The purpose of this proposal is to request conference support funds to award travel grants to graduate students to facilitate their attendance at the 34th annual meeting of the Environmental Mutagen Society. The meeting will be held from May 10 to 14, 2003 in Miami Beach, Florida. The Environmental Mutagen Society (EMS) is the primary scientific society fostering research on the basic mechanisms of mutagenesis as well as on the application of this knowledge in the field of genetic toxicology. Core areas of scientific interest include: Exposure, detection and metabolism of DNA damaging agents; responses to DNA damage (DNA repair and recombination, changes in gene expression, cell cycle effects); mutational mechanisms (spontaneous and exposure related); DNA technologies; molecular epidemiology; human health effects (developmental, cancer, aging, genetic disease); environmental mutagenesis and applications: testing, regulatory issues and risk assessment. The annual meeting will include symposia, poster and platform sessions and other activities of interest to the National Institutes of Health including: (i) DNA damage and checkpoint signaling, (ii) embryonic and fetal exposure to environmental mutagens and children's health, (iii) children's susceptibility to environmental agents, (iv) advances in somatic mutation models, (v) potential modifiers of carcinogenesis at low doses, (vi) genomic instability, (vii) assembly and regulation of DNA repair mechanisms, (viii) DNA excision repair, (ix) mode of action in risk assessment, (x) computational and predictive toxicology, (xi) environmental mutagens and carcinogens, an update, (xii) impact of the environment on colon cancer, and (xiii) new perspectives from functional genomics and proteomics. Several activities to integrate students into the activities at the meeting and the EMS are also planned. Student Achievement Awards will be made from students who submit an abstract for a presentation to be made at the meeting. Primary criteria for selection of awardees will be the scientific quality of the abstract, a letter of recommendation from the mentor and the relevance of the abstract to the scientific interests of the EMS. Awards will be made without regard to gender, race or ethnicity or disability.
