2022 Gordon Research Conference on Photosensory Receptors and Signal Transduction

戈登研究会议（GRC）和戈登研究研讨会（GRS）的感光感受器和信号转导（PRST）将分别于2022年3月26日和3月27日在加州文图拉举行。GRS主要由研究生和博士后参加，而GRC将汇集来自广泛学科的高级和初级研究人员，讨论和推进我们对光感生物分子和细胞系统的理解。光提供了我们星球上主要的环境刺激之一，大自然已经进化出一种非凡的含色团分子调色板，以对特定波长和强度的电磁辐射提供特定的响应。这些系统的化学和生物物理学是丰富的，复杂的，并且与我们设计新系统的能力有关，以收集能量和用光控制生物。事实上，了解光信号的传输方式有可能通过优化光合作用和植物生长来提高作物产量，并允许开发新的分子工具来研究与视力丧失和情绪障碍相关的神经科学和过程。GRC和GRS的主题是为了强调这些问题背后最重要、最普遍的问题，并促进不同研究人员之间的思想交流，以解决这些问题。培训和参与青年科学家，包括博士后和研究生是会议的优先事项。因此，指导活动和专业发展会议也计划作为会议的一部分。NSF的支持将用于支付这些领域中历史上代表性不足的群体的参与者的注册费和/或旅费。在2022年PRST GRC和GRS上展示的科学将包括来自生命所有领域的光敏分子的研究。通过大分子动力学在量子行为水平上对光接收和信号传播的机制研究是本次会议的一个长期的中心主题。我们将讨论植物光生物学的调控及其对通过提高作物产量和开发更高效的生物燃料来改善农业的影响。光遗传学是另一个需要强调的关键领域，它能够编程蛋白质定位、触发信号网络、控制神经元活动和用光调节基因表达。关键的科学问题将推动x射线激光器和现代同步加速器的技术发展，它们的使用将在几次演讲中得到强调。从最广泛的意义上理解光感受器对许多领域的发展至关重要。吸取的经验教训不仅适用于生物学，也可作为改进能量收集和储存、光伏和其他设备的先例。在健康相关领域，光感受器的研究可以应用于视力的恢复和视网膜退行性疾病的救治。昼夜节律的光干扰影响睡眠、情绪和心理健康。讲座和讨论小组希望揭示这些过程如何在分子水平上发挥作用，从而为解决与昼夜节律中断相关的问题提供潜在的下游途径，如抑郁症、季节性影响障碍和睡眠异常。GRS报告将分为两个部分：其中将讨论光感信号转导的最基本问题：i)光转导的分子机制和ii)合成光生物学。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Gordon Research Conference (GRC) and Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) on Photosensory Receptors and Signal Transduction (PRST) will be held in Ventura CA on March 26th, and March 27th, 2022, respectively. The GRS, which is primarily attended by graduate students and postdocs, and the GRC, will bring together senior and junior researchers from broad ranging disciplines to discuss and advance our understanding of biological molecules and cellular systems that sense light. Light provides one of the primary environmental stimuli on our planet and Nature has evolved a remarkable palette of chromophore-containing molecules to provide specific responses to the specific wavelengths and intensities of electromagnetic radiation. The chemistry and biophysics of these systems is rich, complex and bears on our ability to design new systems to harvest energy and control biology with light. Indeed, understanding how light signals are transmitted has the potential to improve crop yields through optimized photosynthesis and plant growth, allow the development of new molecular tools to study neuroscience and processes associated with vision loss and mood disorders. The themes of the GRC and GRS have been chosen to emphasize the most important, universal questions underlying these problems and to stimulate the exchange of ideas among diverse researchers to solve them. The training and engagement of junior scientists, both postdoctoral fellows and graduate students is a priority of the conference. As such, mentoring activities and professional development sessions are also planned as part of the meeting. NSF support will be used to defray registration fee and/or travel costs of participants from groups historically under-represented in these fields.The science presented at the 2022 PRST GRC and GRS will encompass the study of photosensory molecules from all domains of life. Mechanistic studies of light reception and signal propagation at the level of quantum behavior through macromolecular dynamics is a long-standing, central theme of the meeting. We will discuss the regulation of plant photobiology and the implications thereof for improving agriculture by increasing crop yields and developing more efficient biofuels. Optogenetics, the ability to program protein localization, trigger signaling networks, control neuronal activity and modulate gene expression with light is another key area to be highlighted. Key scientific problems will drive technology development of x-ray lasers and modern synchrotrons, whose use will be underscored in several presentations. Understanding photosensory receptors in the broadest sense is critical to the advancement of many fields. Lessons learned are applicable to not just biology but as precedents for improving energy harvesting and storage and in photovoltaic and other devices. In health-related areas, studies of photoreceptors can be applied to the recovery of vision and rescue of retinal degenerative diseases. Light entrainment of circadian rhythms impacts sleep, mood and mental health. The talks and discussion groups hope to reveal how these processes function at the molecular level, thereby providing potential downstream avenues to address issues related to disruption of circadian rhythms such as depression, seasonal affected disorder and sleep abnormalities. The GRS presentations will be divided into two sessions: in which the most fundamental issues in photosensory signal transduction will be discussed: i) molecular mechanisms of phototransduction and ii) synthetic photobiology.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.