TGF-Beta Superfamily: Signaling and Development

Federation Of Amer Soc For Exper Biology, Bethesda MD

Investigators

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application is for partial funding for the 2003 Summer Conference on "The TGF-beta Superfamily: Signaling and Development" be held from 12-17 July at the Omni Resort in Tucson Arizona under the auspices of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB). This conference follows the very successful 2001 FASEB Summer Conference of the same name, and seeks to expand on the interactions and success of that conference. It is now well recognized that members of the TGF-beta superfamily and their signaling intermediates play important roles in human health and normal development. Experimental and genetic evidence demonstrates that members of this family and intracellular signaling intermediates are critical for normal vascular development and prevention of tumor formation. Much of the knowledge gained about the mechanism of function of the superfamily is due to interactions between those labs interested in biochemical mechanisms of signal transduction and those interested in developmental processes regulated by these molecules. This conference will serve to further strengthen those interactions. The conference will consist of approximately 160 attendees and will be divided into 9 plenary sessions and two poster sessions that will span two days each. Speakers will be chosen from those whose recent work suggests significant advances in understanding, as well as selected from abstracts submitted for the poster sessions. The nine plenary sessions will include three or four sessions devoted to the biochemistry of signal transduction, one session for analysis of superfamily signaling in invertebrate model systems, and four or five sessions devoted to vertebrate model systems. Throughout the sessions special emphasis will be placed on understanding the role of TGF-beta superfamily members in contributing to human disease by analysis of developmental and biochemical model systems.