: ? The conference on Engineering Cell Biology II - The Cell in Context is a cooperative effort between the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) and Engineering Conferences International (ECI) that will be held Aug 5-8, 2007 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA. This conference, a follow-on to the successful Engineering Cell Biology I held in Seattle in 2005, will address the fusion of cell biology and engineering approaches to understand and exploit receptor-mediated cell-cell, cell-matrix, and cell-growth factor interactions. A major goal of this conference is to provide a forum for discussion of the basic cell biological and engineering principles that underlie cell interactions with their surroundings. How these principles define the architecture, organization, and function of cells and tissues in vivo will be compared to the effects of engineered substrates, biomaterials, and protein mimetics on cell functions in a synthetic environment, and examined in the light of quantitative models of how cells integrate extracellular cues through multiple interacting signaling pathways to generate a specific response. Cross-talk between cell biologists and bioengineers will help us to define areas of common interest where we can merge our expertise and make headway in understanding how to manipulate cell functions as well as to develop new tools and devices. This conference will also emphasize translation of basic research into industry application in tissue engineering and drug development. ? ? ?
