Mechanosensory Transduction Gordon Conference

描述(由申请人提供)：检测机械力的能力对人类的平衡、听觉和触觉以及渗透平衡和血压检测都很重要。此外，对于植物的重力和风的感知以及微生物的渗透调节也是必要的。随着我们更多地了解各种生物体和系统中这些感官的潜在机制，我们已经开始看到相似之处和交叉之处。在这里，我们正在为第十届两年一度的“机械感觉转导”戈登研究会议寻求支持，该会议将为对机械感觉信号传递具有广泛兴趣的科学家提供一个独特的互动机会。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名与会者出席，其中包括29名演讲者和13名讨论负责人。会议探讨了各种生物体对机械刺激的感知和反应机制。参与者使用了一套不同的方法来研究包括动物、微生物和植物在内的各种生物体对广泛的机械信号的反应。主题涵盖从分子和细胞到复杂的机械传感系统。例如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。这一领域正在迅速发展，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对机械和重力感觉的不同方面所需的蛋白质和细胞成分进行分子和生理分析。这次会议提供了一个独特的机会来广泛思考机械信号、感觉机制和下游信号转导通路之间的接口。它将把那些通常不会相遇的科学家聚集在一起，因为他们研究不同的有机体(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的持续力的缓慢反应)，或者因为他们采用了截然不同的方法(遗传学和生理学)。此外，戈登会议的形式便利了对有争议问题的非正式交流和讨论。这些因素将促进跨学科的观念和方法的转移和机械转导研究的新策略的形成。检测压力和力量的能力是人类听觉、平衡感、触觉以及肾脏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这一过程的研究人员提供了一个机会，他们使用多种方法，并在从细菌、植物和简单动物到人类等一系列生物中研究这一过程，以互动和分享想法。这次会议的科学讨论将集中在机械传感转导的潜在主题上，并将提供发展合作和思想交流的机会，这些合作和交流不仅将提供对这些过程的基础科学的洞察，而且可能成为确定新的药物靶点的基础，从而设计用于调节血压或纠正听觉或肾脏功能缺陷的药物。

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.