PHAGE DISPLAY--STRUCTURE, BIOLOGY AND APPLICATIONS

University Of California San Diego, La Jolla CA

Investigators

Abstract

Description: (Adapted from the application) Phage display is a rapidly growing and expanding area of biotechnology, launched by the seminal contribution of Scott and Smith (1990) demonstrating that affinity screening of phage displayed libraries can be used for identification of peptide ligands. The technology is currently widely used with over 170 publications in the period April 1997-March 1998. Although there are 4-6 meetings on phage display per year, none of them address the fundamental biological or structural bases of the technology. However, as this technology matures, it is becoming clear that the biology of the phage-host cell system places intrinsic limitations on the technology. Reducing these limitations will be critical for further advancements of the field. In order to catalyze research efforts in this area, and to make the community more fully aware of the biological limits of the technology, a conference is proposed to explore the biological basis of phage display technology, and to address strategies for expanding the utility of the system through manipulation of the biological system. Each session of the proposed conference will combine talks on the basic science of a given aspect of phage biology pertinent to phage display with talks on applications of phage display technology to problems in biomedicine, structural biology, biochemistry, etc. This format and focus make the conference unique. The rationale for this plan is to lead the speakers and audience into natural discussions of biological and structural constraints of phage display and, perhaps, to new ideas on how to overcome or circumvent them. The proposed conference is planned to be relatively small in order to create a "workshop" atmosphere that will advance the field of phage display.