International School of Biophysics: Transporters and Channels

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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.