Workshop on Multi-Scale Muscle Mechanics

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Properly functioning skeletal muscle is a vital component of human health. Skeletal muscles' macroscopic behaviors are determined by the integration of mechanical properties that originate at widely ranging spatial scales, beginning with the structures and behaviors of the contractile proteins and extending through to the manner in which multiple muscles and joints interact during normal and pathologically altered motion. Understanding this complexity requires synthesizing the findings from these many levels. But while individual society meetings may consider particular aspects of this behavior, we are not aware of a single meeting that has considered all of them. Therefore, we are organizing the 2009 Workshop on Multi-scale Muscle Mechanics in order to provide a forum in which many aspects of muscle mechanical function can be discussed in detail, first as isolated questions and then as part of integrative examination of the entire problem. The workshop's scientific objectives include: 1) to discuss the historical development, current knowledge, and future research on skeletal muscle mechanics, in health and disease; 2) to discuss technological advances that are advancing or have the potential to advance knowledge of muscle function; 3) to emphasize an integrative approach in studying muscle mechanics; and 4) to discuss how to integrate and synthesize findings from analyses performed at different scales. These objectives will be addressed in the workshop's scientific program, which will include symposia about the mechanical properties of muscle proteins, muscle fibers, whole muscles, muscle-tendon units, and multi-muscle/multi-joint systems, as uncovered by experimental and computational modeling approaches. The symposia will provide both tutorial presentations targeted to beginning graduate students and high-level presentations for experienced muscle biomechanists. In addition, there will be invited plenary lectures and oral and poster presentations from proffered abstracts. A unique aspect of the meeting agenda is the formation of discussion groups that will examine specific questions in detail over the course of the entire conference, and then report back to the whole group at the end. In addition, we aim to promote the education of promising young scientists and enhance their interactions with established investigators. Therefore, we will also provide student-oriented programming, such as poster walking tours, a career development panel discussion, and a mentoring program. In this application, we request support to reduce the registration fee for trainees and to provide a travel stipend program for students from under-represented minority groups and for female students. Our final objective is to disseminate the meeting's findings to the scientific and lay communities, and so we will make the conference proceedings publically available. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Narrative The proper function of skeletal muscles is essential to good health. In the 2009 Workshop on Multi-Scale Muscle Mechanics, we will provide a forum in which many aspects of muscle mechanical function can be discussed in detail, first as isolated questions and then comprehensively. We will also contribute to the education of future muscle scientists by providing student-oriented programming, a mentoring program, and a travel stipend program.