The Summer Neuropeptide Conference, now in its fourth year, has become the premiere international meeting for neuropeptide researchers. This conference, which attracts approximately 150 participants, includes all aspects of neuropeptide research including the molecular biology, biochemistry, anatomy, physiology, and pharmacology of neuropeptides. The explosion of research in this field over the past ten years has led to the description of more than 50 putative neuropeptide transmitters. The functional activity of these peptides and the enzymes which synthesize and degrade them are being explored. The discovery of new ligands for neuropeptide receptors and their antagonists, including non-peptide compounds, have led to rapid developments in the field. The format of the conference which involves morning and evening symposia, daily poster sessions and a plenary lecture is designed to attract the top scientists in the field as well as promising junior scientists, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. This format, coupled with the informal setting of Cape Cod, provides an ideal forum for the exchange of information and the development of collaborations among investigators with common interests but often in different disciplines. Request is made for funding of 10 participants, at $500 per person, whose presentations involve areas of interest to the National Institute on Aging. This includes a symposium """"""""Central Nervous System Actions of Galanin,"""""""" a 29-amino acid neuropeptide which coexists with acetylcholine in the basal forebrain neurons that degenerate in Alzheimer's disease. Participants include Dr. Eliot Mufson, Rush Presbyterian Medical Center; Dr. Jacqueline Crawley, NIH; Dr. Sven Ogren, Karolinska Institute; Dr. Tamas Bartfai Stockholm Un.; Dr. Yezhekel Ben-Ari, INSERM, Paris; Dr. James Koenig, Georgetown Un. and Dr. Sarah Leibowitz, Rockefeller Un. Funds are also requested for four other speakers whose symposium lectures relate to neuropeptide systems in other brain regions relevant to aging. Three will discuss neuropeptide - steroid interactions; Dr. Daniel Dorsa, Seattle V.A. Geriatric Res. Ctr., and Drs. Geert De Vriesand and Craig Ferris from the Un. of Mass. The other speaker, for whom funding is requested, is Dr. Rita Valentino, Hahnemann Un. Med. Ctr, who will describe neurophysiological actions of corticotropin releasing factor.
