CONFERENCE ON POTASSIUM CHANNELS--FROM MOLECULES TO DISE

关于“K通道生物学：从分子到疾病”的APS会议定于1999年9月22日至26日在科罗拉多的斯诺马斯举行。 会议将深入交流有关钾通道，其调节及其参与正常和病理情况的想法。 钾离子通道是一组介导钾离子在细胞膜上的被动运动的膜蛋白，由其电化学梯度驱动。 在过去的十年中，关于K通道的门控、功能和调节特性已经了解了很多，这在很大程度上是由于膜片钳技术在天然细胞、分离的细胞和培养中的细胞上的广泛使用。 然而，最新的和令人兴奋的进展是由于钾通道不同家族的许多成员的分子分离。 这些分子克隆工作为特异性钾通道的表达和研究提供了遗传物质。 本次会议旨在汇集来自世界各地的电生理学家，细胞生理学家，分子生物学家和遗传学家，他们参与了K通道的研究或对K通道的广泛主题感兴趣。 在现代，该领域的最佳工作涉及利用所有这些技术的综合方法，以了解K通道的结构，功能，调节以及K通道在人类疾病中的参与。 会议的基本目标是了解K通道的门控/调节和结构/遗传元件。 此外，组织者希望引起新的研究人员和学生的兴趣，以寻求研究机会，了解K通道的功能及其在几种遗传性疾病中的作用。

The APS Conference on the "Biology of K Channels: From Molecules to Disease," is scheduled for September 22-26, 1999 in Snowmass, Colorado. The meeting will feature an in-depth exchange of ideas concerning potassium channels, their regulation, and their involvement in normal and pathological situations. Potassium channels constitute a diverse group of membrane proteins that mediate the passive movement of potassium, driven by its electrochemical gradient, across cell membranes. Much has been learned over the last decade regarding the gating, function and regulatory properties of K channels, due in large part, to the widespread use of the patch-clamp technique on native cells, isolated cells and cells in culture. However, the most recent and exciting advances have been due to the molecular isolation of many members of distinct families of potassium channels. These molecular cloning efforts have provided the genetic material for expression and study of specific K channels. This Conference is designed to bring together electrophysiologists, cell physiologists, molecular biologists and geneticists from all over the world who have been involved in research or have research interest in the broad topic of K channels. In the modern era, the best work in this field has involved an integrative approach utilizing all of these techniques in order to get at the structure, function, regulation of the K channels as well as the involvement of thse K channels in human disease. The fundamental goal of the Conference is to understand the gating/regulatory and structural/genetic elements of K channels. In addition, the organizers hope to interest new investigators and students in pursuing research opportunities to understand how the K channel functions and its role in several inherited diseases.