CONFERENCE ON THE MODULATION OF CHEMOSENSORY SIGNALING

University Of Utah, Salt Lake City UT

Investigators

Abstract

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application seeks funding for a conference to consider the role of intrinsic and extrinsic modulation in chemosensory processing. The conference, to be held in Jackson, WY from January 21-23, 2005, is organized as a series of 7 sessions each with a specific topic. The topics to be considered are: 1) stimulus induced modulation of chemosensory signaling, 2) neuromodulation at the level of the olfactory and gustatory epithelium, 3) central modulation of olfactory and gustatory input, 4) environmental, nutritional and developmental alteration of chemosensory input, 5) evidence of chemosensory modulation from behavioral and psychophysical studies, and 6) under-researched areas and new strategies for investigating chemosensory modulation. Each 2 hour session will three 15-20 presentations followed by a general discussion involving all participants in the conference. The invited speakers are leaders in their respective fields of olfactory and gustatory modulation and will present their current findings in the broad context of the field as a whole. A poster session, scheduled for the middle of the conference, serves as the seventh session and allows all participants the opportunity to present their current results. The goal of the conference is to determine where the field of chemosensory neuromodulation is and where it needs to go. By doing so future research initiatives to foster a rapid advancement of the field can be developed to reveal the short-term and long-term modulatory mechanisms that critically regulate chemosensory function. By not restricting the scope of the conference to a single chemosensory modality or model system we hope to foster collaborative interactions among investigators in the field. [unreadable] [unreadable]