This grant will be used solely to fund travel, registration and subsistence for participants in the Gordon Research Conference on Intermediate Filaments, which will be held June 29-July 3, 1992 at the Holderness School, Plymouth, New Hampshire. Intermediate filaments; (IFs) are 10 nm filaments, which are the ubiquitous constituents of the cytoskeletons of virtually all eukaryotic cells (1). This family of proteins has tissue- and developmental-specific expression, yet still very little is known about their functions. However, by using new approaches, including dominant negative mutations and homologous recombination in transgenic mice, we believe that we are now on the verge of learning more about the tissue-specific functions of this diverse group of proteins. The keratin intermediate filaments comprise the most complex group and have been studied in most detail. However, numerous studies with other IFs have shown that similar principles govern the structure and assembly of all IFs. This conference will bring together several types of investigators interested in IFs, including cell biologists and molecular biologists interested in various aspects of the structure, expression, and organization of the various IF types, cell biologists from related areas of cytoskeletal research, as well as clinicians, including dermatologists and pathologists. It is hoped that this Conference will permit the free exchange of new findings, leading to new ideas, approaches, and collaborations, which will solve the fundamental questions of IF research. Several major themes will be developed and explored during the meeting covering many of the major areas of current research activity in IFs. In addition to the formal presentations, there will be informal poster presentations, as well as a session dedicated to the discussion of some of the most interesting posters. The major themes covered by the sessions are: regulation of expression during development, interactions at the cell surface, structure and assembly, associated proteins, role of intermediate filaments in pathology and disease, and future directions to define the functional diversity of intermediate filaments.
