The number of research groups working in the field of protein science in Latin America has increased substantially in the last decade. This situation was fostered by significant recent investments in structural biology instrumentation in the region, and by the recruitment of young investigators that were attracted back to their countries after successful post-doctoral stays abroad. However, there is still a lack of critical mass in each country individually, resulting in research groups with complementary expertise and available facilities scattered over a large continent. The 3rd Latin America Protein Society Meeting (LAPSM) will bring together scientists from Latin American countries with their international colleagues in what is shaping up as an outstanding opportunity to increase the interactions between Latin American groups as well as the interactions of these groups with the rest of the world. This application requests funds to allow five US students from the US to attend this meeting. This opportunity will be especially attractive to US students of Hispanic background that have previously had limited contact with the region. The student will be selected from a pool of applicants that will send information to a request for applications posted in the meeting Web- site. Awardees will be selected by a panel formed by members of the Organizing Committee and of the International Advisory Committee.
This meeting is an outstanding opportunity to not only expand the horizons of the Protein Society but also to attract minority students and scientists of the US to a conference in which they will have a major presence. The meeting will bring together investigators in the area of protein folding with researchers working in the fundamental principles underlying two medically important subjects: amyloid formation and the behavior of intrinsically disordered regions of proteins.
