Please click here for Chinese Language version of this announcement.
The second international yew resources conference focusing
on microtubule- stabilizing therapeutic agents will convene
in Beijing PRC on May 11, 2005. The 3-day conference is
titled The Yew Chronicles Continued-Microtubule Stabilizing
Therapeutic Agents (MiSTAs.) Also available to Conference
attendees and other interested participants is a contiguous 14
or 20-day Study Tour of the Beijing area, coastal Yantai and
Qingdao (Tsingtao), and portions of Hubei Provinces, where
we will visit scenic, historic and botanical highlight areas that
include visits to wild and cultivated yew sites.
YewCon China 2005, consisting of the Conference and the
Study Tour is organized and co-sponsored by the Native Yew
Conservation Council (YewCon) and the University of Portland
(Oregon). Other co-sponsors include Chengdu Institute of
Biology of the Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing Taxus Co.,
and the German Yew Friends Organization (Die Eibenfreunde).
The Conference is of primary interest to scientists in the
pharmaceutical industry, academic, forestry and medical
research institutions, and governmental and non-governmental
organizations (NGOs). Spouses and friends of YewCon
China participants and other interested visitors are also
invited to register and participate.
Participants will review the current status of yew resources,
including the development of sustainable large-scale yew
plantations, advances in the development of non-yew sources
of taxanes, epothilones, and other natural products and their
analogs that share a common mechanism of action with
paclitaxel, and have the potential to replace the yew as a
source of microtubule-stabilizing therapeutic agents.
Tubulin and other microtubule-associated proteins have
emerged as major therapeutic targets in the treatment
of cancer, cardiovascular disease and neurodegenerative
disorders. The conference will provide an excellent
opportunity to present and discuss current research
on natural and synthetic taxanes and related therapeutic
agents that interact with these proteins.
Major topics that will be explored by conference presenters
and panels include yew conservation and sustainable use,
advances in taxane biosynthesis, extraction and delivery
systems, non-yew taxane sources, epothilones as potential
successors to taxane-based pharmaceuticals, and advances
in non-epothilone natural products that target microtubules.
Zhi Yuan (Robinson) Xie, the China On-Site Arrangements
Administrator is also President of Beijing Taxus Co., Ltd.,
a board member of YewCon, and a leading advocate of
yew protection. He has personally planned, and will lead the
Study Tour. He will also be a keynote speaker at the Conference.
Tour participants will visit yew plantations, wild yew stands and
many other points of interest. An optional 6-day tour extension
will visit Kunming, Dali and Lijiang in SW China. Robinson
may be contacted at robinson@yewconservation.org.
.
The Conference Program was developed by Program
Coordinator Stanley Scher Ph.D., formerly Visiting Professor,
Research Scientist and scholar at the University of California,
and Dr. Angela Hoffman, currently Professor of Chemistry at
University of Portland. Dr. Hoffman was recently credited with
isolating taxol from hazelnut trees. Please contact Dr. Scher
at stanley@yewconservation.org for information about
submitting contributed papers or posters.
The YewCon China 2005 Administrator is B Shimon
Schwarzschild, an international nature protection advocate,
served as a member of the Commission on Education and
Communication of the World Conservation Union (IUCN),
and retired in 2000 from the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific
Southwest Research Station. He may be contacted at
shimon@yewconservation.org.
YewCon China 2005 Conference and Study Tour information,
including application and reservation forms, conference details
and tour schedule and highlights can be found on this website.
Interested participants are urged to sign up promptly.
For additional information on YewCon China 2005 contact:
info@yewconservation.org.
Please click here for Chinese Language version of this announcement.
