This is an application for partial support of the 7th biennial FASEB Science Research Conference on Ion Channel Regulation. The objective of this conference is to stimulate discourse, seed new ideas, and stimulate collaboration in ways that will accelerate new discoveries about ion channels at the basic and translational levels. Accounting for ~1.5% of human genes, ion channels are subject to numerous disease-causing mutations. There are more than 55 inherited disorders that are attributed to mutations in genes encoding ion channels. These channelopathies affect the brain (e.g., epilepsy, migraine, ataxia), the heart (e.g., cardiac arrhythmia), and other tissues (e.g., hearing and vision impairment, cystic fibrosis, muscle disease). Not surprisingly, ion channels are major drug targets in the treatment of cardiac arrhythmia, epilepsy, and neuropathic pain. Dysregulation of ion channels is strongly associated with cancer and mental illness, both of which are profound global health concerns. Thus, the topic of our conference is both timely and highly relevant for a broad population of scientists, clinicians, and the general public. The Co-chairs of the 2015 conference will be Dr. Amy Lee (University of Iowa) and Dr. Peter Mohler (Ohio State University), both recognized leaders in ion channel biology with an emphasis on channel regulation. The Program consists of nine scientific sessions, 1 keynote address, and a panel session titled Challenges and Opportunities for Women in Science. Most sessions were organized around general themes rather than ion channel subtype, to foster crosstalk between fields typically kept separate in traditional conferences. Several of the planned talks focus upon the molecular and cellular basis of rare diseases (channelopathies). There will be 36 session speakers giving full talks, including 14 women (39% of speakers) and 9 session chairs (5 of whom are women, 55%). Most of the invited speakers have not presented at this conference during the prior two meetings. Of the 36 session speakers, we are planning to include 6 early career stage investigators and 6 members of under- represented minorities in science (17%), numbers that will be bolstered in 8 short talks to be selected from submitted abstracts; we will also work with institutions from historically underfunded states the within the West to encourage their participation, thereby encouraging novel collaborations. The conference venue has appropriate facilities for disabled attendees.
Ion channels and transporters are proteins that provide a pathway for movement of aqueous ions across cell membranes. Regulation of ion channel function is essential for physiological functions including pain, nervous signaling and beating of the heart. Ion channel dysfunction causes diseases including diabetes, chronic pain, epilepsy, periodic paralysis and sudden cardiac death. This grant will provide financial support for a conference that brings together scientists from a wide variety of disciplines but with several common goals: a fuller understanding of how ion channels function, how they are regulated, what happens when they dysfunction, and how can this be prevented or treated. The primary aim of this conference is to provide a synergistic environment fostering cross-disciplinary interactions and training opportunities to improve our understanding of ion channel regulation and how it influences human health and disease.
