This application requests funds to offset the costs of travel and lodging for the speakers who will participate int he Forty-seventh Annual Symposium on Fundamental Cancer Research """"""""Cell Death and Development in Cancer"""""""", sponsored by the University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. The meeting will be held from October 11, 1994 through October 14, 1994 in Houston, Texas at the J.W. Marriott Hotel. The longstanding tradition and goal of these annual symposia is to attract a faculty of outstanding quality scientific leaders - to address a timely and current topic of interest and relevance to cancer. Invited speakers are asked not only to present their most recent data, but to identify areas and issues for future study. Education opportunities, especially for students, is provided throughout the meeting by design. Ample time is scheduled for formal questions/answers during each of the five sessions. Additionally, poster sessions are scheduled at which proffered post abstracts are displayed. A special emphasis is made to encourage student and junior faculty participation in these sessions. Time for informal discussions is provided during breaks and scheduled food functions (lunches in the poster room and receptions). Although apoptosis(programmed cell death) is not a new concept, interest in its role and importance in development and in cancer has surged. This symposium will focus on various aspects of programmed cell death, a conserved process in the animal kingdom, in a number of systems and in a variety of models. The theme of the meeting will be carried though five sessions: Cell Death and Development; Cell Death and Transcription; Cell Death in the Immune System; Oncogenes and Their Association with Cell Death; Cancer Therapeutic Approaches. In addition to the invited session speakers, the Ernst W. Bertner Memorial Award will be presented to Dr. Andrew H. Wyllie, who together with J. Kerr and A.R. Currie helped initiate this concept with their landmark publication in 1972 in the British Journal of Cancer. The keynote address will be delivered by another eminent scientist, Dr. Robert Horvitz, who has contributed enormously in detailing the apoptotic pathways in C. elegans. The Wilson S. Stone Memorial Award will be presented to an outstanding young researcher Dr. Yunying Yuan, whose work in the field has made significant contributions to biomedical sciences. A poster session will serve as the basis for intense discussions by the participants of work related to the major topics of the meeting. Students and junior faculty will be especially encouraged to present poster abstracts.
