Conference: Second Messengers & Protein Phosphorylation

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Gordon Research Conference (GRC) Conference on Second Messengers & Protein Phosphorylation will be held from June 10 to June 15, 2001 in Kimball Union Academy, New Hampshire. This application seeks partial support for the operation of the conference. Research in the area of signal transduction is an essential part of the investigation into how cells regulate growth, differentiation and cell death. Within the past year there have been many advances in our understanding of kinase, phosphatase and G-protein coupled signaling system. These advances include new X-ray structures for many signal components as well as functional studies defining elements within signaling cascades. In addition, there has been an explosion in our knowledge of how ion channels are modulated, the inter-connections of phosphorylation events and the use of cytoskeletal architecture to control and regulate molecular signaling events. The purpose of the meeting is to integrate biochemical, structural, cell biological and genomic approaches into providing a comprehensive understanding of the molecular aspects of signaling mechanisms. Like other GRCs, this meeting will select 135 participants from applications including representatives from industry and academia. Participants will include senior scientists, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students. There is a constant infusion of new researchers from various disciplines into the signal transduction area and the 2001 conference will be an important "training" ground for these new investigators. The conference will consist of nine sessions, each with a discussion leader and four to six speakers, selected from investigators who have made important recent contributions and from submitted abstracts. This will help to insure inclusion of young investigators, women and minorities as primal participants. Additionally two poster sessions will be organized. We have selected two keynote speakers: Alexander Varshavsky, chosen because of the increasing role of ubiquitin and ubiquantin-like protein modification in regulating signal transduction pathways, and Alfred Gilman, who has initiated efforts to form a G-protein signal transduction Alliance. This represents a new way of doing science and he will report on the progress of the Alliance and the strategies, which allow the signal transduction community to interact with the Alliance. It is important to point out that the Second Messengers and Protein Phosphorylation meeting cuts across many of the Institutes within the NIH, including Diabetes, Cancer, General Medical Sciences, Child Health and Development, as well as Immunology, to mention only a few.