Conference: GRC Protein Folding Dynamics: From the Computer to the Cell: Protein Folding, Function and Evolution to be held in Galveston, TX on January 5-10, 2014

Gordon Research Conferences, East Greenwich RI

Investigators

Abstract

Intellectual Merit: The Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Protein Folding Dynamics "From the Computer to the Cell: Protein Folding, Function and Evolution" will be held at the Hotel Galvez in Galveston, Texas, January 5-10, 2014. The conference will assemble experimentalists and theoreticians to discuss basic issues in protein folding dynamics and their role in function, in the evolution of protein sequences and in disorders associated with protein misfolding. It has become increasingly clear that understanding the details of Protein Folding Dynamics is crucial in describing virtually all processes of life, including protein synthesis, co-translational folding, protein allostery, protein function and diseases related to protein misfolding. This meeting will bring together senior scientists, postdoctoral researchers and graduate students from a wide range of interests and approaches to protein folding dynamics. The nature of the conference allows close interaction among participants, who can share their ideas and results unpublished and published, officially and off-the-record. For the first time, the 2014 conference is expanding to include complete formal sessions on membrane protein folding and folding within the cell and protein design. This expansion is largely in response to requests from previous years' participants and current organizers believed that extending the range of topics would add to the intellectual merit of the conference. Broader Impacts: By bringing together researchers from chemistry, physics and biology to explore recent exciting developments in this field in a concrete forum that encourages open discussions from researchers working on different systems, the new paradigm of cross-disciplinary research is strengthened. The program covers a range of topics, not restricted to, in vitro and in vivo folding, protein aggregation, protein evolution and design, and the role of protein dynamics in function. Particular care will be taken for the inclusion of diversity in ethnicity, gender and age and geographical location.