This proposal seeks partial funding for the Ninth International Conference on Myasthenia Gravis, to be held in Santa Monica, CA. Speakers will be drawn from both the basic and clinical sciences and will present the current state of knowledge regarding the normal and abnormal function of the mammalian neuromuscular junction. A major goal is to integrate information from diverse disciplines, including biochemistry, structural biology, cellular and molecular neuroscience, pharmacology, immunology, and clinical neurology. Topics highlighted in the proposed conference will be molecular events involved in transmitter release, new postsynaptic antigens in autoimmune MG, and immune mechanisms underlying the Lambert-Eaton myasthenia syndrome. The conference is organized as a series of 35-minute oral presentations with five minutes of discussion following each presentation, in the morning and afternoon of each of the three days. The first half-day is devoted to basic features of the nmj, while the remainder is focused on various aspects of MG and LE. Poster presentations are selected from the abstracts submitted by all participants and will be shown in the early evening of the first two days. The conference will be advertised in the New York Academy's magazine, Science, and in other unstated related professional journals and newsletters. Women will be targeted with advertisements in publications of the Association of University Women, the Women's American Medical Association, the National Medical Association, and other unspecified organizations. Junior investigators and graduate students will pay a reduced registration fee.
