This proposal requests support for a portion of the costs of the International Symposium on Olfaction and Taste (ISOT) to be held July 7 - 12 1997 in San Diego CA, hosted by the Association for Chemoreception Sciences (AChemS). ISOT meetings are now held every 4 years, hosted on a rotating basis by the chemosensory research organizations of Europe, Japan and the U.S. The ISOT meetings serve as a periodic review and rededication of research efforts in the chemical senses, and as a forum for the world's leading researchers in the field to disseminate the results of their research, and to exchange information and expertise. This interchange, vital to the success of any multidisciplinary research enterprise, is not just between experts but also with the junior investigators, postdoctoral scientists and graduate students that attend the meeting. As such it is a unique opportunity for younger researchers to make contacts and to present their work to an international audience. AChemS provides some assistance to graduate students, members of minority groups and clinical residents to attend. This ISOT meeting is combined with the 1997 annual meeting of AChemS, which affords all members of the chemosensory research community an opportunity to present their latest results as volunteer presentations. Some of these presentations, selected as innovative and important, will be assembled into mini-symposia associated with the fifteen main symposia which form the backbone of the ISOT meeting. This proposal is specifically for support of seven of the fifteen main symposia, in which leading experts will address current and emerging issues in chemical senses research, primarily at the molecular, cellular and systems level. Other symposia, supported from other sources, will address psychophysical, clinical, aging and industrial aspects. Several symposia will include junior researchers and several also include experts from other fields, such as molecular genetics and systems analysis, with techniques and insight to spark innovative research in the chemical senses. A program with so many symposia by outstanding chemosensory and other scientists, each bringing cutting edge insight into research questions, is what makes the ISOT meeting so valuable to chemical senses research. The intellectual chain reactions set off from this critical mass of scientific talent energize the field, contributing in unexpected ways by ideas, information, contacts and access to resources, to many individual research efforts. It is for the assembly of this critical mass that support is requested in this proposal. The symposia, and abstracts of the volunteer presentations, will be published as one of the series of """"""""Olfaction and Taste"""""""" volumes, and will be widely disseminated.
