The 8th and 9th biennial Gordon Research Conference on """"""""Mechanotransduction and Gravity Signaling in Biological Systems"""""""" will be held July 20-25, 2003 and July 22-27, 2005, respectively, at Connecticut College. The theme of the meeting is mechanosensing, an ancient sensory capability. About 100 participants are expected, including 25 speakers and 13 discussion leaders. Funding is requested to support 20 junior-level participants. This is an exciting time for research on mechanosensation. The field is rapidly growing, especially in the area of genetic approaches to mechanotransduction. A strikingly well supported model has been proposed to explain the gating of a prokaryotic mechanosensitive channel. Eukaryotic genetic model systems including worm and fruitfly have identified two classes of putative mechanosensory channels, DEG/EnaC and TRP channels, that are now being directly tested for mechanical gating properties. Analysis of hearing defective mutants in zebrafish, mice, and humans is accelerating with the identification of new proteins important for hair cell and auditory function. In addition to work on specialized sensors, there are major advances in our understanding of mechanosensing in nonspecialized tissues (bone, plant roots and shoots). The focus for the 2003 meeting will continue to be the molecular and physiological analysis of protein and cellular components needed for different aspects of mechanosensation. The 2005 meeting will continue the exposition of individual mechanotransduction components but will also move toward understanding the complexes of proteins especially critical for the intricate machines that control the tension on mechanosensors. The proposed meetings will bring together scientists who don't normally meet because they study different organisms (microbes, plants, or animals) or different kinds of mechanical responses (rapid responses in specialized mechanosensors or slow responses to sustained forces in bone or plants) or because they employ widely different approaches (genetics vs physiology). Moreover, the Gordon Conference format facilitates informal communications and discussions of controversial issues. These factors will promote inter-disciplinary transfer of ideas and approaches and the forming of new strategies for the study of mechanotransduction.
