One of the remarkable scientific trends during the 1980's has been the convergent movements of molecular biologists to pursue questions of neuroscience and of neuroscientists to pursue questions of gene structure and regulation. The increased interactions of these two groups of researchers promises to be particularly important in elucidating the molecular bases of neural function and the genetic bases of human neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders. The basis for future therapeutic products will depend upon gene-based molecular pharmacology to produce molecular assays for neural protein systems, upon gene- based discovery of new neural systems, and upon engineered (transgenic) animal genetic models for human diseases. Already we are aware of our increased power to identify important neural genes in which defects may lead to recognized deficits in behavior or neuronal fitness. In the last few years, researchers have made progress in understanding genetic predisposition to Huntington's disease, muscular dystrophy, retinal degeneration, schizophrenia and manic depression. Molecular and mechanistic understanding should closely follow. Molecular genetic technologies have been used to describe the neuronal receptors that are targets for several important pharmaceutical compounds. These descriptions are leading to more precise assays for receptor function while providing explicit structures for molecular modeling. This MOLECULAR NEUROGENETICS conference will cover these topics by combining presentations about vertebrates and invertebrates, cell linages and cell interactions, cell biology, pharmacology, electrophysiology, biochemistry, and descriptions of the genetics underlying several neuropathologies.
