Modeling of Protein Interactions 2007

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Support is requested for the multidisciplinary conference Modeling of Protein Interactions 2007 (MPI2007) to be held September 30 - October 2, 2007 in Lawrence, Kansas. The meeting will involve a combination of biological, physical, and computational scientists, and will focus on challenges and available methodologies in the determination of protein complexes, including experimental studies, knowledge-based methods, sequence analysis, and structural approaches. The primary goal of MPI2007 will be to critically explore the availability of tools for improving the reliability of protein interaction information, focusing on broadly defined template-based modeling of protein-protein interactions. Since the analysis is based on the structures of proteins and incorporating additional information attempts to contribute to the understanding of their cellular roles, a large scale reconstruction of protein interactions will build on the results of the Protein Structure Initiative. Some of the fundamental questions we will discuss are as follows. Will protein docking evolve in a way similar to structure prediction? In other words, will knowledge-based methods provide the most useful information, and will be there enough protein-protein templates? Does a large-scale concerted effort to determine protein-protein templates, similar to PSI, make sense, at least in principle? Is the field mature enough to meet such a challenge? How can prediction tools be combined with a diverse set of experimental techniques (e.g., mass spectroscopy, cryoelectron microscopy, cross-linking, NMR, etc) to improve reliability? Experts from various areas of protein interactions were selected to serve on the Advisory Committee and to present at the conference. Further presentations will be selected by the Advisory Committee to cover all major methodologies of protein complex determination and modeling. A growing number of highly qualified women are working in the areas covered by the conference and the female speakers will be represented in each section. A poster session will be held on one of the conference days. The conference will be relatively small - approximately 100 participants. The organizers will pay special attention to attracting young investigators as speakers and poster presenters. Participation of students and postdoctoral fellows will be encouraged. Efforts will be made to diversify the participation by attracting minority scientists and graduate students by contacting faculty members working in the areas of Biophysics and Biochemistry in minority-serving institutions. The concept of the cell as a collection of multisubunit protein machines that determine its behavior in normal and diseased states is emerging as a cornerstone of modern biology. The planned Modeling of Protein Interactions 2007 (MPI2007) meeting will involve a combination of biological, physical, and computational scientists, and will focus on challenges and available methodologies in the determination of protein complexes, including experimental studies, knowledge-based methods, sequence analysis, and structural approaches.