Mechanosensory Transduction Gordon Conference

描述（由申请人提供）：检测机械力的能力在人体平衡感、听觉和触觉以及渗透稳态和血压检测中很重要。此外，它还对植物的重力和风感以及微生物的光合调节是必需的。随着我们对各种生物体和系统中这些感觉的机制有了更多的了解，我们开始看到它们之间的相似之处和交叉点。在这里，我们正在寻求对第10届两年一度的戈登研究会议“机械感觉转导”的支持，这将为科学家提供一个独特的机会，在机械感觉信号的广泛兴趣互动。本次会议将于2007年7月22日至27日在缅因州比德福德的新英格兰大学举行。预计将有大约100名与会者，包括29名发言者和13名讨论负责人出席。会议探讨了各种生物体对机械刺激的感知和反应机制。参与者采用多种方法来研究包括动物，微生物和植物在内的各种生物体对各种机械信号的反应。主题范围从分子和细胞到复杂的机械感觉系统。例子包括听觉毛细胞电生理学，微生物机械敏感通道的结构和功能，以及植物和哺乳动物对持续重力的反应。该领域正在迅速发展，特别是在理解物理刺激感知的遗传方法领域。2007年会议的重点将继续是机械和重力感觉不同方面所需的蛋白质和细胞成分的分子和生理分析。这次会议提供了一个独特的机会，广泛思考机械信号，感觉机制和下游信号转导通路之间的接口。它将汇集那些通常不见面的科学家，因为他们研究不同的生物体（微生物，植物或动物）或不同类型的机械反应（专门的机械传感器的快速反应或对骨骼或植物中持续力的缓慢反应）或因为他们采用广泛不同的方法（遗传学与生理学）。此外，戈登会议的形式有利于非正式沟通和讨论有争议的问题。这些因素将促进跨学科的思想和方法的转移，并形成新的策略，为力学信号转导的研究。检测压力和力的能力是人类听觉、平衡和触觉以及肾功能和血压调节的主要和必要事件。“机械感觉转导”戈登研究会议为研究人员提供了一个机会，他们使用多种方法研究这一过程，并在一系列生物体中进行研究，从模型系统（包括细菌，植物和简单的动物）到人类，进行互动和分享想法。本次会议的科学讨论将集中在机械感觉转导的基本主题上，并将为合作和思想交流的发展提供机会，这不仅将提供对这些过程的基础科学的见解，而且可能作为确定新型药物靶点的基础，从而设计用于调节血压或纠正听觉或肾功能缺陷的药物。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The ability to detect mechanical forces is important in the human senses of balance, hearing, and touch as well as osmotic homeostasis and detection of blood pressure. In addition, it is necessary for gravity and wind sensing in plants and osmoregulation of microbes. As we learn more about the mechanisms underlying these senses in a wide variety of organisms and systems, we have begun to see parallels and intersections. Here we are seeking support for the 10th biennial Gordon Research Conference on "Mechanosensory Transduction", which will provide a unique opportunity for scientists with broad interests in mechanosensory signaling to interact. This conference will be held July 22 - 27, 2007 at the University of New England, Biddeford, Maine. About 100 attendees including 29 speakers and 13 discussion leaders are anticipated to attend. The meeting explores mechanisms for perception and response to mechanical stimuli in a wide range of organisms. Participants employ a diverse set of approaches to study the responses to a broad range of mechanical signals in a wide array of organisms including animals, microbes, and plants. Topics range from the molecular and cellular to complex mechanosensory systems. Examples include auditory hair cell electrophysiology, microbial mechanosensitive channel structure and function, and responses to sustained gravitational forces in plants as well as mammals. The field is rapidly growing, especially in the area of genetic approaches to understanding the perception of physical stimuli. The focus for the 2007 meeting will continue to be the molecular and physiological analysis of protein and cellular components needed for different aspects of mechano- and gravity- sensation. This meeting provides a unique opportunity to think broadly about the interface between mechanical signals, sensory mechanisms, and downstream signal transduction pathways. It will bring together scientists who do not normally meet because they study different organisms (microbes, plants, or animals) or different kinds of mechanical responses (rapid responses in specialized mechanosensors or slow responses to sustained forces in bone or plants) or because they employ widely different approaches (genetics versus physiology). Moreover, the Gordon Conference format facilitates informal communications and discussions of controversial issues. These factors will promote inter-disciplinary transfer of ideas and approaches and the forming of new strategies for the study of mechanotransduction. The ability to detect pressures and forces is a primary and necessary event for the human senses of hearing, balance, and touch as well as kidney function and blood pressure regulation. The "Mechanosensory Transduction" Gordon Research Conference provides an opportunity for researchers studying this process using a number of approaches and in a range of organisms from model systems including bacteria, plants, and simple animals to humans, to interact and share ideas. The scientific discussions at this meeting will focus on underlying themes in mechanosensory transduction and will provide opportunities for development of collaborations and exchange of ideas that will not only provide insight into the basic science of these processes, but may serve as the basis for identifying novel drug targets and thus designing drugs for modulating blood pressure or rectifying deficits in auditory or kidney function.