The Pineal Cell Biology Gordon Conference will be held in Ventura, California from February 10-15, 2002. The chair of this conference is Carla B. Green from the Department of Biology and the NSF Center for Biological Timing at the University of Virginia. The co-chair is Elizabeth Maywood from the Department of Anatomy, Cambridge University, U.K. This conference will explore topics related to pineal cell biology on a broad scale. Although the major focus of this meeting is on cellular and molecular aspects of pineal function, these topics will be augmented by sessions that investigate systems-level studies of pineal function and melatonin action in both animals and humans. This broad range of topics is indicative of this field, which is by its nature very multi-disciplinary. The program includes the following sessions: regulation of melatonin synthesis, signal transduction in the pineal and retina, non-visual photoreceptive mechanisms, regulation of gene expression in the pineal, molecular mechanisms of circadian clocks, regulation of photoperiodic responses, melatonin pharmacology, and human responses to melatonin including clinical applications. The speakers and discussion leaders for this conference have been chosen so that many areas will be well represented, including academic researchers (including those from minority institutions), government scientists, and industrial researchers. In addition, we have a large representation of women (including the chair and vice-chair) and have made an effort to invite scientists from Europe and Asia, in addition to those from the US. This meeting is held every two years and this next meeting will be the fifth time it has been held. The previous meetings have been quite successful, and attendance of this conference has steadily increased such that the last meeting was well over-subscribed.
