Microelectrode Techniques for Cell Physiology:Annual Workshop held at the Marine Biological Association

我们所知道的关于细胞如何运作，它们如何交流和处理信息，以及它们如何运输基本元素和分子的大部分知识都来自于电生理学方法的应用。最著名的例子是霍奇金和赫胥黎在海洋生物协会(MBA)用鱿鱼的巨大神经纤维开展的开创性工作，这导致了神经细胞如何传递脉冲的发现，并形成了许多现代神经生物学的基础。由于这些开创性的发现，电生理学领域得到了极大的扩展，电生理学方法被应用于生物医学、生物技术和发现科学领域，以获得从医学疾病到植物生长发育和全球生态过程的广泛细胞过程的分子水平的了解。例如，海洋生物协会的研究人员继续使用和发展电生理和光学方法，应用于研究原始单细胞海洋生物的电兴奋性的进化，以了解海洋浮游植物固碳的细胞基础，这在海洋生态和全球气候调节方面很重要。1984年，人们决定需要每年举办一次研究研讨会，提供微电极技术的各种用途的培训。事实证明，这是对细胞生物学和生物物理学的一项非常有价值的贡献，并对培养新一代细胞生理学家产生了重大影响。MBA被选为这次研讨会的地点，因为它既提供了优良的研讨会设施，也提供了细胞生物学中微电极和相关生物物理方法的持续传统。自那时以来，该讲习班一直没有中断，现已被世界公认为该领域领先的高级研究讲习班之一，为500多名早期职业科学家提供了高级培训。培训新一代电生理学家的需要继续存在，特别是随着对膜蛋白功能特征和广泛细胞生物学领域的日益重视。研讨会的申请人数继续超额，20个名额的申请人数每年增加3-4倍。为满足这一持续需求，拟议将目前的讲习班延长5年，将提供有关电生理学的基本原则以及更高级的实践和理论方面的培训。计划在这段时间内采用新的方法。基本研讨会的形式将继续，主要从英国和欧洲的研究实验室招聘教学和演示人员的核心，以及邀请的国际专家进行的一系列密集的演讲和演示。讲习班还受益于30年来与大量商用仪器制造商建立的良好关系，确保提供大量实物捐助的设备，并提供他们作为教员的专门知识。

Much of what we know about how cells function, how they communicate and process information and how they transport essential elements and molecules has come from the application of electrophysiological approaches. The most well known example of this is the pioneering work of Hodgkin and Huxley, carried out at the Marine Biological Association (MBA) with the giant nerve fibre of the squid which led to the discovery of how nerve cells transmit impulses and formed the basis of much modern neurobiology.Since these seminal discoveries the field of electrophysiology has expanded dramatically and electrophysiological approaches are applied in the biomedical, biotechnological and discovery science fields to to gain molecular level understanding of a wide range of processes in cells ranging from medical disorders to plant growth and development and global ecological processes. For example, researchers at the Marine Biological Association continue to use and develop electrophysiological and optical methods applied in investigations of the evolution of electrical excitability in primitive unicellular marine organisms to understanding the cellular basis of carbon fixation in marine phytoplankton, important in the contexts of marine ecology and global climate regulation.In 1984 it was decided that there was a need for an annual research workshop to provide training in the varied uses of microelectrode techniques. This has proven to be a very valuable contribution to cell biology and biophysics and has had significant impact on the training of new generations of cell physiologists. The MBA was chosen as the venue for this workshop since it provided both excellent workshop facilities and a continuing tradition of microelectrode and associated biophysical approaches in cell biology. The workshop has continued uninterrupted since then and is now recognized worldwide as one of the leading advanced research workshops in this field having provided advanced training to more than 500 early career scientists.The need to train the new generation of electrophysiolgists continues, particularly with the increased emphasis on functional characterisation of membrane proteins and a wide range of cell biological areas. The workshop continues to be over-subscribed with applications 3-4 fold each year for the 20 places available. To meet this continuing need the proposed 5-year extension to the ongoing workshop will provide training in both the basic principles and more advanced practical and theoretical aspects of electrophysiology. New approaches are planned to be incorporated over this period. The basic workshop fomat will continue with a core of teaching and demonstrating staff recruited mainly from research laboratories in the UK and Europe along with an intensive series of talks and demonstrations from invited international experts. The workshop also benefits from the good relations that have been established over 30 years with a large number of commercial instrument manufacturers that ensures significant in-kind contributions of equipment and the provision of their expertise as instructors.