FASEB Conference: Mamalian Mobile Elements

Federation Of American Societies For Exp, Bethesda MD

Investigators

Abstract

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We request partial support for the Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology (FASEB) conference on Mobile Elements in the Mammalian Genome, to be held from June 4-9, 2005 in Tucson, Arizona. This meeting will highlight exciting recent advances in mammalian mobile element biology, and will provide a needed forum for critical discussions about how mobile elements have impacted, and continue to influence, the evolution of mammalian genomes. The meeting will be organized around four major themes. The first theme will focus on molecular biological and biochemical studies conducted on mammalian mobile elements as well as related elements from other experimental model systems. Recent work in these areas has fostered a great deal of excitement, but also has indicated a need for multifaceted approaches to tackle emerging questions in the field. The second theme will focus on population genetic and evolutionary analysis of mammalian mobile elements. The invited speakers will discuss how mobile elements have impacted (and continue to impact) mammalian genomes, how to find 'active' mobile elements in modern mammalian genomes, and how differential activity of mobile elements influences gene expression and human variation. The third major theme will focus on the use of bioinformatic methodologies to identify new classes of mobile elements in whole genome sequences. This theme is very timely given the plethora of genome sequences that either are completed or will be completed in the coming years. The last theme of the meeting will focus on transposon engineering. The invited speakers will discuss the use of both DNA transposons and retrotransposons in mouse mutagenesis studies and the use of mobile elements as gene delivery agents. Thus, this conference will allow investigators in these interrelated fields to share information about exciting new findings, experimental challenges, and outstanding questions in the area of mammalian mobile elements. [unreadable] [unreadable]