2018 GRC Signal Transduction by Engineered Extracellular Matrices

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This award provides support for the travel and conference registration fees of students and young investigators as participants in the 2018 Gordon Research Conference Signal Transduction by Engineered Extracellular Matrices, in Andover, Maryland, from July 21-27, 2018. The meeting will allow young investigators to network with establish researchers to discuss cutting edge research about how cells respond to their environment and how materials can be developed to direct this response. The overarching goal of this research is to develop models of disease, with a focus on cancer, and support the design of engineered materials for immunomodulation therapy.This Gordon Conference will bring together researchers in biomedical engineering, materials science, synthetic biology, genetics, and clinical medicine to discuss the cutting edge of research in the area of cellular signal transduction and the development of materials to drive and govern cellular response. This is a cross-disciplinary conference, designed to build bridges between fields to advance science and engineering in this area -- which is key to many areas of tissue engineering and cellular therapeutics. In particular, the conference will focus on fundamental understanding of the use of engineered materials to create disease models (with a special emphasis on cancer), the application of synthetic scaffolds to guide the morphogenesis of ex vivo tissues and organoids, and the design of engineered materials for use in immunomodulation therapies. The small conference will include a broad range of researchers, from graduate students and post-doctoral trainees to world leaders in this area, to disseminate the latest advances and develop connections to advance this key field of research moving forward. Award funds will be used to support students and trainees so that they can present their research and develop the research network necessary to advance both science and their careers.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.