Microelectrode Techniques for Cell Physiology:Annual Workshop held at the Marine Biological Association

我们对细胞功能的了解，它们如何交流和处理信息，以及它们如何运输基本元素和分子，大部分都来自电生理学方法的应用。其中最著名的例子是Hodgkin和Huxley在海洋生物协会（MBA）进行的关于鱿鱼的巨大神经纤维的开创性工作，这导致了神经细胞如何传递冲动的发现，并形成了许多现代神经生物学的基础。自从这些开创性的发现以来，电生理学领域急剧扩展，电生理学方法被应用于生物医学领域，生物技术和发现科学领域，以获得从医学疾病到植物生长和发育以及全球生态过程的广泛细胞过程的分子水平理解。例如，海洋生物协会的研究人员继续使用和发展电生理学和光学方法，用于调查原始单细胞海洋生物电兴奋性的演变，以了解海洋浮游植物固碳的细胞基础，在海洋生态和全球气候调节的背景下是重要的。1984年，决定有必要举办一次年度研究讲习班，培训微电极技术的各种用途。这已被证明是对细胞生物学和生物物理学的一个非常有价值的贡献，并对培养新一代细胞生理学家产生了重大影响。MBA被选为本次研讨会的地点，因为它提供了优良的研讨会设施和细胞生物学中微电极和相关生物物理方法的持续传统。从那时起，该研讨会一直不间断地进行着，现在已被公认为该领域领先的高级研究研讨会之一，为500多名早期职业科学家提供了高级培训。培训新一代电生理学家的需求仍在继续，特别是越来越强调膜蛋白的功能表征和广泛的细胞生物学领域。工作坊的名额仍然超额，每年的申请人数为20个名额的3至4倍。为了满足这一持续的需要，拟议将正在进行的讲习班延长5年，将提供电生理学基本原则和更先进的实践和理论方面的培训。计划在此期间采用新的办法。基本的研讨会形式将继续与核心的教学和演示工作人员招募主要从研究实验室在英国和欧洲沿着与密集的一系列会谈和演示，从邀请的国际专家。讲习班还得益于30多年来与许多商业仪器制造商建立的良好关系，这确保了设备的大量实物捐助和他们作为教员提供的专门知识。

Much of what we know about how cells function, how they communicate and process information and how they transport essential elements and molecules has come from the application of electrophysiological approaches. The most well known example of this is the pioneering work of Hodgkin and Huxley, carried out at the Marine Biological Association (MBA) with the giant nerve fibre of the squid which led to the discovery of how nerve cells transmit impulses and formed the basis of much modern neurobiology.Since these seminal discoveries the field of electrophysiology has expanded dramatically and electrophysiological approaches are applied in the biomedical, biotechnological and discovery science fields to to gain molecular level understanding of a wide range of processes in cells ranging from medical disorders to plant growth and development and global ecological processes. For example, researchers at the Marine Biological Association continue to use and develop electrophysiological and optical methods applied in investigations of the evolution of electrical excitability in primitive unicellular marine organisms to understanding the cellular basis of carbon fixation in marine phytoplankton, important in the contexts of marine ecology and global climate regulation.In 1984 it was decided that there was a need for an annual research workshop to provide training in the varied uses of microelectrode techniques. This has proven to be a very valuable contribution to cell biology and biophysics and has had significant impact on the training of new generations of cell physiologists. The MBA was chosen as the venue for this workshop since it provided both excellent workshop facilities and a continuing tradition of microelectrode and associated biophysical approaches in cell biology. The workshop has continued uninterrupted since then and is now recognized worldwide as one of the leading advanced research workshops in this field having provided advanced training to more than 500 early career scientists.The need to train the new generation of electrophysiolgists continues, particularly with the increased emphasis on functional characterisation of membrane proteins and a wide range of cell biological areas. The workshop continues to be over-subscribed with applications 3-4 fold each year for the 20 places available. To meet this continuing need the proposed 5-year extension to the ongoing workshop will provide training in both the basic principles and more advanced practical and theoretical aspects of electrophysiology. New approaches are planned to be incorporated over this period. The basic workshop fomat will continue with a core of teaching and demonstrating staff recruited mainly from research laboratories in the UK and Europe along with an intensive series of talks and demonstrations from invited international experts. The workshop also benefits from the good relations that have been established over 30 years with a large number of commercial instrument manufacturers that ensures significant in-kind contributions of equipment and the provision of their expertise as instructors.