Erice School of Biophysics Conference on Channels and Transporters

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We request support for the third International School of Biophysics conference on "Transporters and Channels" to be held in Erice, Sicily, 12-18 May 2008. We also request a continuation meeting to be held in 2011. The 2008 meeting is a sequel to the 2002 and NIMH-supported 2005 meetings. The 2008 meeting was planned to occur just before a complementary meeting organized by Frances Ashcroft in London. Students and speakers from the Erice conference may thus continue to London. Few meetings pay exclusive attention to the relationship between transporters and channels, but focus instead on transporters or channels with little crosstalk. Numerous reviews, new research, and recent conferences like ours have changed this landscape. Nevertheless, young researchers may be unaware of career opportunities offered by a comprehensive and comparative view of transporters and channels. Channel- and transporter-related diseases, protein regulation, molecular dynamics, and drug discovery are a few examples of intersecting research areas. Thus, there is a continuing need for a meeting with lecturers and participants from both disciplines. The Erice meeting - which is modeled after Gordon Research Conferences but with emphasis on an interdisciplinary, early career audience - offers unprecedented opportunities for interactions between channel and transporter researchers for professional contacts and opportunities. Transporters and channels are crucial for virtually every cell function, including synaptic transmission, metabolic and nutrient transport, water and ion homeostasis, and excitability. The list of diseases linked to transporter and channel mutations is growing. Transporters also have current-generating conformations, but little is understood about the physiological role of the endogenous channel states in transporters or about the structural correlates of these channel states. The series of lectures we propose includes background sessions, workshops, and seminars. Leading researchers from ion channel and transporter fields have agreed to take part, and we will accept students from all fields with a view toward information exchange and cross-fertilization. The program will cover ligand- and voltage-gated ion channels, Na-coupled neurotransmitter transporters, H-coupled neurotransmitter, nutrient and drug transporters, H/Cl exchangers, K+, H+, and Ca++ channels, Cl- channels, crystal structures of channels and transporters, computational molecular dynamics, and mathematical models of transport. Workshops on patch clamp, amperometry, and fluorescent imaging are supplemental. The meeting consists of 3 plenary speakers, 20 lectures, 3 workshops, and 2 poster sessions. A late-invitation speaker is planned for breaking news. All speakers are committed to prepare their lectures for a diverse audience of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, early career academics, and pharmaceutical researchers. Recruitment will pay attention to women and under-represented groups, and, in keeping with the Erice tradition, there will ample time for informal discussions. Transporters and channels are crucial for many cell functions including synaptic transmission, metabolic and nutrient transport, water and ion homeostasis, and excitability, and the list of diseases linked to transporter and channel mutations is growing. Transporters and channels are different yet they have many common properties; e.g., transporters have channel conformations but little is understood about the significance of these states for human diseases, drug abuse, and possible therapies. This conference includes background sessions and advanced seminars in these two fields so that leading researchers from the channel and transporter fields, as well as younger students and early career scientists, can benefit from cross-fertilization of these important research areas with potential benefit to biomedical research.