The 18th edition of the International Conference on Duchenne and Becker Muscular Dystrophy, organized by Parent Project, will take place in Rome, at the Ergife Palace Hotel, from February 28 to March 1, 2020.
The Conference will offer, once more, plenty of opportunities for information and study for the entire Duchenne and Becker community, with some new elements. The 2020 conference claim will be “Alone we imagine the future, together we grow ” with the subtitle “Many research paths towards one direction”, to underline the key dynamics of convergence and interrelation between the many actors that make up the Duchenne community today: patients, family members, researchers, clinicians, companies, volunteers.
The program will open on Friday, February 28, from 2 to 7 pm, with parallel sessions in Italian specifically designed for patients and families: short seminars dedicated to specific topics related to daily life, beyond the clinical aspects of the disease, with the participation of experts and witnesses.
The seminars will be dedicated to talk about siblings, architectural barriers and accessible and domotic design, motor and respiratory physiotherapy, nutrition, integration at school and problems related to DMD/BMD, laws, rights and the path towards building an independent life.
From 4.30 children and teenagers will have the opportunity to participate in a dance therapy workshop.
The conference proceedings will open on Saturday, February 29. As in previous editions, the scientific sessions, aimed at updating the public on the latest research developments will be alternated with round tables that will explore some big issues related to daily life. The first session on Saturday, entitled “The restoration of dystrophin – Part I”, will be followed by the round table “Building well-being is an art: new possible scenarios”. At the turn of the lunch break, a poster session will take place: young researchers and clinicians will be able to illustrate their work through scientific posters.
Saturday afternoon will continue with the scientific session “Downstream / Reinforce the muscle”, followed by the round table “Beyond the therapies, free time”. Subsequently the program will include a session dedicated to Becker’s Muscular Dystrophy Guidelines and another one dedicated to “Optimizing research flow: from scientific projects to news”, followed by the presentation of the Hercules project by Duchenne UK.
On Saturday morning and afternoon art therapy, pet therapy and music therapy workshops will be available for children and teenagers.
Sunday will open with the session “Restoring dystrophin – Part II”, followed by “Inflammation and fibrosis”. After a round table dedicated to affectivity, the morning will end with the session “The future for the Duchenne”. It is already possible to register for the conference through the online form available on the page http://conferenza.parentproject.it/ .