Dr. Kari Alitalo is a tenured Research Professor of the Finnish Academy of Sciences and the Director of the Molecular/Cancer Biology Program and Centre of Excellence in the Biomedicum Helsinki research institute of the University of Helsinki. He obtained an M.D. and a Ph.D. from the University of Helsinki in Finland. During his postdoctoral period in 1982-1983 DR. Alitalo worked with Drs. J. Michael Bishop and Harold E. Varmus in San Francisco. Dr. Alitalo has discovered several novel receptor tyrosine kinases, important in particular in endothelial cells. He has shown that some of these receptors and their ligands play important roles in tumor angiogenesis. Among the original findings are the cloning and characterisation of fibroblast growth factor receptor-4, the C-terminal Src tyrosine kinase and the first endothelial specific receptor tyrosine kinase, Tie, as well as VEGFR-3 and the cloning and characterization of VEGF-B in collaboration with Dr. Ulf Eriksson and determination of VEGFR-1 and NP-1 as its receptors.

A significant achievement by Dr. Alitalo was the isolation, cloning and characterization of the first lymphangiogenic growth factor VEGF-C and isolation of lymphatic endothelial cells, opening up the lymphatic vascular system to molecular analysis after over a hundred years of descriptive pathology. He has also been central in the characterization of VEGF-B, VEGF-C and VEGF-D receptors and signal transduction pathways and the function of VEGFR-3, showing that this receptor is required for angiogenesis and later in lymphangiogenesis in embryos. He has devised molecular therapies for lymphedema that are now entering clinical trials. He furthermore demonstrated that VEGF-C is overexpressed in tumors and its receptor VEGFR-3 is upregulated in angiogenic tumor vasculature. His studies led to the demonstration of VEGF-C associated tumor lymphangiogenesis, intralymphatic tumor growth, and VEGF-C association with tumor metastasis and its inhibition by blocking the VEGFR-3 signal transduction pathway.

Relevant Publications: 

• Proprotein convertases promote processing of VEGF-D, a critical step for binding the angiogenic receptor VEGFR-2
  
  
• Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor 3 Is Involved in Tumor Angiogenesis and Growth

Dr. John Bissler is the Clark D. West Chair in Nephrology at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. He cares for adult and pediatric patients with tuberous sclerosis complex and lymphangioleiomyomatosis. He has worked to improve embolytic therapy for angiomyoliomata and is the principle investigator for two pharmacological studies aimed at reducing the angiomyolipomata burden for affected patients. His laboratory is interested in the mechanisms leading to the loss of heterozygosity that leads to loss of the functional TSC1 or TSC2 allele and angiomyolipoma development.

Relevant Publications: 

• Reduction of Postembolization Syndrome After Ablation of Renal
  Angiomyolipoma
  
  
• Perspectives in Renal Medicine: Renal angiomyolipoma
  
  
• DNA Lesion-specific Co-localization of the Mre11/Rad50/Nbs1 (MRN)
  Complex and Replication Protein A (RPA) to Repair Foci*
  

Yihai Cao is a professor of vascular biology at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. He trained as a medical doctor in Shandong Medical University, China, and received his Ph.D. in molecular biology from the Karolinska Institute. He has also worked with Judah Folkman at the Department of Surgery and Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School. The research interests of his group include molecular mechanisms and roles of growth factors and inhibitors in the regulation of angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis under physiological and pathological conditions. His aim is to develop therapeutic angiogenesis and antiangiogenesis treatments for the most common and severe diseases such as cancer, metastasis, diabetic complications and cardiovascular disorders. 

Relevant Publications: 

• Emerging mechanisms of tumour lymphangiogenesis and lymphatic metastasis
  
  
• PDGF-BB induces intratumoral lymphangiogenesis
  and promotes lymphatic metastasis
  
  
• Angiogenesis inhibited by drinking tea
  

Dr. Carvalho completed his medical school at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. He did his internal medicine and pulmonary/critical care medicine residency at the Hospital das Clinicas - University of Sao Paulo, completing the program in 1982. He is Associate Professor of Pulmonology at the University of Sao Paulo Medical School and a Supervisor of Pulmonary Division and Chief of Respiratory ICU – Hospital das Clinicas – University of Sao Paulo. His research interests lie in respiratory failure, mechanical ventilation, critical care, pulmonary fibrosis and diffuse lung diseases including LAM. He has more than 50 publications in international journals including: Thorax, Chest, Sarcoidosis, Clin Chest Med, Critical Care Medicine, Intensive Care Medicine, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine and New England Journal of Medicine.

Vincent Cottin is Professor of Respiratory Medicine, University of Lyon, and respiratory physician in the Department of Respiratory Medicine and Reference Center for Orphan Lung Disorders (Head, Pr J.F. Cordier), Lyon, France. His main interest and clinical research lies in interstitial lung diseases and in “orphan” pulmonary diseases, including lymphangioleiomyomatosis, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and idiopathic interstitial pneumonias, pulmonary manifestations of connective tissue diseases and vasculitides, hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia, eosinophilic lung diseases, pulmonary arterial hypertension, etc. He is involved in a number of clinical trials on orphan lung diseases, as well as clinical collaborative studies through the GERMOP, a network of French-speaking respiratory physicians working on orphan lung disorders.

Relevant Publications: 

• Should patients with lymphangioleiomyomatosis for meningioma?
  
  
• Combined pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema: a distinct underrecognised entity

Dr. Omid Farokhzad is Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and a physician-scientist in the Department of Anesthesiology at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH). He received his M.D. and M.A. from Boston University School of Medicine, and completed his post-doctoral clinical and research trainings, respectively, at the BWH/HMS and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Laboratory of Dr. Robert Langer. He has pioneered the application of micro- and nanotechnology for high throughput development and screening of targeted drug delivery systems for a myriad of clinical applications – most notably cancer. Dr. Farokhzad's research group is focused on developing novel nanotechnologies for medical applications. He has authored more than 30 papers and is an inventor of nearly 20 patent applications.

Relevant Publications: 

• An Aptamer–Doxorubicin Physical Conjugate as
  a Novel Targeted Drug-Delivery Platform**
  
  
• Formulation of functionalized PLGA–PEG nanoparticles for in vivo
  targeted drug delivery
  
  
• Targeted nanoparticle-aptamer bioconjugates for
  cancer chemotherapy in vivo

Allan Glanville trained at the University of Sydney, Brompton Hospital, London and Stanford University, California, where he performed studies in human heart-lung transplantation.  Currently, full time staff specialist at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney where he is Director of Thoracic Medicine, Medical Director of Lung Transplantation and Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales. Chairs the European and Australian Investigators in Lung Transplantation Research Group which trials new immunosuppressive and antifibroproliferative agents. Current President of the Pulmonary Council of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation, Foundation Director of LARA (LAM Australasia Research Association) and Editorial Board Member American Journal Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 

Relevant Publications: 

• International Guidelines for the Selection of Lung Transplant Candidates: 2006 Update—A Consensus Report From the Pulmonary Scientific Council of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation
  
  
• Everolimus Versus Azathioprine in Maintenance Lung Transplant Recipients: An International, Randomized, Double-Blind Clinical Trial
  
  
• Indications, patient selection and timing of referral for lung transplantation

Dr. Alfredo Gorio is professor of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Milano, Medical School . He is director of a research laboratory where several projects of basic and clinical pharmacology are under investigation. The main projects are Tuberous Sclerosis Complex and LAM, Early Intervention in Spinal Cord Injury, and Biology and Application of Stem Cells. He is director of the University Program on TSC and LAM that employs about 40 people among clinical and basic scientists. Patients are followed in all the disease aspects since they enter the study, without any charge. The clinical work is totally supported by Regional Health care Program. His laboratory has isolated and characterized “human TSC2 smoth muscle cells”, likely responsible of LAM and angiomyolipoma development.

Relevant Publications: 

• Survivin expression in Tuberous Schlerosis Complex cells
  

Jan-Åke Gustafsson, has made seminal contributions to the field of nuclear receptors, their structure and mechanism of action. He has published more than 1,000 articles, with findings ranging from the elucidation of the receptors' three-domain structure to the more recent discovery of a second estrogen receptor. Among other things, his published findings clarify the roles that each estrogen receptor plays in mammary cell proliferation and point toward possible new therapeutics for breast cancer. His prolific works have earned him numerous awards, including his 1997 election to the Swedish Academy of Sciences and the 2000 European Medal from the British Society for Endocrinology. In 2002, Gustafsson was elected a foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences.

Relevant Publications: 

• Estrogen receptor {beta} regulates epithelial cellular differentiation in the mouse ventral prostate
  
  
• Estrogen receptor b acts as a dominant regulator of estrogen signaling
  
  
• Cloning of a novel estrogen receptor expressed in rat prostate and ovary
  

Relevant Publications: 

• An integrated clinical approach to diffuse cystic lung diseases.
  Sarcoidosis Vasc Diffuse Lung Dis. 2005 Dec;22 Suppl 1:S31-9
  
  
• Diffuse cystic lung diseases: correlation between radiologic and functional status. Chest. 2004 Jan;125(1):135-42
  
  
• Prognostic value of pulmonary hypertension in patients with chronic interstitial lung disease referred for lung or heart-lung transplantation.
  J Heart Lung Transplant. 1997 Apr;16(4):460-3
  

Elizabeth (Lisa) Henske is a Tenured, Senior Member of Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  She earned her undergraduate degree summa cum laude from Yale University and her MD from Harvard Medical School.  She completed training in Internal Medicine and Hematology/Oncology at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, followed by Post-doctoral training in the laboratory of David Kwiatkowski at the Brigham and Women's Hospital.  She is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance, and the Scientific Advisory Board of the LAM Foundation.  Dr. Henske's research is focused on the cellular mechanisms through which mutations in the TSC genes lead to tumor formation and LAM. 

Relevant Publications: 

• Estrogen-Induced Activation of Mammalian Target of Rapamycin Is Mediated via Tuberin and the Small GTPase Ras Homologue Enriched in Brain
  
  
• Rheb Inhibits C-Raf Activity and B-Raf/C-Raf Heterodimerization*
  
  
• Hamartin, the tuberous sclerosis complex product, interacts with polo-like kinase phosphorylation-dependent manner

Dr Michael Jaklitsch is Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and Surgical Director of the Lung Transplant Program at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.  Dr Jaklitsch has gained experience with preservation solutions and perfusion techniques necessary to perform safe human lung transplantation with ischemic times of 8 to 10 hours.  Furthermore, a new technique developed in Sweden and Belgium allows the measurement of lung function of human lungs ex vivo, and has been successfully used to transplant a human lung after 17 hours of ischemia.  Such techniques might be adapted to the harvest of LAM lungs at the time of transplantation, and allow transport of these lungs to regional laboratories.

Relevant Publications:

• Transplantation of Lungs From Non–Heart-Beating Donors After Functional Assessment Ex Vivo
  
  
• Long-term Preservation With Interim Evaluation of Lungs From a Non-Heart-Beating Donor After a Warm Ischemic Interval of 90 Minutes
  
  
• Liver and kidney preservation by perfusion

Simon Johnson is Reader in Respiratory Medicine at the University of Nottingham, UK. His clinical interests are interstitial and rare lung diseases. His research group work in airway smooth muscle / extra-cellular matrix interactions, airway matrix metalloproteinases, molecular and clinical aspects of LAM including clinical trials. He is co-chair of the European Respiratory Society LAM Task Force, member of the Tuberous Sclerosis Association Advisory Board and the LAM Foundation Basic Science Board.

Relevant Publications:

• Subcellular distribution of the TSC2 gene product tuberin in human airway smooth muscle cells is driven by multiple localization sequencesand is cell-cycle dependent
  
  
• Lymphangioleiomyomatosis
  
  
• Survival and disease progression in UK patients with lymphangioleiomyomatosis

George Klein has worked at Karolinska Institutet since 1947. Between 1957 and 1993, he was Head of the Department of Tumor Biology. Currently he is a professor emeritus and active research group leader at the Karolinska Institute Microbiology & Tumor Biology Center. His interests are in the fields of tumor immunology, cancer cell genetics and tumor virology.

The umbrella of "George Klein groups" cover the following research groups: EBV and HHV-8 group led by Laszlo Szekely M.D., Ph.D.; Cytogenetics group led by Stefan Imreh Ph.D.;
Myc group led by Marie Arsenian Henriksson Ph.D.

In addition George Klein supervises a B cell phenotype/EBV latency project carried out by Barbro Ehlin-Henriksson, a mouse plasmacytoma project carried out by Santiago Silva Ph.D., and an artificial chromosome project carried out by Anna Szeles Ph.D.

Relevant Publications:

• The possible role of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 in cancer, e.g. acute leukemia
  
  
• Surveillance against tumors—is it mainly immunological?
  
  
• Wild-type p53 activates SAP expression in lymphoid cells

Maria Korzeniewska- Kosela obtained her MD in 1976 and her PhD in 1985. She was trained in internal medicine and pulmonary medicine from 1980 to 1986 in Warsaw. She works at the Dept. of Lung Diseases of the National Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases Research Institute in Warsaw. Her main clinical research interest is in the field of tuberculosis and interstitial lung diseases. 

Relevant Publications:

• Korzeniewska- Kosela M., Wesolowski S., Meleniewska- Maciszewska A., Maziarka D., Pawlicka L., Slodkowska J., Kowalski J., Kus J.: Clinical picture and results of treatment of lymphangioleiomyomatosis and pulmonary changes in patients with tuberous sclerosis. Terapia, 1998, 67(10), 48.
  
  
• Korzeniewska- Kosela M., Maziarka D., Wesolowski S., Langfort R., Slodkowska J., Bestry I., Kowalski J., Kus J.: Pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis- presentation and results of treatment. Pneumonol. Alergol. Pol. 2001, 69 (11-12), 626.
  
  
• Sobiecka M., Korzeniewska- Kosela M., Kus J.: Pulmonary disease in patients with tuberous sclerosis. Pneumonol. Alergol. Pol. 2005, 73 (1), 48.

Dr Mordechai Kramer is the Director of Pulmonary Medicine at the Rabin Medical Centre, Israel and currently is Regent at the American College of Chest Physicians, a position he has held since 2004. Dr Kramer earned his M.D. and completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Hadassah Medical School, Hebrew University, Jerusalem. He also completed fellowships in Pulmonary Medicine at the University of Miami in Miami, Florida, as well as in Heart and Lung Transplantation at Stanford University Palo Alto California . Dr. Kramer has had over 250 papers published . He has worked extensively within Israel and is a member of numerous major national and international societies for pulmonologists. Dr Kramer is running the lung tranplant program in Israel were close to 200 lung and heart lung transplants were performed

Relevant Publications:

• Successful Talc Slurry Pleurodesis in Patients With Nonmalignant Pleural Effusion
  
  
• Bilateral spontaneous pneumothorax as the presenting feature in lymphangioleiomyomatosis
  
  
• Lung and Heart-Lung Transplants in Rabin Medical Centre, Israel: the First 70 Cases (text in Hebrew)

Dr. Toshio Kumasaka is a faculty member of the department of human pathology at Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine. He completed his medical education at Fukushima Medical College. He did internal medicine residency and then joined as a staff the division of pathology to learn anatomical and surgical pathology, especially pulmonary pathology, at St. Luke’s International Hospital in Tokyo, Japan. His specialty is pulmonary pathology including inflammatory and neoplastic diseases. His research interests have focused on mechanism of lymphangiogenesis in LAM and application of regulation of lymphangiogenesis to new therapy for the treatment of LAM.

Relevant Publications:

• Lymphangiogenesis in Lymphangioleiomyomatosis
  Its Implication in the Progression of Lymphangioleiomyomatosis
  
  
• Lymphangiogenesis-Mediated Shedding of LAM Cell Clusters as a Mechanism for Dissemination in Lymphangioleiomyomatosis
  
  
• Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-D is Increased in Serum of Patients with Lymphangioleiomyomatosis
  

Jan Kus is professor of Medicine and Head of Department of Pulmonary Diseases at the Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases in Warsaw, Poland. His clinical practice and research interests include interstitial lung diseases, asthma and pulmonary infections.
He is the author of more than 200 publications, author of monograph on interstitial lung diseases and co-editor of the Textbook of Pulmonary Diseases.

Relevant Publications:

• Sobiecka M., Korzeniewska-Kosela M., Kus J.: Pulmonary disease in patients with tuberous sclerosis.  Pneumonol.Alergol.Pol.,2005;73: 48-56
  
  
• Korzeniewska-Kosela M., Maziarka D., Wesolowski S., Langfort R., Slodkowska J., Bestry I., Kowalski J., Kus J.: Pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis: presentation and results of treatment.  Pneumonol.Alergol.Pol.,2001;69: 626-634
  
  
• Korzeniewska-Kosela M., Wesolowski S., Meleniewska-Maciszewska A., Madziarka D., Pawlicka L., Slodkowska J., Kowalski J., Kus J.: Clinical picture and results of treatment of lymphangioleiomyomatosis and pulmonary changes in patients with tuberous sclerosis. Terapia, 1998; 67: 48.
  

Dr. David Kwiatkowski is Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Senior Physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.  He has worked on tuberous sclerosis and related conditions for 17 years, including identification of the TSC1 gene in 1997.  His current research interests include the human molecular genetics of TSC, the genetic basis of LAM, signaling pathways and functions of TSC1 and TSC2, development of mouse models of TSC and LAM, and exploration of therapeutic strategies for TSC and LAM in mouse models.

Relevant Publications:

• Estrogen Enhances whereas Tamoxifen Retards Development
  of Tsc Mouse Liver Hemangioma: A Tumor Related to Renal Angiomyolipoma and Pulmonary Lymphangioleiomyomatosis
  
  
• PDGFRs are critical for P13K/Akt activation and negatively regulated by mTOR
  
  
• Efficacy of a Rapamycin Analog (CCI-779) and IFN- in Tuberous Sclerosis Mouse Models
  

Jacques Lacronique was born in Paris, France in May 1947. He studied medicine at Paris University. He specialised in pulmonary medicine and pathology. He spent 2 years at the NIH (1981-1983) as a research fellow in the pulmonary branch (NHLBI) with RG Crystal. He worked on GR receptors and corticosensitivity in IPF (ARRD.1984;130:450-6.). Back in Paris he praticed pulmonary medicine in Cochin University Hospital as a praticien hospitalier. He published clinical research papers on sarcoidosis (ARRD 1989 ;139:1474-8), HX (Thorax, 1982 ;37:104-9), glucocorticoid therapy (ERJ,1991 ; 4: 807-12) and other fields. He has been interested in LAM for many years and published several papers (Chest 1992 ;102: 472-6. Medicine 1999; 78: 321-37. Resp Med, 2004; 98: 536-41.) taking care of patients, collaborating with Germop in Lyon and advising the French LAM patient association FLAM.

Relevant Publications:

• Low initial KCO predicts rapid FEV1 decline in pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis
  
  
• Aspects actuels de la lymphangioléiomyomatose
  
  
• Pulmonary Lymphangioleiomyomatosis: A Study of 69 Patients
  
  

Robert Langer is one of 13 Institute Professors (the highest honor awarded to a faculty member) at MIT. His work is at the interface of biotechnology and materials science. He has published over 900 research articles and has more than 550 issued or pending patents worldwide. Among his many awards are the Charles Stark Draper Prize, the world’s most prestigious engineering prize, the Gairnder Prize and the Albany Medical Center Prize. Dr. Langer is one of the few individuals ever elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Sciences. He served as a member of the United States Food and Drug Administration’s SCIENCE Board from 1995 to 2002 and as its Chairman from 1999 to 2002. A major focus of his work is the study and development of polymers to deliver drugs, particularly genetically engineered proteins, DNA and RNAi, continuously at controlled rates for prolonged periods of time. Dr. Langer, along with Dr. Judah Folkman, isolated the first angiogenesis inhibitors and developed the methodologies by which subsequent angiogenesis inhibitors were isolated and tested.

Relevant Publications:

• Nanoliter-scaled synthesis of arrayed biomaterials and application to human embryonic stem cells
  
  
• Troponin I is present in human cartilage and inhibits angiogenesis
  
  
• Designing materials for biology and medicine

Romain Lazor is a specialist in clinical respiratory medicine with an activity focused on rare pulmonary diseases. He is working at the Respiratory Department of the Bern University Hospital (Switzerland) and at the Reference Center for Orphan Lung Diseases in Lyon (France). He has created and is leading the Swiss Group for Interstitial and Orphan Lung Diseases (SIOLD). He also developed a national case registry as a recruitment tool for clinical research on rare pulmonary disorders, including LAM. He has clinical experience with LAM as well as scientific activity in this field.

Relevant Publications:

• Pulmonary Lymphangioleiomyomatosis: A Study of 69 Patients
  
  
• Pneumothorax after air travel in pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM): a European survey of 145 patients
  
  
• Low initial KCO predicts rapid FEV1 decline in pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis

Dr. Elena Lesma obtained her PhD in Pharmacology from University of Milano, Italy, with a thesis on the opioid modulation of the cortical plasticity through G proteins focused on signal transduction. She had a postdoctoral training at the Pulmonary-Critical Care Medicine Branch, NHLBI, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland in the laboratory of Dr. Joel Moss. She joined the pharmacological laboratories directed by Dr. Gorio in the Dept. of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Milano where she is currently an Assistant Professor. Dr. Lesma’s research is focused on cellular and biochemical mechanisms underlying the aberrant proliferation of TSC and LAM cells and identification of a molecular target to treat the diseases.

Relevant Publications:

• Isolation and Growth of Smooth Muscle-Like Cells Derived from Tuberous Sclerosis Complex-2 Human Renal Angiomyolipoma
  

Dr. Lindahl has been Professor at Karolinska Insitutet since 1990. He has been Director of Research and Education at Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden since 2001. Dr. Lindahl graduated from the Medical School at the University of Lund, Sweden in 1972.He was board certified as a Pediatrician and Anesthesiologist/intensivist in 1981. He received his PhD from the University of Lund in 1977. From 1986 to 1988 Dr. Lindahl was a Consultant at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota, USA. He returned to Lund as a Pediatric anesthesiologist/intensivist in 1989. Dr. Lindahl was appointed Professor in Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine at Karolinska Insitutet, Stockholm, Sweden in 1990 and from 1990 to 2001 also served as clinical chair of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine at Karolinska Hospital. From 1993 to 2000 he also served as academic chair, Department of Surgical Sciences, Karolinska Institutet. Since 1996, Dr. Lindahl has been a permanent member of the Nobel Assembly for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He served as vice chair from 1999-2000 and chair from 2001-2002 of the Nobel Committee. Dr. Lindahl is currently still a member of the Nobel Committee and from 2006 also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Nobel Foundation.

Relevant Publications:

• Regulation of Regional Lung Perfusion by Nitric Oxide
  
  
• Effects of gravity on lung diffusing capacity and cardiac output in prone and supine humans
  
  
• A novel quantitative dual-isotope method for simultaneous
  ventilation and perfusion lung SPET
  

Joel Moss, M.D., Ph.D., is Chief of the Pulmonary-Critical Care Medicine Branch, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland.  He graduated from Brandeis University (1967), summa cum laude, and received M.D.- Ph.D. (Biochemistry) degrees from New York University School of Medicine (1972).  Following internship and residency (medicine; Johns Hopkins), he completed post-doctoral and pulmonary fellowships (NHLBI).  At the NHLBI since 1974, he has co-authored over 500 scientific papers, edited/co-authored several books, and is a co-inventor of biotechnology patents. Dr. Moss was a member of the NHLBI Institutional Review Board from 1988-2006, and Chair from 1995-2006. Subjects of his research include lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), with emphasis on roles of the LAM cell and susceptibility/modifier genes on disease progression.

Relevant Publications:

• Meningiomas in Lymphangioleoimyomatosis
  
  
• Molecular and genetic analysis of disseminated neoplastic cells in lymphangioleiomyomatosis
  
  
• Maximal Oxygen Uptake and Severity of Disease in Lymphangioleiomyomatosis
  

Michael Nurok is a member of the Department of Anaesthesia and the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. His area of specialty is Cardiothoracic care. Dr. Nurok graduated medical school from the University of Cape Town in South Africa in 1997 after which he performed doctoral research at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales and the Intensive Care service of the University of Paris, Hopital Necker Enfants Malades in Paris, France as recipient of a Bourse Présidentielle d’Excellence from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His research focuses on the social, ethical, and philosophical implications of treating critically ill patients with particular emphasis on cultural considerations. He is an active member of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Ethics Committee and the Partners (Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s Hospitals) Institutional Review Board. Dr. Nurok is a founding member of The LAM Treatment Alliance and actively serves on the Board of Directors.

Arne Östman is professor of molecular oncology at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. Research aims at developing novel cancer therapies. A major interest during the last ten years has been the role of PDGF receptor signaling during cancer growth. Important roles for PDGF receptor signaling in tumor cells, in pericytes of tumor vessels, and in tumor fibroblasts have been identified. More recently, a project focused on elucidating the therapeutic potential of tumor fibroblasts has been initiated. Novel differences between tumor fibroblasts of different tumor types have been described. Furthermore, studies on tumor fibroblasts of prostate cancer have identified novel fibroblast-derived secreted proteins with tumor growth-stimulatory effects. Östman is also coordinating a network- STARGET - dedicated to studies of tumor pericytes and fibroblasts which recently received a 10-year grant of 10 million Euros from the Swedish Research Council.

Relevant Publications:

• Exploring the tumour environment: cancer-associated fibroblasts as argets in cancer therapy
  
  
• PDGF receptors as cancer drug targets
  
  
• Effect of Platelet-Derived Growth Factor Receptor-B Inhibition with
  STI571 on Radioimmunotherapy

Kristian Pietras is a junior faculty member at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. Dr. Pietras earned his Ph.D. in 2002 at Uppsala University, after which he joined the lab of Douglas Hanahan at University of California, San Francisco as a postdoctoral fellow. Current research interests focus on elucidating support functions performed by cell types populating the tumor microenvironment with the premise that decisive treatment benefit can be achieved by targeting multiple cell types or signaling pathways that collectively support tumor progression and growth. Areas of expertise include targeted therapeutics and the use of genetically engineered mouse models of cancer.

Relevant Publications:

• Inhibition of PDGF Receptor Signaling in Tumor Stroma Enhances Antitumor Effect of Chemotherapy
  
  
• PDGF receptors as cancer drug targets
  
  
• A Multitargeted, Metronomic, and Maximum-Tolerated Dose ‘‘Chemo-Switch’’ Regimen is Antiangiogenic, Producing Objective Responses and Survival Benefitin a Mouse Model of Cancer

Dr Rodman received his MD in 1980 from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. In 1988 he joined the faculties of the University of Colorado and the National Jewish Medical and Research Center where he achieved tenure in 1998. Dr Rodman’s focus has been on genetic lung diseases, lymphangeoleiomyomatosis and hereditary pulmonary artery hypertension. He has been active in clinical care and early phase clinical trials in cystic fibrosis, and was involved in several large scale trials in pulmonary fibrosis. He was a founding member of the Cystic Fibrosis Therapeutic Development Network where he established a groundbreaking Phase I/II trials network for inherited lung diseases. He has authored over 100 scientific papers and chaired several consensus conferences that have set guidelines for patient clinical care as well as research goals for the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. In 2005, Dr Rodman joined the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research as Global Head Translational Medicine, Respiratory. In this role, he has primary responsibility for integrating the respiratory research pipeline with biomarker development and proof of concept studies in pre-clinical animal models and first-in-man studies. He currently oversees approximately thirty projects in five major disease indications. These projects include small molecule and biological therapeutics, including systemic and inhaled routes of administration and spanning the spectrum of biologics from human monoclonal antibodies and “nanobodies” through therapeutic oligonucleotides (both TLR agonists and siRNA).

Relevant Publications:

• Tuberous sclerosis gene products in proliferation control
  
  
• Mevastatin Can Cause G1 Arrest and Induce Apoptosis in Pulmonary Artery Smooth Muscle Cells Through a p27 Kip1-Independent Pathway
  
  
• Tumor Necrosis Factor-Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand Can Induce Apoptosis in Subsets of Premalignant Cells

I am a physician who specialized in respiratory medicine at Juntendo University (Tokyo, Japan). I graduated with a Ph.D. in 2002 – the focus of my research was analysis of the TSC genes in patients with LAM (1), supervised by Dr. Kuniaki Seyama. Our laboratory demonstrated that the lymphangiogenic glycoprotein VEGF-D is present at elevated levels in the blood of LAM patients and may play a role in the pathophysiology of LAM (2). I am now carrying out research on the role of VEGF-D in the control of lymphatic vessels (3) and LAM, in the laboratory of Dr. Marc Achen and Dr. Steven Stacker at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (Melbourne, Australia).

Relevant Publications:

• Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-D is Increased in Serum of Patients with Lymphangioleiomyomatosis
  
  
• Mutation analysis of the TSC1 and TSC2 genes in Japanese patients with pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis
  
  
• VEGF-D promotes the metastatic spread of tumor cells via the lymphatics

I am a chest physician who has been interested in LAM since I majored in respiratory medicine in 1988 and took care of the LAM patient for the first time in 1989.I received Doctor of Medical Science Degree (Ph.D.) through the research of lipid biochemistry from 1982 to 1986. I examined the Japanese patients with alpha1-antitrypsin deficiency to find their mutations. From 1995 to1998, I studied abroad to the University of Washington in USA  where I learned the molecular genetics ofimmunodeficiency disorders. After back to Japan, my biggest concern is taking care of LAM patients as well as the research to elucidate this rare and severe destructive lung disease.

Relevant Publications:

• Lymphangiogenesis in Lymphangioleiomyomatosis
  Its Implication in the Progression of Lymphangioleiomyomatosis
  
  
• Lymphangiogenesis-Mediated Shedding of LAM Cell Clusters as a Mechanism for Dissemination in Lymphangioleiomyomatosis
  
  
• Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-D is Increased in Serum of Patients with Lymphangeoleiomyomatosis

Dr. Tommy Soderstrom is Director of the Biobank at the Karolinska University Hospital and Chairman of the Swedish Blood Alliance. He obtained his M.D. at the University of Umeå and PhD from the University of Göteborg. Dr Soderstrom is also a specialist in Pediatrics with scientific publications in the area of immunodeficiency, mucosal immunity and transplantation. He spent two years at the NIH, Bethesda, studying alternative vaccine approaches and he has been the Director of Clinical Immunology and Transfusion Medicine at the Karolinska Hospital for ten years, also serving as the Swedish expert in the European Community work on blood quality and safety.
He is since 2004 Director of the Biobank at the Karolinska University Hospital, the largest medical biobank in Sweden, with biobank specimens collected since the 1920ies.

I retired last year from the chair of respiratory medicine in Nottingham but am continuing research into LAM. My background is in respiratory pharmacology and clinical research including clinical trials. These were mainly in asthma but more recently in LAM. I helped set up the patient group, LAMaction, which helps to support patients via a web-site, newsletter and annual meetings in Nottingham. We have a register of all patients known to have LAM in the UK and those who have expressed an interest in participating in research. I am involved in the UK study of sirolimus for patients with LAM and TSC, which has now finished recruiting. I am on the Respiratory and Allergy group for the Committee on Human Medicine (previously CSM) and have experience of regulatory authorities and of grant giving bodies such as the MRC.

Relevant Publications:

• Decline in Lung Function in Lymphangioleiomyomatosis
  Relation to Menopause and Progesterone Treatment
  
  
• Survival and disease progression in UK patients with lymphangioleiomyomatosis
  
  
• Lymphangioleiomyomatosis: a case–control study of perinatal and early life events
  
  

Elizabeth A. Thiele is Director of the Pediatric Epilepsy Program and the Director of the Carol and James Herscot Center for Tuberous Sclerosis Complex at Massachusetts General Hospital.  Dr. Thiele is also Associate in Neurology and Pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital and Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Thiele is currently on the Board of Directors of the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance, where she is chair of the Science and Medicine Committee, as well as the Professional Advisory Board.  

Dr. Thiele’s main research interests related to Tuberous Sclerosis Complex include genotype phenotype correlation of the multisystem aspects of the disorder, as well as characterizing the natural history.  Her group is particularly focused on the neurological manifestations of TSC, including epilepsy, cognition, autism and other mental health issues.

Relevant Publications:

• Renal manifestations of tuberous sclerosis complex:
  Incidence, prognosis, and predictive factors
  


• Cognitive prognosis of patients with tuberous sclerosis complex
  
  

I am an Attending Thoracic Pathologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, NY. My interests include both neoplastic and non-neoplastic thoracic disease. While at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and the National Institutes of Health, I studied lymphangioleiomyomatosis and published papers focused on the pathology of lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM).
We published one of the first papers on transbronchial biopsy diagnosis of LAM demonstrating the use of HMB_45 in small biopsies. We also recognized the LAM histologic score (LHS) which has a strong correlation between the severity of lung involvement and prognosis. In other studies we published several papers on the importance of metalloproteinase expression in LAM cells relating this to the destructive nature of this disease.

Relevant Publications:

• Role for Activation of Matrix Metalloproteinases in the
  Pathogenesis of Pulmonary Lymphangioleiomyomatosis
  
  
• Prognostic Significance of Pulmonary Lymphangioleiomyomatosis Histologic Score
  
  
• Lymphangioleiomyomatosis?iLAM?j
  A Review of Clinical and Morphological Features
  
  

Dr Watkins is an MD PhD gradute from the University of Western Australia, and trainined in pulmonology/critical care medicine before moving to the United States to pursue a career in basic cancer research. He is currently Assistant Professor of Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University Kimmel Cancer Center where he studies the basic and translational aspects of
embryonic signaling pathways in cancer stem cell biology. His laboratory specializes in the development of xenograft models of cancer by direct transplanation of human cells into immunodeficient mice in order to study diseases such as leukemia, myeloma and lung cancer.

Postgraduate Training:
Post Doctoral, Oncology, Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, Baltimore, MD

Relevant Publications:

• Widespread requirement for Hedgehog ligand stimulation in growth of digestive tract tumours
  
  
• Hedgehog Signaling Progenetor Phenotype in Small-Cell Lung Cancer
  
  
• Hedgehog signalling within airway epithelial progenitors and in small-cell lung cancer

I was born in 1971 and finished Medical School in 1998. I have started my medical career in field of Radiology at the University Hospital of Giessen, Germany, where I became familiar with (HR-)CT-diagnosis of lung diseases and got in touch with LAM for the first time. My initial research focus was on micro-CT technique and its application in imaging human alveoli. Afterwards I worked as an Intern in Respiratory Medicine and General Medicine for 4 years at the University Hospital of Frankfurt. Currently, I am working as a physician and project manager at the Pulmonary Research Institute at Hospital Grosshansdorf, which is located near Hamburg in the north of Germany.    

Postgraduate Training:
Post Doctoral, Oncology, Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, Baltimore, MD

Relevant Publications:

• ‘Lymphangioleiomyomatosis – presence of receptor tyrosine kinases and the angiogenesis factor VEGF-A as potential therapeutic targets’

Vicky Whittemore, Ph.D., is the Vice President & Director of Science at the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance.  She was on the Board of Directors of the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance from 1987-1993, serving as the Chairman of the Board from 1988-1992.  Dr. Whittemore has also served on the Board of Directors and the staff of the Genetic Alliance, and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the National Coalition of Health Professional Education in Genetics (NCHPEG). She also serves on the review panel for the Collaboration, Education, Testing and Translation (CETT) Program in the Office of Rare Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. 

Dr. Whittemore received her undergraduate degree in Zoology from Iowa State University in 1977 and her Ph.D. in Anatomy from the University of Minnesota Medical School in 1982. She then spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychobiology at the University of California, Irvine and two years as a Fogarty International Fellow at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.  Dr. Whittemore was a tenured Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery and Anatomy & Cell Biology at the University of Miami School of Medicine in Miami, FL from 1986-1993 when she left her faculty position to work for the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance in 1994. She has published more than 30 scientific publications and was a co-editor with Manuel R. Gomez and Julian Sampson on the third edition of the book Tuberous Sclerosis Complex in 1999.

Relevant Publications:

• National Institutes of Health Consensus Conference: Tuberous Schlerosis Complex
  
  
• The Diagnosis of Tuberous Schlorosis Complex: The Impact on the Individual and Family

Born in Frankfurt, Germany. Studied medicine in Würzburg, Bavaria. Postdoctoral fellowship at the CVRI, University of California, San Francisco 1986-89 Continued medical training in internal and respiratory medicine at Maximilians University in Würzburg, Bavaria. Full professor of respiratory medicine at the University of Leipzig since 1/99. Research on surfactant, alveolar type II cells, stretch, effects of cigarette smoke on surfactant secretion, exhaled breath condensate in various diseases including ARDS, lung cancer, COPD; studies on angiogenesis and bFGF in lung cancer. Member of the lung transplant team in Leipzig.

Relevant Publications:

• Mechanical Stretch Alters Alveolar Type II Cell Mediator
  Release toward a Proinflammatory Pattern
  
  
• Anti-TNF Effects on Destructive Fibroblasts Depend
  on Mechanical Stress
  
  
• Exhaled breath condensate cytokine patterns in
  chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
  
  
• Multiplex Analysis of Cytokines in Exhaled
  Breath Condensate