Conference: Thiol-Based Redox Regulation & Signaling Gordon Research Conference, May 9-14, 2010, Il Ciocco, Italy

学术价值：关于基于硫醇的氧化还原调节和信号的第三届戈登研究会议将于2010年5月9日至14日在意大利Il Ciocco举行。生命开始于一个不断减少的环境中。随着氧气在大气中的出现，细胞必须进化出防止这种氧化性物种破坏并存活下来的能力。与此同时，细胞利用这种新的化学物质，开发了新的氧化还原反应，影响了生命中最基本的方面的调节：代谢控制、信号传递、衰老和死亡。最近的数据发现，越来越多的细胞功能和损伤是氧化还原调节的。现已知，氧化还原过程涉及农业和生物科学的许多方面。蛋白质(在氨基酸半胱氨酸中)和小分子(包括谷胱甘肽)中的硫醇基团的特殊化学是生物过程氧化还原控制的关键组成部分。这些硫醇基团的修饰可以作为分子开关，在各种磷酸酶、激酶和转录因子中发生可逆的硫醇氧化。因此，基于硫醇的氧化还原化学与细胞信号转导、细胞凋亡、基因调控、细胞周期调控等过程和途径密切相关。含有硫醇的蛋白质也是主要的细胞抗氧化剂，对于保护细菌、植物和动物免受氧化损伤至关重要。基于硫醇的氧化还原稳态的错误调节对细胞功能失调有重要的影响。这次会议提供了一个多学科的场所，植物和动物生物学家、化学家、数学家、生物物理学家和临床医生将聚集在一起，讨论基于硫醇的化学的机制和生理意义，硫醇化学是从细菌到动植物的所有王国中都存在的关键调节元件。GRC提供的智力环境吸引了社区中最聪明和最具互动性的成员，并促进了这个快速发展领域的思想交流。本次会议提出的想法和假说将继续推动基于硫醇的氧化还原调节领域的发展，并将对更大的科学界有兴趣了解翻译后蛋白质修饰如何调节细胞和生物体的复杂代谢和调节途径做出重大贡献。更广泛的影响：继2006年和2008年在美国和意大利举行的两次非常成功的会议之后，本次会议已进入第三个周期。这次会议的主席和副主席分别是一名内科科学家和一名基础研究人员，他们代表了在该领域各个方面工作的生物学家、物理学家、化学家和数学家。随着基于硫醇的氧化还原法规的重要性得到越来越广泛的认识，预计本次会议将通过提供一个自由交流思想和方法的场所，加快该领域的进展。来自国家科学基金会的资金将增加学生、博士后和其他初级研究人员参加会议的机会，包括科学界代表性不足的群体的成员。除了提供关于该领域新发现的最新情况外，预计会议将既加强现有的互动，又促进一系列机构和学科的新互动。

Intellectual Merit:The 3rd Gordon Research Conference on Thiol-based Redox Regulation and Signaling will be held May 9-14, 2010 at Il Ciocco in Italy. Life began in a reducing environment. With the appearance of oxygen in the atmosphere, cells had to evolve the ability to prevent and survive damage by this oxidizing species. At the same time cells took advantage of this new chemistry and developed novel redox reactions, impinging on the regulation of most fundamental aspects of life: metabolic control, signaling, aging and death. Recent data has found that an increasing number of cellular functions and impairments are redox regulated. Redox processes are now known to be involved in many aspects of agricultural and biological sciences. The special chemistry of thiol groups within proteins (in the amino acid cysteine) and small molecules (including glutathione) is a key component in the redox control of biological processes. Modifications of such thiol groups can act as molecular switches and reversible thiol oxidation occurs in various phosphatases, kinases and transcription factors. Therefore, thiol-based redox chemistry is linked to cellular signal transduction, apoptosis, gene regulation, cell cycle control and other processes and pathways. Thiol-containing proteins also function as major cellular antioxidants and are critical for protecting bacteria, plants, and animals from oxidative damage. Misregulation of thiol-based redox homeostasis has major implications for cellular dysfunction.This Conference offers a multidisciplinary venue in which plant and animal biologists, chemists, mathematicians, biophysicists, and clinicians will convene to discuss the mechanistic and physiological implications of thiol-based chemistry, a key regulatory element found in all kingdoms from bacteria to plants and animals. The intellectual environment offered by the GRC attracts the brightest and the most interactive members of the community and fosters the exchange of ideas in this rapidly developing field. The ideas and hypotheses developed at this conference will continue to advance the field of thiol-based redox regulation and will also contribute significantly to the larger scientific community interested in understanding how post-translational protein modifications can regulate the complex metabolic and regulatory pathways of cells and organisms. Broader impacts: This conference is in its third cycle after two very successful meetings in the U.S. and Italy in 2006 and 2008. The chair and vice-chair for this meeting are a physician scientist and a basic researcher, respectively, and are representative of the biologists, physicists, chemists and mathematicians working in various aspects of the field. As the importance of thiol-based redox regulation is becoming more widely appreciated, this conference is expected to accelerate progress in the field by providing a venue for the free exchange of ideas and methodologies. Funding from the NSF will enhance the opportunities available for conference participation by students, postdocs and other junior investigators, including members of underrepresented groups in the sciences. In addition to providing updates on new findings in the field, it is expected that the conference will both enhance existing, and foster new interactions across a range of institutions and disciplines.