THE WEINSTEIN CONFERENCE ON CARDIOVASCULAR DEVELOPMENT

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DESCRIPTION (the applicant's description verbatim): Partial support is requested for 3 years for the ongoing annual "Weinstein Conference on Cardiovascular Development." This meeting, established and coordinated by Constance Weinstein, Ph.D., formerly of the NHLBI staff, is dedicated to the goal of understanding the molecular and cell biological mechanisms underlying vertebrate cardiovascular development. Over the last 5 years, this meeting of 250-300 participants has become the premier conference on Cardiovascular Development and brings together representatives from the major and diverse laboratories working in this area. The meeting is organized under direction of the "Weinstein Conference Committee," a permanent organization with an established Charter and composed of leaders in this field, and rotates to different sites at the home institutions of members of the Weinstein Committee. The specific aims for the meeting are (i) to communicate results of basic investigation concerning the mechanisms by which specific genes and their protein products mediate cardiac and vascular development both in normal cardiac morphogenesis and in humans and animal models of aberrant development resulting in congenital heart disease, cardiomyopathy, and arrhythmias. (ii) to promote interactions of scientists from basic laboratories and clinical specialties involved in diagnosis and evaluation of humans with defects in cardiovascular development to encourage collaborative approaches to investigation, and (iii) to encourage young investigators to pursue careers involved cardiovascular development. Topics presented at oral session include cardiac morphology, cardiac function, genetics of human cardiovascular defects, experimental cardiovascular embryology, myocyte structure and organization, regulation of gene expression in the cardiovascular system, and transgenic and null mouse models of cardiovascular disease. The recent explosion in delineation of genes essential for normal cardiac and vascular development and discovery of mutations in human and murine genes causing aberrant cardiovascular development emphasizes the timeliness of these conferences. NIH support would provide increased accessibility for students and fellows, stabilization of year to year planning for these meetings, and increase representation of women and minorities amount conference participants.