This grant provides support for young investigators to attend the 2001 Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) Summer Research Conference on Biological Methylation to be held on July 21-26, 2001, in Saxton River, VT. This conference is the fifth in a series of biennial conferences that began in 1993, under the auspices of the FASEB. These conferences were organized in response to the need for a conference with a focus on S-adenosylmethionine (AdoMet), the methyl donor for most biological methylation reactions, and the various AdoMet-dependent transmethylation reactions in cells. Approximately half of the 2001 meeting's sessions will be focused on the methylation of DNA, as DNA methylation has been shown to play important roles in the regulation of gene expression, imprinting and tumorigenesis. Other topics to be discussed at the meeting include the AdoMet and human health, various protein methylation reactions involved in aging and gene expression, and small molecule methylation reactions important in chemotherapy. This Conference provides a unique opportunity for scientists interested in various aspects of AdoMet methylation and AdoMet metabolism to interact, which is not achieved at any other conference. Consequently, this meeting has traditionally provided the starting point for productive collaborations. The expertise of attendees varies widely, ranging from synthetic chemistry to molecular biology to physiology and medicine.
