The purpose of this grant is to provide partial support of a meeting on phospholipases sponsored by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB). This is the second meeting on this topic sponsored by FASEB and it will be held at the Vermont Academy in Saxons River, Vermont, July 12-17, 1992. There is no other conference dedicated to these ubiquitous and important esterases. All aspects of their chemistry will be covered in invited talks, discussion sessions, and poster presentations. These include structure and mechanism of the enzymes, intracellular phospholipase A2, phospholipase C, signal transduction and cellular activation, function of extracellular and secretory phospholipase A2, calcium-independent phospholipase A2, phospholipase implications, membrane interactions, and relevant phospholipases. The meeting will bring together a world class group of investigators. Speakers have been chosen for their state of the art research and ability to communicate. Special efforts and support will be made to attract young investigators, including graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. The next FASEB phospholipase conference will probably be held two years from this one. %%% Phospholipases are hydrolytic enzymes which cleave specific phospholipid moieties (fatty acids or polar head groups) at specific positions on the glycerol backbone. The resulting cleavage products have specific functions in the cell (e.g., as second messengers for signal transduction). Thus, the control of phospholipase activities are important for normal cellular functions. Accordingly, an understanding of the specificity of both the enzymatic reaction and the regulation of the enzyme activity, are critical to an understanding of cellular regulation. This is an extremely important and intensely active field of research, and it is crucial that scientists involved in this work get together on a regular basis to exchange ideas and introduce junior scientists into the research field. This meeting serves those purposes.
