2016 Ion Channels Gordon Research Conference



 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal is for partial support for an international meeting on Ion Channels, as part of the Gordon Research Conference series, to be held at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, July 10 - 15, 2016. The long-term goal of this conference is to increase understanding of the fundamental structure, function and physiological roles of ion channels and how these functions are disrupted in human disease. The specific aim of this meeting will be to convene 40 speakers and discussion leaders who represent critical areas of ion channel research together with 160 participants-at-large for a maximum of 200 participants for a five-day meeting in a relatively secluded setting. The program will consist of nine sessions in which invited speakers and speakers chosen from the participants-at-large will present their latest, unpublished, research, with ample time for discussion of the results. In addition, four poster sessions will permit all participants to presen their own work. The significance of this meeting is that is has been for many years, and remains, the premier meeting for scientists interested in fundamental mechanisms of ion channel structure and function. The small size and intensive discussions engendered by the Ion Channels GRC make it uniquely important for the catalysis of new ideas, directions and collaboration among the participants. Ion channels play a critical role in establishing the electrical excitability of membranes and their dysfunction underlies a large variety of disorders, from congenital hearing loss, to epilepsy and heart disease. Thus information disseminated through this meeting has the potential to be of wide relevance to all areas of human health.