9600420 Gadsby The VIIIth International Conference on the Na/K-ATPase (and related transport ATPases), in Mar del Plata, Argentina, August 26-30 1996, continues the series of Na/K-ATPase conferences that have been held in Europe or America every three or so years since 1973. Following the tradition of the previous conferences, the meeting will feature the latest information on the molecular structure, transport mechanism, and regulatory properties of the Na/K-ATPase. Appropriate knowledge gleaned from other cation transport ATPases (e.g. Ca-ATPases, H-ATPases, and H/K-ATPase) will be included to inform progress in Na/K-ATPase research. The conference program comprises nine symposia, each addressing a particular topic, and three evening workshops, and has been organized to promote critical discussion and interdisciplinary exchange among the two hundred or so crystallographers, cryo-electronmicroscopists, biochemists, cell biologists, molecular biologists, biophysicists, physiologists, and pharmacologists registered. To encourage informal intellectual interchange, the majority of the presentations will be in the form of posters which will remain displayed throughout the entire meeting. To facilitate broad dissemination of the topics and data presented, the conference proceedings will be published in the widely read form of an Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. %%% Following the tradition of the seven previous conferences, the VIIIth International Conference on the NalK-ATPase (and related transport ATPases), to be held in Argentina this August, will highlight the most recent advances in our understanding of what these ubiquitous, and vitally important, microscopic pumps look like, how they work, and how their function can be controlled. The Na/K-ATPase is perhaps more widely known as the sodium (Na) pump, or the sodium/potassium (Na/K) exchange pump, since it extrudes Na ions from cells while taking up K ions. The Na/K pump thus maintains the concentration gradients of Na and K io ns across cell membranes that are essential, for example, for all nerve and muscle activity, for signalling between cells, for uptake of nutrients, and for salt and water balance. Relevant information gleaned from studies of other, related, ion pumps (e.g. those that transport calcium ions or protons) will be included in the conference where it might help the progress of Na/K-ATPase research. This interdisciplinary conference will last five days and will be attended by some two hundred scientists from the international biomedical research community. To maximize the potential for fruitful interactions and discussion, the meeting will feature nine topical symposia, but the majority of the latest research results will be presented in the form of posters which will be accessible all day, every day. This format is intended to promote informal interchange and hence foster international collaboration. To enable even non attendees to benefit from this meeting, the conference proceedings will be published in the highly visible, and broadly distributed, form of an Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. ***
