Posters should not be larger than 4 feet by 4 feet.  

Families of SMA is pleased to announce details of the 14th Annual International SMA Research Group Meeting.  The 2010 meeting will be held in Santa Clara, CA from June 24th to June 26th (ending at 1:30 PM) in conjunction with the FSMA Family and Professionals Conference.  The conference site will be the Santa Clara Marriott.  Santa Clara is located just 45 minutes from San Francisco and five miles from the San Jose airport.

Instructions for Registration & Hotel Booking:  All presenters need to book their own hotel rooms

Due to the large number of presenters at the conference all attendees including abstract submitters will need to book their own hotel reservations.  FSMA will provide the hotel with a master list of presenters whose rooms we will directly pay.  Please book early!

You must complete the registration process with Families of SMA prior to reserving your room at the Marriott for the FSMA special room rate of $109 and free parking offer.  After registering, the hotel booking page will pop up.


Please also note that all attendees, even presenters, will have to register for the meeting.   Registration is open until May 11th, 2010.

To register for the meeting, please click here.

Please contact jill@fsma.org  for more information or if you have additional questions.

This meeting is a wonderful opportunity to learn about the latest breakthroughs in SMA research and to meet the patients and families who benefit from your work. In addition, this year the conference will feature a special session on the morning of Saturday June 24th focusing on progressing SMA therapies from laboratory discoveries to IND-ready.  Please see the meeting agenda above for the confirmed speakers for this special session.

Airport Transportation Informatinon

San Jose Airport:

Driving Directions: From Mineta San Jose International Airport- Highway 101 North 4 miles to Great America Parkway Exit right to Mission College Boulevard Hotel is on the Right

• Shuttle Service: South & East Bay Shuttle   (408) 866-6660; http://southandeastbayshuttle.com/

 fee: 20 USD (one way); reservation required

• Estimated taxi fare: 17.00  USD  (one way)

San Francisco - SFO

Driving Directions: Highway 101 South 26 miles to Great America Parkway Exit left to Mission College Boulevard Hotel is on the Right / Oakland OAK Hotel Direction - Highway 880 South - Right onto 237 West Exit Great America Parkway Left onto Mission College Boulevard Hotel is on the Right.

•NOTE: Shuttle service discounted when booking online. Shuttle Service: South & East Bay Shuttle  (408) 866-6660; fee: 30 USD (one way); reservation required; 50% discounts when book online at http://southandeastbayshuttle.com/

• Estimated taxi fare: 90.00  USD  (one way) 

 Parking at Hotel:

• Parking: FREE

Please submit abstracts for posters and podium presentations to the 14th Annual International Spinal Muscular Atrophy Research Group Meeting by March 1, 2010. The FSMA scientific advisory board will be selecting the podium presentations.  Requests for podium presentations cannot be guaranteed and last minute requests cannot readily be accommodated.  As in past years, we ask that all abstract submissions for podium presentations be on new, unpublished data. FSMA will inform you whether your abstract has been selected for a podium or poster presentation by April 16th.



This year FSMA is pleased to reimburse airfare (alternatively car miles or train fare), lodging, and registration fees for all first author podium presenters as well as one poster presenter per lab. Maximum reimbursement for airfare will be indicated in the guidelines provided by FSMA at the time of abstract acceptance.  All other costs will not be reimbursed. As always, financial assistance in this area is very much appreciated.

Please submit abstracts by March 1, 2010 through the FSMA website using the following link:http://www.fsma.org/abstracts/

We are also requesting applications for the Anita McCaulay Memorial Travel Scholarship for attendance to the meeting. Interested European post-doctoral fellows and graduate students should submit a one-page essay describing how they would benefit from attending the meeting by March 1. Notification of the award will occur by April 19th.

Information of Scheduling Satellite Meetings at the Conference

We have implemeted a formal process to handle requests for satellite meetings at the conference.  This was done with the following in mind:  1) we actively recognize the need for formally sanctioned satellite meetings at the hotel during conference week - June 22nd through June 27th, 2) we want to provide this opportunity in the most equitable and fair manner, 3) we want to minimize overlap with the main program,  4) we want to prevent overlap between satellite meetings with similar groups of attendees (which we have been told can be a problem), and 5) we want to ensure the meeting is not overwhelming to participants in overall length and number of hours each day (again we have been told this can be a problem, mainly due to too many auxiliary meetings for particular subgroups).


The following system to handle requests for sanctioned satellite meetings has been implemented.  Organizers should submit a request for a satellite meeting by March 1.  The request should include a one page summary of your meeting, containing information on topic and projected attendee list (so we can allocate space correctly and prevent meeting overlap on similar subjects), and time needed (1 hour to 1.5 hour slot or a 2 hour to 5 hour slot).  We are requesting that these meetings are not full day in duration, due to feedback we have received in the past from attendees.   We will respond to all requests by March 15th.  


We anticipate receiving multiple of these requests.  We will fit as many requests as possible into the available time slots.  We believe it is key that the satellite meetings do not overall, as this presents conflicts for the participants, who are then asked to pick and choose. Also, please keep in mind we have the Families and Professionals Meeting running concurrently, which also impacts the availability of time slots. Many of the researchers and clinicians also give seminars to SMA families, so this is also an important consideration in scheduling as well.