This application is a request for support for a conference to be held under the auspices of the Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology (FASEB) entitled """"""""New Perspectives in Transporter Biology"""""""". This meeting is the third biannual conference on the subject and is scheduled to be held from July 21 to 26, 2001 at the Omni Tucson, in Tucson Arizona. It is expected to be attended by approximately 160 researchers. The conference will bring together biochemists, biophysicists, physiologists, and molecular biologists to share information on the molecular and physiological properties of the proteins responsible for mediating the transport of amino acids, peptides, neurotransmitters, and other ions across biological membranes. Recent work on the structure/function, regulation, and physiological roles of these transporters has shown them to be critical not only for normal function, but also as therapeutic targets in disease states. The explosion of new information on these molecules makes this a timely topic for interactions among the top transporter biologists. The conference sessions will be devoted to recent findings in the field of membrane transport and will include the latest information on transporters for amino acids, amines, peptides, and glucose, as well as vesicular transporters and ion exchangers. Some topics to be examined in depth include transporter physiology, structure/function, trafficking and localization, regulation, model systems, and diseases states. The conference will consist of nine oral scientific session over five days (morning and evening), and three afternoon poster sessions. Each oral session will be followed by a panel discussion of the topic. In order to promote the advancement of junior faculty, the most exciting poster submissions will be selected for short oral presentations during the regular oral sessions. This conference should provide the top transporter investigators with a forum for intimate discussions of the commonalties and differences among this important class of molecules.
