Winter Neuropeptides Conference

University Of California Irvine, Irvine CA

Investigators

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application is to provide support for the Winter Neuropeptide Conference, the oldest ongoing neuropeptide conference. The WPNC has met since 1976, and was an outgrowth from, and an official satellite of, the Winter Conference on Brain Research. The WNPC is located in Breckenridge, Colorado, and has remained there, with one exception, since 1981. It often is referred to as "The Breckenridge Conference." The meetings typically begin on the first Saturday in February and are adjourned on the following Tuesday evening. The dates for the 2004 meeting are January 31 to February 3. Many of the seminal findings in the field of neuropeptides were presented first at the WNPC. There has been, at the WNPC, both historical and contemporary interest in the relation between neuropeptides to development. For example, the theme of the 1997 WNPC was "Neuropeptides in Development and Aging", and the New York Academy of Sciences published the proceedings in its annals. This application is to provide support for two sessions each year, for five years, focused on developmental issues. At least two full sessions are devoted to issues of development (reproductive endocrinology and physiology, pregnancy, fetal/infant development, developmental genetics, evolutionary biology, and developmental endocrinology). The purpose of this application is to provide support for these developmental sessions at each conference. The theme of the 2004 meeting is translational research - moving findings from the laboratory to the clinic. Developmental sessions are proposed to assess models of neuropeptide cascades in the process of parturition, and to discuss the influence of early exposure to growth factors on the development of behavioral disturbance. The WNPC has a stable organization and a steering committee that work together to develop the themes and programs for each meeting and then to execute the meeting. Programs for the past five years are listed in the application as well as a list of proceedings published by the New York Academy of Sciences, Peptides, Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, and by Regulatory Peptides over the last 20 years. The WPNC is held each year at the same site resulting in several advantages. First, the WNPC retains the services of an on-site coordinator who assists with local arrangements. Second, because WPNC is a repeat customer it is able to secure excellent rates for lodging. Third, the consistency of the site simplifies the planning and logistics for attendees. The conference is inclusive for all groups. Half of the organizing and steering committees are women. Efforts are made to include minorities and persons with disabilities.