25th Annual Midwest DNA Repair Symposium

Project Summary (Abstract)
We are requesting partial funding for the 25th Midwest DNA Repair Symposium. This symposium will be held in
Kansas for the first time, at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City on May 30-31, 2026. This is
the only continuously running Midwestern DNA repair meeting, and has been on-going since 1999, with only a
hiatus during the 2020-23 pandemic. This meeting has established itself as one with exceptionally high value for
the cost, which allows investigators to take or send several trainees to the meeting in addition to attending
themselves. The oral presentations are selected from the submitted abstracts, and historically this meeting
chooses trainees and early career investigators for the talks to boost their careers. The remaining abstracts
present posters. The 2026 meeting will also have four keynote speakers: Dr. Joann Sweasy from the University
of Nebraska Medical Center; Dr. Scott Williams from the NIEHS; Dr. Anja Bielinsky from the University of Virginia;
and Dr. Alessandro Vindigni from Washington University in St. Louis. These speakers are all internationally
recognized experts in DNA repair and genome stability and will help attract participants to the meeting. Two of
our invited keynotes are supported by NIEHS, and we plan to build a session around them that focuses on
environmental sources of DNA damage. The remaining sessions will be planned according to the submitted
abstracts. The meeting is being co-chaired by Dr. Ryan Barnes and Dr. Bret Freudenthal. Both are experts in
DNA repair and genome stability and represent an early career investigator (Barnes) and an established
investigator (Freudenthal). Funding through this R13 mechanism is requested to defray costs for keynote, as
well as selected trainee and early career investigator, travel and lodging, awards for trainees, and expenses such
as poster boards and audio/visual support. We expect that participants will leave the meeting with new ideas for
their own research, new collaborations, and new leads for career opportunities for the trainees.

Grant Number: 1R13ES038759-01
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: Ryan Barnes