Conference: Thiol-Based Redox Regulation & Signaling Gordon Research Conference, May 9-14, 2010, Il Ciocco, Italy

第三届戈登硫基氧化还原调控和信号研究会议将于2010年5月9日至14日在意大利举行。生命开始于退化的环境。随着大气中氧气的出现，细胞必须进化出防止和生存这种氧化物种损害的能力。与此同时，细胞利用这种新的化学反应，产生了新的氧化还原反应，影响了生命最基本方面的调节：代谢控制、信号传导、衰老和死亡。最近的数据发现，越来越多的细胞功能和损伤受到氧化还原调节。氧化还原过程现在被认为涉及到农业和生物科学的许多方面。蛋白质（氨基酸半胱氨酸）和小分子（包括谷胱甘肽）中硫醇基团的特殊化学作用是生物过程氧化还原控制的关键组成部分。这些巯基的修饰可以作为分子开关，在各种磷酸酶、激酶和转录因子中发生可逆的巯基氧化。因此，巯基氧化还原化学与细胞信号转导、细胞凋亡、基因调控、细胞周期控制等过程和途径有关。含硫醇的蛋白质也是主要的细胞抗氧化剂，对保护细菌、植物和动物免受氧化损伤至关重要。巯基氧化还原稳态失调对细胞功能障碍有重要影响。本次会议提供了一个多学科的场所，植物和动物生物学家、化学家、数学家、生物物理学家和临床医生将齐聚一堂，讨论巯基化学的机制和生理意义，这是一种从细菌到植物和动物的所有王国中发现的关键调节元素。GRC提供的知识环境吸引了社区中最聪明、最具互动性的成员，并促进了这个快速发展领域的思想交流。在本次会议上提出的观点和假设将继续推进基于硫醇的氧化还原调控领域，也将对更大的科学界感兴趣的理解翻译后蛋白质修饰如何调节细胞和生物体的复杂代谢和调控途径做出重大贡献。更广泛的影响：继2006年和2008年在美国和意大利举行的两次非常成功的会议之后，本次会议已进入第三轮。本次会议的主席和副主席分别是一名内科科学家和一名基础研究人员，他们是在该领域各个方面工作的生物学家、物理学家、化学家和数学家的代表。随着硫醇基氧化还原调控的重要性得到越来越广泛的认识，本次会议有望通过提供一个自由交流思想和方法的场所来加速该领域的进展。来自NSF的资金将增加学生、博士后和其他初级研究人员参与会议的机会，包括科学领域中代表性不足的群体的成员。除了提供该领域新发现的最新情况外，预计会议将加强现有的，并促进一系列机构和学科之间的新的互动。

Intellectual Merit:The 3rd Gordon Research Conference on Thiol-based Redox Regulation and Signaling will be held May 9-14, 2010 at Il Ciocco in Italy. Life began in a reducing environment. With the appearance of oxygen in the atmosphere, cells had to evolve the ability to prevent and survive damage by this oxidizing species. At the same time cells took advantage of this new chemistry and developed novel redox reactions, impinging on the regulation of most fundamental aspects of life: metabolic control, signaling, aging and death. Recent data has found that an increasing number of cellular functions and impairments are redox regulated. Redox processes are now known to be involved in many aspects of agricultural and biological sciences. The special chemistry of thiol groups within proteins (in the amino acid cysteine) and small molecules (including glutathione) is a key component in the redox control of biological processes. Modifications of such thiol groups can act as molecular switches and reversible thiol oxidation occurs in various phosphatases, kinases and transcription factors. Therefore, thiol-based redox chemistry is linked to cellular signal transduction, apoptosis, gene regulation, cell cycle control and other processes and pathways. Thiol-containing proteins also function as major cellular antioxidants and are critical for protecting bacteria, plants, and animals from oxidative damage. Misregulation of thiol-based redox homeostasis has major implications for cellular dysfunction.This Conference offers a multidisciplinary venue in which plant and animal biologists, chemists, mathematicians, biophysicists, and clinicians will convene to discuss the mechanistic and physiological implications of thiol-based chemistry, a key regulatory element found in all kingdoms from bacteria to plants and animals. The intellectual environment offered by the GRC attracts the brightest and the most interactive members of the community and fosters the exchange of ideas in this rapidly developing field. The ideas and hypotheses developed at this conference will continue to advance the field of thiol-based redox regulation and will also contribute significantly to the larger scientific community interested in understanding how post-translational protein modifications can regulate the complex metabolic and regulatory pathways of cells and organisms. Broader impacts: This conference is in its third cycle after two very successful meetings in the U.S. and Italy in 2006 and 2008. The chair and vice-chair for this meeting are a physician scientist and a basic researcher, respectively, and are representative of the biologists, physicists, chemists and mathematicians working in various aspects of the field. As the importance of thiol-based redox regulation is becoming more widely appreciated, this conference is expected to accelerate progress in the field by providing a venue for the free exchange of ideas and methodologies. Funding from the NSF will enhance the opportunities available for conference participation by students, postdocs and other junior investigators, including members of underrepresented groups in the sciences. In addition to providing updates on new findings in the field, it is expected that the conference will both enhance existing, and foster new interactions across a range of institutions and disciplines.