CONFERENCE ON POTASSIUM CHANNELS--FROM MOLECULES TO DISE

APS关于“K通道的生物学：从分子到疾病”的会议定于1999年9月22日至26日在科罗拉多州的斯诺马斯举行。会议将就钾通道、钾通道的调节以及钾通道在正常和病理情况下的参与等问题深入交换意见。钾通道构成了一组不同的膜蛋白，它们在电化学梯度的驱动下，介导钾在细胞膜上的被动移动。在过去的十年里，关于K通道的门控、功能和调节特性，人们已经了解了很多，这在很大程度上是由于膜片钳技术在天然细胞、分离细胞和培养细胞上的广泛使用。然而，最新和最令人兴奋的进展是由于许多不同家族的钾通道的分子分离。这些分子克隆工作为特异K通道的表达和研究提供了遗传物质。这次会议的目的是聚集来自世界各地的电生理学家、细胞生理学家、分子生物学家和遗传学家，他们一直参与或对钾通道这一广泛主题有研究兴趣。在现代，这一领域最好的工作涉及到一种综合的方法，利用所有这些技术来获得K通道的结构、功能、调节以及K通道在人类疾病中的参与。会议的基本目标是了解K通道的门控/监管和结构/遗传因素。此外，组织者希望新的研究人员和学生有兴趣寻找研究机会，了解K通道是如何发挥作用的，以及它在几种遗传性疾病中的作用。

The APS Conference on the "Biology of K Channels: From Molecules to Disease," is scheduled for September 22-26, 1999 in Snowmass, Colorado. The meeting will feature an in-depth exchange of ideas concerning potassium channels, their regulation, and their involvement in normal and pathological situations. Potassium channels constitute a diverse group of membrane proteins that mediate the passive movement of potassium, driven by its electrochemical gradient, across cell membranes. Much has been learned over the last decade regarding the gating, function and regulatory properties of K channels, due in large part, to the widespread use of the patch-clamp technique on native cells, isolated cells and cells in culture. However, the most recent and exciting advances have been due to the molecular isolation of many members of distinct families of potassium channels. These molecular cloning efforts have provided the genetic material for expression and study of specific K channels. This Conference is designed to bring together electrophysiologists, cell physiologists, molecular biologists and geneticists from all over the world who have been involved in research or have research interest in the broad topic of K channels. In the modern era, the best work in this field has involved an integrative approach utilizing all of these techniques in order to get at the structure, function, regulation of the K channels as well as the involvement of thse K channels in human disease. The fundamental goal of the Conference is to understand the gating/regulatory and structural/genetic elements of K channels. In addition, the organizers hope to interest new investigators and students in pursuing research opportunities to understand how the K channel functions and its role in several inherited diseases.