Hippo Pathway : Signaling, Development and Disease (E4)

The study of developmental signaling pathways has transformed our understanding of disease. The Hippo signaling pathway is a relatively novel signaling network that controls organ size, stem cell activity, and tumorigenesis.

Therefore, the Hippo cascade and its components are attractive targets for the development of regenerative medicine and cancer drugs. The emerging paradigm in the field indicates that the Hippo pathway is a central sensor of multiple biological inputs, including cell adhesion, polarity, mechanical forces, and secreted ligands.

These findings highlight the unique interdisciplinary nature of the field as the work from Drosophila geneticists, mammalian signalers, bioengineers, and developmental and cancer biologists needs to be integrated. These emerging paradoxes, the cancer and stem cell relevance of the pathway, and need for a larger forum to bring experts from multiple fields together prompted us to propose this meeting. The specific goals of this conference are to:

1) Identify and integrate evolutionary conserved inputs that control this cascade;

2) Define the transcriptional targets of the pathway that drive growth;

3) Understand the roles of Hippo in the physiology of multiple tissues; and

4) Define targets for chemical inhibitors and activators within pathway components.

This meeting follows on the 2013 Hippo Keystone meeting, which has been received with tremendous interest. This is the only conference specific to the Hippo field. The meeting will bring together Drosophila geneticists, basic and clinical cancer researchers, and the developmental and stem cell research community. It should consolidate the emerging field and have an impact on development of new cancer therapies.