Modern Psychoneuroendocrinology: Interactions with Genes, Health, and Longevity

2009 Recap: Highlights of ISPNE in San Francisco

The 2009 ISPNE conference in San Francisco held four packed days of excellent science and dialogue that reunited a worldwide community of researchers and welcomed new young investigators. The 212 attendees included many students, which was a great outreach to the next generation. We hope they remain part of our vibrant community.

This year’s meeting was kicked off on Thursday afternoon with the annual awards ceremony. Christian Otte, the 2009 Curt Richter Awardee, gave a wonderful acceptance speech highlighting his seminal work with mineralocorticoid function in major depression. Christian represents the ISPNE mission well, applying his research to mental and physical health with an interdisciplinary research program that spans the oceans, and which has included many ISPNE members as mentors along the way.

Day 2 was kicked off with a double hitter: Rachel Yehuda presented clinical data and Jonathon Seckl presented basic and clinical data on the role of glucocorticoid metabolism in states of stress and trauma. Jonathan gave a tour de force demonstrating the impact of prenatal programming on steroid biosynthetic pathways and the later development of metabolic dysregulation.  Rachel relayed her several decade long search to better understand PSTD and adaptation of the HPA axis and shared exciting new data on epigenetic affects on glucorticoid regulation that contribute to intergenerational transmission of PTSD. Provocative as ever, Yehuda questioned the interpretation of early handling studies, suggesting that the HPA axis profile of handled rat pups (high glucocorticoid feedback, low cortisol) may represent adaptation to stress, a traumatized profile, even though it appears to be ‘stress resilient.’ Continue »