First International Meeting on Quadruplex DNA.

Abstract

On April 21, thousands of visitors invaded Louisville, KY, including >100 scientists from around the globe. Most of the visitors were there to enjoy the festivities that were in progress as a prelude to the Kentucky Derby. In addition to the Derby celebration, the scientists were there for the First International Meeting on Quadruplex DNA, the first-ever full conference on the roles of quadruplex DNA in biology and chemistry. The field is relatively new. It is quite promising for helping scientists understand cancer and perhaps other diseases, and for the development of new types of anticancer drugs. The meeting opened on Saturday evening with a reception on the 16th floor of the historic Brown Hotel in downtown Louisville. The conference attendees had the pleasant choices of catching up with friends, enjoying the food and drink, or gazing through the large windows of the reception area as the world’s largest fireworks display exploded over the nearby Ohio River (Figure 1). The excitement of being part of the first meeting in this area, and the excellent talks in several different quadruplex research areas, held the interest of the conference group until its end at midday on April 24. No heated discussions took place during the conference sessions; however, areas clearly exist in this relatively new field in which significantly different views must be reconciled.