This conference application seeks partial funding for a 1987 FASEB Summer Research Conference on The Biology and Chemistry of Vision. The meeting will be held July 26-31, 1987 at Copper Mountain, Colorado. The goal of this conference is to summarize progress and generate new attacks on problems in the visual science community. The research discussed will be multidisciplinary and should attract biophysicists, biochemists, molecular biologists, cell biologists, and electrophysiologists. Particular emphasis will be placed on attracting and supporting young investigators who have the potential to conduct research and advance the visual sciences in the coming years. The isolated environment, limited number of participants (150 persons) and program format are arranged for maximum effective discussion and exchange between researchers. The theme of the meeting will be Visual Signalling: Triggering, Adaptation and Information Processing. Nine morning and evening seminar/discussion sessions will address advances in understanding of the structure and function of rhodopsin, evolutionary relationships among visual pigments, molecular mechanisms of intracellular signalling and amplification, molecular mechanisms of regulation of signalling and amplification (adaptation), the light-sensitive ion channels, the integrated functional photoreceptor response, visual transduction in cones, cellular control of photoreceptor action and response, and mechanisms of cell-cell signal communication in photoreceptors and the inner retina. Additional poster sessions and informal soapbox discussions have been arranged. Insightful understanding of the broad rapidly advancing field of vision is not easy to achieve.
The aim of this meeting is to offer a program that gives participants the opportunity for in-depth review of current issues and exposure to new issues. Through active discussion, we may hope to better formulate our questions and to generate new methods of attacking problems.
