The Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute is starting its second series of Collaborate2Cure conferences Monday, with a focus on bringing together researchers who are working on mitochondrial illnesses.
Mitochondrial illnesses are caused by changes at the cellular level. They include Alzheimer’s disease, which is the focus of Monday’s 4 p.m. presentations at the University of Kansas Alzheimer’s Disease Center at 4350 Shawnee Mission Parkway in Fairway.
Sessions scheduled for May 8, 15 and 22 will focus on other mitochondrial dysfunction research topics. Registration for all is available online.
The events are geared toward scientists, entrepreneurs and students, but are open to the public. Research collaborations spawned by the presentations and discussions that follow are eligible to apply for $50,000 grants.
The Kansas City Life Sciences Institute’s goal is to link human health researchers with animal health researchers along the Interstate 70 corridor that stretches from Kansas State University in the west to the University of Missouri in Columbia in the east. Last year’s Collaborate2Cure series focused on cancer research and led to a collaboration between an Olathe animal health company with a vaccine for dog cancer and Children’s Mercy Hospital researchers who are preparing to test the vaccine in humans.
Andy Marso: 816-234-4055, @andymarso