL Telomeres and Telomerase conference remains the only opportunity for scientists
in this rapidly growing field to interact as a whole, this meeting is unique and of the
utmost importance for the future of the field. Moreover, the format of CSHL meetings, for
which nearly all talks are chosen from submitted abstracts, maximizes the opportunity for
new independent investigators, postdocs and graduate students to present their work in
a highly visible venue. These meetings have all had a uniformly high attendance rate
from an international group of researchers, and the podium and posters have
consistently presented the major discoveries in the field well before pub...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10233499
- **Project number:** 1R13AG072820-01
- **Recipient organization:** COLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY
- **Principal Investigator:** DAVID J. STEWART
- **Activity code:** R13 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $29,935
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-04-01 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10233499

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10233499, CSHL 2021 Telomeres & Telomerase Conference (1R13AG072820-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10233499. Licensed CC0.

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