This application requests funds for the partial Payment of travel and conference-related expenses of U.S. resident scientists (invited speakers and young/new investigators) and for U.S. minority scientists to attend the 12th World Congress on Biomedical Alcohol Research. This meeting will be held in Heidelberg/Mannheim, Germany, September 29 through October 2, 2004. The International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism (ISBRA) Congresses is now the only worldwide scientific meeting involving all areas of alcohol research. In addition to biomedical aspects, they also cover biobehavioral and clinical research. The ISBRA Congresses are held biennially and, since the founding of ISBRA, meetings have been held in Germany, U.S.A., Finland, Japan, Canada, UK, Australia, and Denmark. This will be the fourth time since 1982 that the ISBRA Congress will be held in Europe and the second time that it will be in Germany. This meeting will have a large impact on alcohol research not only in Europe, but also in North America, as well as in the Asian and Pacific Rim countries. The program will feature topics of priority interest to the international alcohol research community and provide opportunities for discussion of collaborative research. At present, approximately 60% of the ISBRA membership is U.S. based. Accordingly, attendance by U.S. scientists is absolutely essential for the success of the meeting; about 40% of invited speakers will be from the U.S. This application requests funding for travel and registration fee for 35 invited speakers, travel, registration fee and partial living expenses for 25 young/new investigators and 5 minority students/young investigators. Partial coverage of publication costs of the Congress proceedings is also requested.
