Conference on Frontiers of NMR in Molecular Biology - VIII to be held in Taos, New Mexico at the Taos Covention Center, February 4-10, 2003

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This project supports attendance of students at the Keystone Symposium on the Frontiers of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) in Molecular Biology, which will be held at Taos, New Mexico from February 4-10, 2003. The timely topic of this conference reflects the fact that NMR has continued to evolve to meet new challenges of molecular biology and genomics. Already the challenge of providing structures of proteins on a genomic scale has produced new NMR approaches to efficient structure determination. The prospect of having more targets to implement in biotechnology applications has spawned new means of screening for small-molecule and macromolecule interactions. The realization that biological function often involves the interplay of groups of macromolecules in a dynamic setting has led to new methods for monitoring interactions and motion in large macromolecular complexes. With new approaches and new realizations come additional challenges. Large volumes of data and new types of data demand innovative approaches to analysis, assemblies of interacting macromolecules means working with ever-larger structures, and new sources of data on protein dynamics require new connections to mechanistic models. New technological advances needed to work with larger systems often come from combining solids NMR with solution NMR approaches. Computational biology is well poised to organize diverse types of data, generate molecular models, and turn them into predictive tools. The ultimate challenge for the meeting will be to stimulate discussion among scientists coming from these diverse fields. The meeting will highlight new approaches to the challenges defined above and provide a forum for discussion among molecular biologists, NMR spectroscopists, and computational biologists. The program will be organized around problem areas and integrate talks by scientists having different perspectives on their solution. Scheduled breaks between formal presentation sessions are ideal for simulating discussion among participants, and promoting contact between students and established leaders in these diverse fields. The interdisciplinary character of the meeting, as described above, will broaden its potential impact. The meeting will also have a distinct educational component by its support for the attendance of graduate students and postdoctoral associates. Discussion of more practical aspects of the field will be promoted by the organization of afternoon workshops having a less formal structure. These will enhance opportunities for interaction of students with established scientist working in the area.