We are requesting support via the R13 mechanism for a special conference on Melanocortin Biology, """"""""The 6th International Melanocortin Meeting: From Molecules to Biology and Disease"""""""", to be held 8 - 11 July, 2010 in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Over the last 32 years, five conferences have focused on this fascinating group of peptide hormones and their targets. This year's meeting will cover the remarkable progress that has been made since the last conference in 2002 in Sunriver, Oregon, and herald advances for the next decade. We are planning an international conference with 250 participants. Our targeted audience includes basic and clinical scientists from departments of dermatology, endocrinology, physiology, and genetics, as well as representatives from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies with melanocortin biology programs. Although the meeting will focus on research rather than education, we will emphasize and encourage the exchange of information, and we estimate that 25% of the audience will represent graduate students or postdoctoral fellows, and that 25% will come from non-academic settings. After initial discussions among the organizers, invitations were issued to 40 scientists, selected because of the importance of their research contributions, and the diversity of fields represented by their laboratories;33 have agreed to participate as invited speakers. The remainder of the participants will apply through a registration process that includes the option but not the requirement to be considered for an oral or poster presentation. In addition, we will select the top abstracts from young scientists for partial support with small travel awards. The criteria for selection will be scientific strength and novelty as evaluated by the abstract, and will be decided by consensus among the organizers. We anticipate attendees will leave the meeting with a deepened understanding of the latest discoveries in melanocortin biology and with cutting-edge tools for tackling problems across basic and clinical disciplines. Financial support for this meeting would have a considerable impact on the success of the conference and make it possible for the field's leading researchers to participate.

Public Health Relevance

Melanocortin peptides were discovered originally as the circulating arm of a classical neuroendocrine system, in which secretion of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (?-MSH) and adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) from specialized endocrine cells in the pituitary gland acted on peripheral targets--melanocytes and steroidogenic cells in the adrenal cortex, respectively. In the last 15 years, melanocortin receptors have been cloned and characterized, mutations of many melanocortin signaling components have been recognized in animals and humans, and new diagnostic and therapeutic opportunities have become apparent. The molecular biology and molecular pharmacology of the melanocortin field is now fairly mature, and the principal challenges and opportunities for the field are to understand how specific melanocortin signaling pathways (or modulation of those pathways) gives rise to organismal processes relevant to human biology and disease. Peripheral physiology and peptide chemistry were the focus of the first and second melanocortin conferences, translational and post-translational regulation played prominent roles in the second and third conferences, the fourth conference featured a number of presentations on the CNS actions of melanocortins, and the fifth, most recent, conference in 2002 focused on cellular pathways engaged by melanocortin receptors. We will hold The 6th International Melanocortin Meeting: From Molecules to Biology and Disease, on 8 - 11 July, 2010 in Utrecht, The Netherlands. The objectives of the current application for funding of this meeting are to support keynote speakers and young scientists, to publicize and publish the conference abstracts and proceedings (via web-based and print media) in a manner that enriches the broad scientific community about advances in this field, and to facilitate and strengthen collaboration between scientists from different disciplines with a common interest in a set of important signaling pathways. We anticipate attendees will leave the meeting with a deepened understanding of the latest discoveries in melanocortin biology and with cutting-edge tools for tackling problems across basic and clinical disciplines. Financial support for this meeting would have a considerable impact on the success of the conference and make it possible for the field's leading researchers to participate.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS)
Type
Conference (R13)
Project #
1R13AR060160-01
Application #
8007302
Study Section
Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases Special Grants Review Committee (AMS)
Program Officer
Baker, Carl
Project Start
2010-07-06
Project End
2011-06-30
Budget Start
2010-07-06
Budget End
2011-06-30
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2010
Total Cost
$15,000
Indirect Cost
Name
Stanford University
Department
Genetics
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
009214214
City
Stanford
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
94305