This application requests funding to support the expenses of early career epithelial physiologists (graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, instructors) to participate and present their work at Epithelial Transport Group (ETG) scientific sessions at Experimental Biology (EB) 2015. The ETG is part of the American Physiological Society (APS) annual meeting which will take place March 28-April 1 in Boston, MA, as part of EB2015. The ETG was created to bring together epithelial transport physiologists APS sections usually grouped according to their common interest in specific organ systems but also organized by emphasis areas such as aging research. ETG scientific sessions at EB 2015 promote interaction between epithelial physiologists from diverse backgrounds. This year we are particularly emphasizing epithelial research and aging concerns with our symposium on Chaperone-Mediated Autophagy. Our sessions provide a collegial forum for epithelial physiology trainees to present their work, orally or by poster, and to get feedback from more senior scientists from different institutions that would otherwise not interact with the trainees. The lectures, symposia and poster sessions organized by the ETG offer many networking opportunities to aid the career advancement of junior epithelial physiologists. The ETG leadership encourages submissions from scientists and trainees that belong to underrepresented groups. Under the leadership of the ETG Chair Dr. Moshe Levi, in 2008 the ETG instituted the Ussing Lecture. This lectureship recognizes scientists who have made fundamental contributions to our understanding of epithelial transport and diseases of epithelial transport. Recent awardees include Drs. Peter Agre, Thomas Jentsch, Lisa Satlin and Eleanor Lederer. In 2011, the ETG established the Steve Hebert Lecture to recognize scientist who have made fundamental contributions in the field of epithelial transport. The first awardee was Dr. Ernest Wright in 2011, followed by Drs. Bill Guggino, Gerardo Gamba, and Paul Welling in 2012 -2014. In 2015, Dr. Jerrold Turner, Sara and Harold Lincoln Thompson Professor and Associate Chair, Department of Pathology at the University of Chicago, will give the 7th annual Hans Ussing Lecture, and Dr. Melanie Cobb, Professor and the Jane and Bill Browning, Jr Chair in Medical Science at UT Southwestern, will give the 5th annual Steve Hebert Lecture. The ETG sponsored symposium at this meeting will be Chaperone-Mediated Autophagy: Importance in Health, Aging and Disease and will feature 4 top scientists in aging research: Drs. Richard I Morimoto, Jaime L Schneider, Michael N Sack, and Tobias B Huber, all prominent scientists who will speak on autophagy and aging. We believe that the support derived from this application will enhance the scientific and personal career development of junior scientists from both physiology and aging research communities, by affording unique learning/participation opportunities and promoting contact with the wider epithelial transport arena at EB 2015 in Boston MA.
The Epithelial Transport Group (ETG) sessions at the Experimental Biology (EB) meetings include the featured topic free communication sessions, a symposium, and poster sessions that address novel, cutting edge research in the epithelial transport physiology field spanning many different organ systems and organisms. Our 2015 symposium, which will feature world class scientists speaking on autophagy and aging will complement our Featured Topics that include the Ussing and Hebert lectures, offering trainees opportunities to experience and interact with renowned scientists that would not otherwise be available to them. The PI of this application, on behalf of the APS and the ETG steering committee, requests funds to partially support trainees (undergraduate, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and instructors) to attend ETG scientific sessions at EB 2015 in Boston.
