Mechanisms of Membrane Transport Gordon Conference

Gordon Research Conferences, East Greenwich RI

Investigators

Abstract

Funds are requested to help support a Gordon Research Conference, Mechanisms of Membrane Transport, to be held from June 17-22 in 2001 at Holderness School, Plymouth, New Hampshire. This meeting continues a very successful meeting series, held ever two years, on topical subjects of high interest to the membrane transport field. This year we will subtitle the meeting, Regulation of Membrane Transport in Biology and Medicine, and we will highlight the trafficking and functional regulation of important membrane transporters. This theme is of great biological significance, and as outlined herein, is both timely and of great medical relevance. The subjects are especially relevant to diabetes and kidney function, but also to a wide range of other clinical disciplines. The meeting will also incorporate relevant advances in the structure of membrane proteins, the genomics of membrane transporters, and new biotechnical strategies. This will naturally bring together scientists from a wide range of disciplines and promote fruitful interactions that otherwise would probably never occur. Relevant disciplines include cell biology, molecular biology, genetics, physiology, pharmacology, biophysics, and internal medicine. The first part of the meeting is organized with a cell biological perspective. This reflects an emerging view that activities of many transporters, including channels, are regulated physiologically by the membrane trafficking pathways they follow, ending with regulated insertion into and retrieval from the surface membrane. In addition, the program organization reflects (1) the fact that new principles of ion transport regulation have been discovered, (2) the fact that new transport systems of great biomedical importance have been discovered, and (3) the fact that new methods and approaches (e.g. genomics) are allowing fundamentally new insights into membrane transport regulation. The meeting includes 31 regular talks, 1 plenary lecture, and 4 short talks, organized in 9 sessions. The speakers will plan their talks for a very mixed audience, and the attendance of students, fellows, and clinicians will be encouraged. In addition to the planned lectures, we will encourage young investigators and investigators with exciting new results by scheduling several `short selected talks' and promoting poster sessions to be held in the afternoon and after the formal evening sessions.