The next FASEB Summer Conference on """"""""Trace Element Metabolism: Integrating Applied and Basic Research"""""""" (formerly """"""""Micronutrient: Trace Elements"""""""") will be held June 26-July 1, 2004. The site of the conference will be Snowmass Village in Snowmass, Colorado. This venue provides an excellent environment to promote scientific interaction in stimulating surroundings. The goals of the conference are to promote exchange of scientific ideas and to encourage the development of collaborations by bringing together scientists with different perspectives and experimental approaches. Another goal is to involve young investigators in the conference with the aim of allowing them to interact with the more established investigators in this rapidly developing field. In the two years since the previous conference, there have been significant advances in trace element research. The 2004 conference will focus primarily on recent developments in our understanding of iron, copper, selenium, and zinc metabolism. Eleven sessions are planned that consider various aspects of trace element metabolism including transport and acquisition, intracellular trafficking, metalloprotein biogenesis, new aspects of trace element function, and the transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms that regulate these processes. These sessions will be integrated with presentations on trace elements in human disease, assessment of nutritional status, and new model systems for the study of trace element metabolism. As the name of the conference suggests, the emphasis will be on integrating basic and applied trace element research. The current program includes 46 invited speakers and more than 25% of these are young investigators (i.e., pre-tenure). All were chosen based on the excellence of their research and meritorious contributions to the field. Approximately 100 additional attendees will be accepted upon application. These individuals will be encouraged to present posters to be displayed in two poster sessions. We also will obtain funds to provide travel awards for up to 10 postdocs or senior graduate students.
