GORDON CONF ON MUSCLE EXCITATION/CONTRACTION COUPLING

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DESCRIPTION (from the application): This is a proposal to help fund a Conference on Muscle: Excitation-Contraction (EC) Coupling, scheduled for June 8-12, 1997, at Colby Sawyer College, New Hampshire, under the sponsorship of Gordon Research Conferences. EC coupling, the process that translates the action potential in a muscle cell to increase in [Ca2+]i and contraction, is the first recognized example of Ca2+ signalling. Recent advances, using diverse techniques, underscore the commonality of mechanisms and molecules involved in Ca2+ signalling in skeletal, cardiac and smooth muscle, as well as other types of cells, excitable and nonexcitable. Newly available dyes and confocal microscopic approaches have demonstrated the importance of local [Ca2+] gradients in the determination and control of function in muscle, neurons and non excitable cells. Taking this confluence of studies into consideration, the present meeting has been planned to broaden the traditional focus on skeletal muscle, and bring together experts on Ca2+ signalling in other tissues. The conference will consist of nine oral presentation sessions, plus continuous showing of posters. The first session will develop the structural and molecular makeup of the signalling organelles. The following two will discuss processes determining ion homeostasis, including normally occurring membrane channels and pump ATPases, as well as the alterations in homeostasis that determine muscle fatigue. The alterations observed in patients with genetically transmitted mutations will be discussed from the standpoint of disease, and as tools to understand normal roles and structure-function relationships. The main molecules of EC coupling, the voltage sensor and the Ca2+ release channel, will be the topic of three sessions, discussing studies of structure-function relationship, modulation by ions, organic ligands and other proteins, and interactions between sensors and channels. Their interaction and the function at the cellular level will be considered in session 7. Session 8 will compare recent advances in determination of elementary events of Ca2+ release (sparks and related signals) and a final session will consider diversity, relationships between the two main classes of release channels, and reasons for their coexistence. The Gordon Conference on Muscle: EC coupling has been held regularly every three years for several decades. The last meeting was in July, 1994. The conference has consistently been the sole forum for discussion and dissemination of the advances in this field. It has a proven record of bringing together active investigators from all over the world, in a format that encourages free exchange of ideas and unpublished data. Its organizing committee has representatives from five continents, and will strive to keep a well balanced attendance, geographically and generationally, for its 1997 meeting.