Dear Friends and Colleagues,

The University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University ,The First Affiliated Hospital Sun Yat Sen University and Guangdong Association of the Integrative Traditional and Western Medicine.

The recent advances in genetic research have greatly improved our understanding of the etiologies for spine development and related disorders. The ICSGDD conference is to generate a roadmap for future collaborative research in the field of spine development and related disorders which will facilitate important scientific breakthroughs in this area. This will be enabled by providing a setting which will facilitate discussion of the existing body of knowledge related to spine genetics, identification of knowledge gaps in this area and outlining high impact research agendas which can address these gaps.

An international faculty of world-class experts in genetic research including Prof. Eli Zelzer (Weizmann Institute of Science), Prof. Chisa Shukunami (Hiroshima University), Prof. Brian Ciruna (University of Toronto), Prof. Richard H. Finnell (Baylor College of Medicine and Dell Medical School; The University of Texas at Austin), Prof. Sally Dunwoodie (Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute; Prof. Zhuojing Luo (Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University), Prof. Yong Qiu(Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital),Prof. Jianxiong Shen (Peking Union Medical College Hospital)and Prof. Nan Wu (Peking Union Medical College) will bring us the latest updates in the scoliosis genetic research. Participants in the field are encouraged to submit abstracts for presentation in platform or poster format to enhance research discussion and collaboration.

We look forward to seeing you in Shenzhen and Guangzhou, China.

Yours truly,
Prof. Carol WISE, Prof. Kenneth CHEUNG, Prof. Zhuojing LUO
Chairpersons