The Polyamine/Parasite Conference will be held at The Oregon Health & Science? University in Portland, Oregon on July 5-7, 2006. Dr. Buddy Ullman, Professor of? Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Dr. Sigrid Roberts, Research Assistant? Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at OHSU are the co-organizers.? The focus of the meeting will be the polyamine pathway as a drug target in? parasitic protozoa and helminths. Participants will include principal investigators,? postdoctoral fellows, and students from both United States and international? laboratories that are working directly in the area of the meeting, as well as local? Oregon students at the graduate and undergraduate level. The meeting will be? interdisciplinary in nature; thus far, participants with expertise in molecular? biology, biochemistry, genetics, synthetic chemistry, and structural biology have? expressed interest in attending the meeting. The meeting will be composed of a? series of 30 min talks given by meeting participants and will include a poster? session for students and postdoctoral fellows to present their work. The goal of? the meeting is to assess the state of research in the area of polyamines in? parasites focusing particularly upon the utility of this pathway as a drug target in? both extracellular and intracellular protozoa, as well as in parasitic worms.? Topics for discussion will include: Polyamine Metabolic Pathways in Protozoa,? Polyamine Metabolic Pathways in Parasitic Worms, Validation of Polyamine? Enzyme Drug Targets, Biochemical and Structural Characterization of Polyamine? Enzymes, Drug Discovery and Inhibitor Design, and Drug Resistance? Mechanisms.
