U.S.-Japan Joint Seminar: Biophysical Chemistry of Retinal Proteins/January 1992/Honolulu HI

该奖项为参加美日联合研讨会的八名美国科学家提供支持，该研讨会的主题是“视网膜蛋白质的生物物理化学”。视网膜蛋白的化学是生物物理学中一个迅速兴起的领域。视网膜色素是一类内在膜蛋白，介导能量和信息的传递。该领域的许多研究集中在转导过程的分子机制上，而最近在位点特异性诱变、序列和结构测定以及中间结构和动力学的光谱研究方面的进展使确定这些过程的分子机制成为可能。这一领域的主要贡献大多是由美国和日本的科学家做出的，他们中的许多人应该参加这次研讨会。因此，研讨会应该提供一个很好的论坛，以形成一个更完整的图像或视网膜转导。讨论会将于1992年1月12日至18日在檀香山的夏威夷大学举行。协办人员是加州大学伯克利分校化学系Richard Mathies教授和日本名古屋大学物理系Toshiaki Kakitani副教授。研讨会将讨论的具体主题包括(1)视网膜蛋白质结构和遗传学；(2)生色团结构与环境；(3)视网膜蛋白的光活化；(4)结构与转导机制分析；(5)色素再生和信号转导。这些主题代表了生物化学、光谱化学和基因工程的正确结合，为这一主题领域做出了真正的贡献。该研讨会将使两国几个研究小组的代表能够会面并交流信息，这可能导致更广泛的研究合作。

This award provides support for the participation of eight US scientists in a joint US-Japan seminar on "the Biophysical Chemistry of Retinal Proteins". The chemistry of retinal proteins is a rapidly emerging area of biophysics. Retinal- containing pigments are a class of intrinsic membrane proteins the mediate energy and information transduction. Much research in this area concentrates upon the molecular mechanisms of the transduction processes and recent progress on site-specific mutagenesis, sequence and structure determination and spectroscopic studies of intermediate structure and dynamics now present the real possibility of determining the molecular mechanism of these processes. Most of the main contributions to this area have been made by American and Japanese scientists, many of whom it is intended should participate in this seminar. For this reason the seminar should provide an excellent forum for formulating a more complete picture or retinal transduction. The seminar is to be held on January 12-18, 1992 at the University of Hawaii, Honolulu. The co-organizers are Professor Richard Mathies, Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley and Associate Professor Toshiaki Kakitani, Department of Physics, Nagoya University, Japan. Specific topics to be discussed at the seminar include (1) retinal protein structure and genetics; (2) chromophore structure and the environment; (3) photoactivation of retinal-proteins; (4) analysis of structure and transduction mechanisms; and (5) pigment regeneration and signal transduc- tion. These topics represent the right combination of biochemistry, spectrochemistry and genetic engineering to make a real contribution to this subject area. The seminar will permit representatives from several research groups in the two countries to meet and exchange information which could lead to more extensive research collaboration.