Dr. Kukuruzinska Spurs Salivary Research at Gordon Research Conference

kukuruzinska-200Dr. Maria Kukuruzinska recently returned from Galveston, Texas, where she co-chaired the Gordon Research Conference on Salivary Glands & Exocrine Biology from February 3 to February 8, 2013, with Dr. Indu S. Ambudkar of the National Institutes of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR). A total of 136 senior and junior investigators attended to share their unpublished discoveries in salivary, lacrimal, pancreatic, mammary, and lung research.

The conference provides a forum to share current information on the development, physiology, and dysfunction of salivary glands and other exocrine tissues. Attendees can network and brainstorm new directions for future research, and promote the use of the salivary gland as a model system.

Dr. Elisabetta Dejana from the University of Milan gave the opening keynote on “Transcriptional regulation of endothelial cell differentiation.” Dr. Kenneth Yamada of the NIDCR gave the closing keynote on “Cell-Matrix Dynamics.” The conference highlighted the work of promising young scientists with 70 poster presentations.

This was the ninth conference on Salivary Glands & Exocrine Biology. The series began in 1997 and meets biennially.

The conference was supported in part by the Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine.