This proposal request funds for support of the eleventh symposium entitled """"""""Recent Advances In The Immunology and Biochemistry of Tropical Diseases: International Health"""""""" which will be held at Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday and Tuesday, April 11-12,1994. The goals of this symposium are threefold: (1) To discuss current research on the organisms which cause tropical diseases; (2) To stimulate minority students towards postgraduate education in molecular biology, biochemistry and biomedical sciences; (3) To provide a national focus for tropical diseases and international health. The symposium will be sponsored by the School of Graduate Studies and Research and the Division of Biomedical Sciences at Meharry Medical College. As part of this conference, undergraduate and graduate students from historically black colleges and universities and majority institutions will be encouraged to attend and present posters on research that they are undertaking in Various laboratories at their institutions. The students will have an opportunity to discuss their research with attendees at the symposium as well as Meharry Medical College faculty. In addition, they will be encouraged to visit various laboratories and discuss ongoing research at our institution. The symposium will Include six invited international experts in various areas in tropical diseases including AIDS, African trypanosomiasis, schistosomiasis, malaria, and Chagas' disease. Ample time will be available for discussions. This is the eleventh year for the symposium which has been held each year since 1984 and in 1993 eighty-three students attended from fifteen historically black colleges and universities as well as majority institutions. The total attendance from all participants was 240. There were several benefits to the 1993 symposium which should be noted. The speakers emphasized the opportunity they received to interact with scientists in related fields and to meet talented minority students. They also noted their desire to initiate a similar program at their institution. In addition, students from major research institutions (e.g., Stanford, University of Illinois, University of North Carolina) interacted with students from historically black colleges and universities providing an opportunity for each to network with one another.
