International School of Biophysics: Transporters and Channels

描述（由申请人提供）：我们请求支持将于2005年5月31日至6月6日在西西里的埃里斯举行的主题为“运输和通道”的国际生物物理学院，以及将于2008年夏季在美国举行的同一主题的延续会议。2005年的会议是2002年在埃里切举行的会议的续篇，因此，我们寻求对这一系列会议中的第二和第三所学校的支持。类似的会议倾向于关注传输者或通道，两个学科之间几乎没有串扰。然而，这种二分法正在迅速改变，最近的戈登离子通道会议包括一个关于转运蛋白的会议。其他运输会议已经包括，并可能包括ATP酶和ABC运输沿着协同转运。除了本系列的第一次会议外，没有一次会议专门关注协同转运蛋白和离子通道之间的结构、机制和功能关系。共转运蛋白对于许多细胞功能至关重要，包括突触传递、神经递质的合成以及代谢物和营养物质的运输，并且离子通道几乎在每个细胞过程中都具有功能。三个发现有助于弥合这些看似不同的领域之间的差距：（1）现在有充分的文献记载，点突变可以将通道转化为共转运蛋白或将共转运蛋白转化为通道，（2）共转运蛋白可以产生具有生理后果的可感知的离子电流，以及（3）共转运蛋白和离子选择性通道的结构允许对结构和机制进行比较分析。我们提出的系列具有作为一个学校，而不是严格的研究会议的进一步独特的功能。因此，我们包括教学讲座以及更先进的主题。我们邀请来自离子通道和转运体社区的领导者来授课和演讲，我们始终强调定量方法。本着这一精神，我们接受来自不同领域的参与者，以期交流信息，并使这两个重要学科相互促进。该计划将涵盖以下主题：配体和电压门控离子通道，Na-耦合神经递质转运蛋白，H-耦合神经递质和营养转运蛋白，H-耦合Cl-转运蛋白，K+通道，H+通道，Ca++通道，Cl-通道，以及通道和转运蛋白的最新晶体结构。该计划还包括关于膜片钳，电流分析法和荧光成像的研讨会。会议汇集了来自生物化学，生物物理学，细胞和分子生物学，分子药理学，结构生物学和遗传学的科学家和学生，将包括2个全体会议，26个定期会议，3个演示和海报会议。我们计划邀请一位迟来的TBA演讲者，以利用会议前的最新发现，重点关注人类疾病。目前列出的所有演讲者都致力于参加并准备教学讲座以及研究研讨会，面向研究生，博士后研究员，学者和制药研究人员的不同受众，并关注妇女和代表性不足的群体。与生物物理学院的传统保持一致，将有足够的时间进行非正式讨论，这可能会导致刺激和富有成效的互动以及参与者的未来联系。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We are requesting support for an International School of Biophysics on the topic of "Transporters and Channels" to be held in Erice, Sicily from May 31 to 6 June 2005, and a continuation conference on the same topic to be held in the US during the summer of 2008. The 2005 meeting is a sequel to one held in Erice in 2002, and we thus seek support for the second and third school in this series. Similar conferences have tended to focus on either transporters or channels, with little crosstalk between the two disciplines. This dichotomy is rapidly changing, however, and the latest Gordon Conference on ion channels included a session on transporters. Other transport conferences have included and are likely to include ATPases and ABC transporters along with co-transporters. No conference except the first in this series has paid exclusive attention to the structural, mechanistic, and functional relationship between co-transporters and ion channels. Co-transporters are crucial for many cell functions, including synaptic transmission, the synthesis of neurotransmitters, and the transport of metabolites and nutrients, and ion channels feature in virtually every cell process. Three discoveries have helped bridge the gap between these seemingly disparate fields: (1) It is now well documented that point mutations can convert channels into co-transporters or co-transporters into channels, (2) co- transporters can generate appreciable ionic currents with physiological consequences, and (3) structures of co- transporters and ion-selective channels have allowed a comparative analysis of structure and mechanism. The series that we propose has the further unique feature of being a school rather than strictly a research conference. Thus, we include didactic lectures alongside more advanced topics. We invite leaders from both the ion channel and transporter communities to teach and to lecture, and we emphasize quantitative approaches throughout. In this vein, we accept participants from diverse fields with the view to information exchange and to cross-fertilize these two important disciplines. The program will cover the following topics: ligand- and voltage-gated ion channels, Na-coupled neurotransmitter transporters, H-coupled neurotransmitter and nutrient transporters, H-coupled Cl- transporters, K+ channels, H+ channels, Ca++ channels, Cl- channels, as well as the most recent crystallographic structures of channels and transporters. The program also includes workshops on patch clamp, amperometry, and fluorescent imaging. The meeting brings together scientists and students from biochemistry, biophysics, cell and molecular biology, molecular pharmacology, structural biology and genetics and will consist of 2 plenary talks, 26 regular talks, 3 demonstrations, and poster sessions. We plan a late-invitation TBA speaker to take advantage of the latest discoveries just before the meeting, and with a focus on human disease. All speakers presently listed are committed to attend and to prepare didactic lectures as well as research seminars for a diverse audience of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, academics, and pharmaceutical researchers with attention to women and under-represented groups. In keeping with the Erice School of Biophysics tradition, there will ample time for informal discussions that can result in stimulating and productive interactions as well as future contacts for the participants.