This proposal is to request funds to cover registration fees, and to partially defray travel expenses, for 20 young investigators from the USA to attend the 17th International Papillomavirus Conference, to be held in Charleston, South Carolina, USA, January 9-15, 1999. Young investigators are defined for the purpose of this award as Ph.D. or M.D. students and postdoctoral fellows in training who are presenters of papers selected for either poster or oral presentations. Assistant Professors (or equivalent) at the beginning of their independent research careers will also be considered. Selection of the awardees will be made on the basis of the scientific content and quality of the presentation the student/fellow gives during the Conference, and will be the responsibility of an Awards Committee, composed of well established Papillomavirus Investigators who are recognized long-term contributors to the field and successful mentors to students and postdoctoral fellows. Funds are also requested to partially cover registration, lodging and travel expenses for invited lecturers. It has become traditional at the Papillomavirus Conference to include in the program a series of lectures on diverse topics relevant or related to Papillomavirus research. These lectures will be presented by invited speakers who are leaders in their respective fields. Among the invited speakers are: Donald S. Coffey (The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine) who will give the keynote address: """"""""Cell Structure and Carcinogenesis""""""""; Carol Greider (The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine) who will give a lecture concerning the role of telomerase in cancer; Jiri Mestecky (University of Alabama at Birmingham) who will give a lecture on mucosal immunology. Louise T. Chow (University of Alabama at Birmingham) who will discuss basic mechanisms of DNA replication, in relation to specific factors governing HPV replication. David Mangelsdorf (University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center) who will discuss nuclear retinoid and orphan receptors in the control of transcription. James DeCaprio (Dana Farber Cancer Center) who will discuss the role of molecular chaperones in SV40 large T-mediated transformation. These lectures constitute a very meaningful learning experience for students and postdoctoral fellows in attendance, an opportunity that adds considerably to the overall impact of the meeting on the students' development as independent scientists. In addition, these lectures expand the horizons of the audience, help """"""""connect"""""""" the Papillomavirus field to other related fields such as cancer research, RNA expression and processing, DNA replication, etc. Last, but not least, these lectures provide an opportunity for the speakers, who are leaders of their respective fields, to get to know the papillomavirus investigators and their work. Such interactions often yield new collaborations, and the opening of new avenues of research that """"""""bridge"""""""" different fields.
