Innovations in Myogenesis: From Molecular Mechanisms to Therapeutic Interventions

Enter the text here that is the new abstract information for your application. This section must be no longer than 30 lines of text. The goal of the Frontiers in Myogenesis meeting – Innovations in Myogenesis: From Molecular Mechanisms to Therapeutic Interventions – is to bring together international leaders in skeletal muscle research, providing a forum for cutting-edge genetic, cellular, and molecular biology underlying muscle development, regeneration, and disease. This Frontiers in Myogenesis series, organized by the Society for Muscle Biology, has defined the state of the art in the field for the past twenty-five years. The overall objectives of the 2025 meeting are: 1) Scientific: to disseminate state-of-the-art advances and identify novel research areas in skeletal muscle biology; and 2) Advisory: to provide abundant opportunities for mentoring and networking between investigators at all career stages. To meet our scientific objective, our keynote speakers will reflect the two main themes our meeting, basic science discoveries and innovative technologies. Our first keynote, Dr. Stephen Tapscott, has made seminal discoveries in understanding the pathophysiology of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD). Our second keynote, Dr. Kristi Anseth, is a pioneer in the development of novel biomaterials with applications in the domain of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Eight plenary sessions will be made up of 42 speakers (26 invited and 16 selected from abstracts). Topics addressed will include skeletal muscle development, regulation of muscle stem cell quiescence, epigenetic control, novel approaches for deriving muscle stem cells from induced pluripotent stem cells, and bioengineering platforms for muscle modeling. Speakers are encouraged to present unpublished work to ensure discussions at the forefront of the field. To meet our advisory objective, we have incorporated several mentoring and development sessions into the agenda. Meet-the-Speaker lunches will be coordinated to give trainees the opportunity to interact with senior investigators in the field (groups of 5-6 trainees per table). A professional development workshop, led by one academic and one non-academic chair, will focus on critical issues such as deciding a career path, successful job interviews, maximizing fruitful collaborations, and more. Evening poster sessions, each with a “poster blitz” for selected presenters to give one-minute talks, will facilitate networking and attendee interactions.