9604977 O'Day This Americas Program award will fund a 3-year cooperative research project between Dr. Peter O'Day, University of Oregon, and Dr. Juan Bacigalupo, University of Chile, on a study of the role of IP3-Receptor in visual transduction, the orchestration of retinal biochemistry that generates visual excitation. The investigators will focus on the question of how two specific biochemical signaling pathways interact in visual transduction in retinal cells from Drosophila. Whether direct interaction between the two pathways is fundamental to transduction is an important question whose examination may provide models for other transducing systems. The researchers intend to use biophysical and biochemical approaches with mutational analysis to examine the connection. The proposed work is important, not only for understanding the biochemical orchestration of invertebrate visual transduction, but also for bringing out some fundamental issues of signal transduction The collaboration will facilitate the exchange of scientific information, technologies, and strategies, thereby enhancing and broadening the experimental approaches available for the long term programs of both groups. ***
