Structure-Function-Biological Organization - Almo, Chair

Keystone Symposia, Silverthorne CO

Investigators

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal requests support for a Keystone Symposia meeting entitled Structure-Function-Biological Organization, organized by Steven C. Almo, Anna Marie Pyle and Wah Chiu, which will be held in Keystone, Colorado from January 22 - 27, 2012. Cellular function requires the spatial and temporal coordination of complex processes over a remarkable range of length and time scales. Structural biology - including X-ray, EM and NMR approaches - has been instrumental in contributing to our mechanistic understanding of catalysis, molecular recognition and regulation, as well as in providing unique insights into modulating these processes to support therapeutic intervention. As these structural approaches have continued to mature, they have moved out of the realm of the specialist and are now an essential and indispensible part of modern biological discovery. The future promise of structural biology rests on our ability to integrate atomic resolution knowledge with results derived from cutting-edge microscopies and spectroscopies, as well as complementary genetic, biochemical and chemical biological methodologies. This symposium will highlight the power of multi- disciplinary, multi-scale integrative approaches for understanding and manipulating fundamental biological processes, including cell motility, chromosome maintence, gene regulation and membrane-associated phenomena. Participants will also have an opportunity to broaden their appreciation of advances in structural biology that can be used for studying complex cellular systems via the concurrent meeting on High-Throughput Structural Biology - which will share a keynote and two plenary sessions with this meeting. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: With the advent of the human genome sequence, the entire blueprint for human development, physiology and disease is now available;however, interpretation and exploitation of this blueprint remains a major challenge. The Keystone Symposia meeting on Structure-Function-Biological Organization will highlight the power of multi-disciplinary, multi-scale integrative approaches for understanding and developing programs that integrate high resolution structural information in the context cell biology to understand the long-range organizational principles that underlie complex cellular processes. Opportunities for interdisciplinary interactions will be significantly enhanced by the concurrent meeting on High-Throughput Structural Biology - which will share a keynote and two plenary sessions with this meeting.