application) This application requests partial funding for a FASEB Summer Research Conference on Intestinal Lipid Absorption, Metabolism, and Transport to be held July 29, 2000-August 3, 2000 at the Vermont Academy, Saxtons River, Vermont. This will be the fourth such conference on this theme, the last one being held in the summer of 1997. The conference is unique in its highly multidisciplinary approach to the topic. Thus, we will bring together senior and junior investigators with expertise in the areas of nutrition, physiology, biochemistry, protein chemistry, cell and molecular biology, and developmental biology, to address recent advances in lipid metabolism as they relate to the intestine. The format consists of eight major oral sessions (five AM and three PM). Approximately 40 invited speakers have tentatively agreed to participate. The topics of each session are all focused on active research areas: 1) Sterol absorption; 2) Lipid Metabolism; 3) Lipid Binding/Transport Proteins; 4) Developmental Regulation of Lipid Metabolism; 5) Bile Formation and Secretion; 6) Intestinal Lipases; 7) Intestinal Apolipoproteins; and 8) Lipid Signaling in the GI tract. Each speaker will have 20 minutes to present their most recent and unpublished work that will focus on major advances in their field of expertise, and on identifying deficits that remain in our knowledge of the science. Each presentation will be followed by at least 10 minutes for questions and discussion. Posters will be encouraged from all attendees, and poster sessions will be held daily in the late afternoon. The mealtimes and free afternoons will allow for active dialogue among participants of the conference. In addition, an evening Keynote Address will be delivered by Dr. Beverly Paigen, a renowned molecular geneticist at the Jackson Laboratories, who will discuss the molecular genetics of bile formation. The three previous conferences in 1990, 1994, and 1997 were very successful, with the participants agreeing that another conference should be planned for the year 2000. The high attendance at all three of the previous meetings attests to the interest in this field by the scientific community. Given the rapid developments that have occurred since the last conference, we expect that the 2000 conference should foster an exciting and open exchange among junior investigators and more established scientists that will hopefully result in new collaborations with complementary expertise to further this Important field of study.
