Symposium: "Integrative Aspects of Epithelial Structure and Function," in Chicago, Illinois, on January 4-7, 2001

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This grant will provide funding in support of a symposium to be presented at the annual Meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology in Chicago on January 4-7, 2001. The symposium is entitled "Integrative Aspects of Epithelial Structure and Function". The symposium will feature great vertical diversity of experimental approaches, ranging from molecular analyses, through epithelial structure and function, to whole animal performance. Epithelia, which consist of sheets of cells, serve vital functions in multi-cellular organisms. Many epithelia (i.e. skin, gut, and the lining of blood vessels) serve a vital function as barriers. These same barriers simultaneously play a crucial role in transporting important molecules into and out of the body. The speakers will discuss recent findings regarding the functions of epithelia that relate to diseases such as cystic fibrosis, novel mechanisms of hormone function, and cellular protection against environmental stresses. The speaker list has been selected for its diversity. It contains senior and well-established figures in the field, as well as new investigators who have not had numerous opportunities to present their work. It includes tenured faulty as well as non-tenured faculty, graduate students and researchers. The symposium is novel, therefore, both for the breadth with which epithelial structure and function are approached, and for the juxtaposition of senior established scientists and outstanding new researchers, in a comprehensive view of structure, mechanism and control in epithelia.