This award will support the participation of U.S. scientists in a seminar on the "Molecular and Cellular Aspects of Vascular Smooth Muscle Function," organized by Drs. David Bohr and Robert Webb of the University of Michigan, together with Dr. Motohatsu Fujiwara of Kyoto University, Japan. United States and Japanese participants will meet in Honolulu, Hawaii during January 1989. The meeting will focus on recent research developments related to the contraction and relaxation of vascular smooth muscle. Cellular processes of excitation, excitation-contraction coupling, energy metabolism and chemomechanical transduction will be considered at the molecular level. Regulatory aspects of the endothelium and nerves with regard to vascular function will be featured. The abnormalities of these processes responsible for diseased states will be discussed. Research funds from both the United States and Japan are currently heavily invested in the understanding of vascular smooth muscle function at a cellular-molecular level. Numerous advances have been made in the field over the last few years and this seminar will provide an excellent forum for the exchange of research results and ideas between scientists from our two countries.
