Signaling by Cell Adhesion Receptors 2008 Gordon Research Conference

描述(由申请人提供)：本提案请求部分支持戈登研究会议“通过细胞黏附受体传递信号”，以及相关的戈登-凯南研究生研究研讨会(GK-GRS)“细胞信号通路十字路口的细胞黏附受体：新的方向和方法”。这些会议的广泛和长期目标是增加我们对细胞如何感知和响应来自基质和邻近细胞的信号的理解，以及它们如何将这些信号转化为正常和疾病状态下细胞运动和细胞间相互作用的变化。这些问题的答案对于理解胚胎发育和转移性癌症等疾病过程中细胞运动和相互作用的机制至关重要。这些会议的具体目标是为GK-GRS召集约20名研究生参加一天半的会议，并为主要的五天会议召集约46名演讲者和总计约150名与会者。会议提供了一个独特的论坛，以比较、对比和整合各种黏附受体的最新研究信息，以及将它们与细胞内信号通路和细胞骨架联系起来的细胞机制。这一应用的意义在于，GRC on Signals by Cell Adhesion Receptors和相关的GK-GRS独特地定位于细胞黏附、信号和命运的连接点，因此吸引了来自不同学科的国际领导者和学生，包括对三维组织组织和疾病过程感兴趣的发育生物学家和临床医生，对细胞机制感兴趣的细胞生物学家和生物化学家，以及对测量机械力和构建细胞环境感兴趣的生物物理学家和生物工程师。具有这些不同研究兴趣和专长的科学家之间的思想交流和交流极大地促进了会议对这些领域的影响。这一应用的健康相关性是理解细胞黏附受体的信号、机制和功能及其在正常人类发育和转移性癌症等疾病状态中的作用之间的强大联系。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal requests partial support for the Gordon Research Conference "Signaling by Cell Adhesion Receptors", and an associated Gordon-Kenan Graduate Research Seminar (GK-GRS) "Cell Adhesion Receptors at the Cross-Roads of Cell Signaling Pathways: New Directions and Approaches". The broad and long-term goals of the Conferences are to increase our understanding of how cells sense and respond to signals from the substratum and neighboring cells, and how they convert those signals into changes in cell movement and cell-cell interactions in normal and disease states. Answers to these problems are central to understanding the mechanics of cell movements and interactions during embryogenesis and diseases such as metastatic cancer. The specific aims of the meetings are to convene ~20 graduate students for the GK-GRS for a one and half day meeting, and ~46 speakers and a total of ~150 participants for the main five day Conference. The Conference provides a unique forum to compare, contrast and integrate information from the latest studies of a diversity of adhesion receptors and the cellular mechanisms linking them to intracellular signaling pathways and the cytoskeleton. The significance of this application is that the GRC on Signaling by Cell Adhesion Receptors, and the associated GK-GRS, is uniquely positioned at the nexus of cell adhesion, signaling and fate, and therefore attracts international leaders and students from a diversity of disciplines including developmental biologists and clinicians interested in 3-D tissue organization and disease processes, cell biologists and biochemists interested in cellular mechanisms, and biophysicist and bio- engineers interested in measuring mechanical forces and fabricating cell environments. The crosstalk and cross-fertilization of ideas between scientists with these different research interests and expertise contributes greatly to the impact of the Conference across these fields. The health relatedness of this application is the strong link between understanding the signaling, mechanics and function of cell adhesion receptors and their roles in normal human development and disease states such as metastatic cancer.