Neuroimmunophysiology in the Gastrointestinal Tract

描述（由申请人提供）：本申请申请为将于2008年9月18日至21日在加拿大阿尔伯塔省班夫举行的胃肠神经免疫生理学会议提供部分资金支持。会议的首要目标是强调维持正常肠道内稳态的调节系统之间存在的复杂相互关系，以及偏离规范可能导致各种胃肠道疾病状态的方式。1992年召开了关于这一主题的前一次会议，当时对胃肠道生物学综合调节的研究还处于起步阶段，并被认为是建立了这一胃肠道研究领域。计划中的会议将重点讨论自那次会议以来取得的无数进展，以及部分由上次会议推动的全新调查领域。将举行四场为期半天的科学会议，主题如下：(1)胃肠道上皮：与外界的界面；(2)肠神经系统；(3)粘膜调节机制；(4)疾病模型和转化研究。还将举行海报会议，特别旨在促进受训者的参与。受邀的演讲者和会议主席是一个国际团体，其中23人来自北美各个地区，7人来自欧洲。组织者还特别努力邀请妇女、少数民族和年轻调查人员作为演讲者。该应用程序的PI是一名女性，另外还有八名发言人；有一名少数族裔发言人和八名有资格成为年轻调查员的人。寻求资金来部分支付受邀演讲者和将展示海报的年轻调查人员的费用。其他资金将从工业界、加拿大组织和私人基金会寻求。我们期待这次会议将在这一领域的进一步研究中发挥独特的作用，将使基础和临床研究者之间有意义的交流，并将激励初级研究者的职业生涯。我们对胃肠道功能综合调控的关注，应该能够开发新的策略来理解、治疗并最终治愈各种消化系统疾病状态。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application requests funding in partial support of a conference entitled Neuroimmunophysiology in the Gastrointestinal Tract to be held September 18- 21, 2008 in Banff, Alberta, Canada. The overarching goal of the conference is to emphasize the complex interrelationships that exist among and between the regulatory systems that contribute to normal intestinal homeostasis, and the ways in which deviations from the norm can lead to a variety of gastrointestinal disease states. A previous conference on this topic was held in 1992 when investigations into the integrated regulation of gastrointestinal biology were in their infancy, and has been credited with establishing this field of GI research. The planned meeting will focus on the myriad advances since that time and wholly new areas of investigation that were spurred, in part, by the previous meeting. Four half day scientific sessions will be held on the following topics: (1) GI epithelium: interface with the outside world; (2) The enteric nervous system; (3) Mucosal regulatory mechanisms; and (4) Models of disease and translational research. There will also be a poster session aimed particularly at promoting the involvement of trainees. The invited speakers and session chairs are an international group, with 23 from all areas of North America and seven from Europe. The organizers have also made a special effort to invite women, minorities and young investigators as speakers. The PI of the application is a woman as are eight additional speakers; there is one racial minority speaker and eight who qualify as young investigators. Funds are sought to partially defray expenses of invited speakers and young investigators who will present posters. Other funding will be sought from industry, Canadian organizations, and private foundations. We anticipate that the conference will play a unique role in furthering research in this area, will enable meaningful interchanges between basic and clinical investigators, and will inspire the careers of junior investigators. Our focus on the integrated regulation of gastrointestinal function should enable the development of new strategies to understand, treat and ultimately cure a variety of digestive disease states.