This proposal request funds for support of the tenth symposium entitled """"""""Recent Advances in The Immunology and Biochemistry of Tropical Diseases"""""""" which will be held at Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday and Tuesday, April 12-13, 1993. The goals of this symposium are twofold: (1) To discuss current research on the organisms which cause tropical diseases; (2) To stimulate minority students towards postgraduate education in molecular biology, biochemistry and biomedical sciences. The symposium will be sponsored by the School of Graduate Studies and Research and the Division of Biomedical Sciences at Meharry Medical College. As part of this conference, undergraduate and graduate students from historically black colleges and universities and major institutes will be encouraged to attend and present posters on research that they are undertaking in various laboratories at their institutions. The students will have an opportunity to discuss their research with attendees at the symposium as well as Meharry Medical College faculty. In addition, they will be encouraged to visit various laboratories and discuss ongoing research at our institution. The symposium will include six invited lecturers in various areas in tropical diseases covering areas such as African trypanosomiasis, schistosomiasis, malaria, leishmaniasis, and Chagas' disease. Ample time will be available for discussions. This is the tenth year for the symposium which has been held each year since 1984 and in 1992 eighty-three(83) students attended from fifteen (15) historically black colleges and universities as well as majority institutions. The total attendance from all participants was 240. There were several benefits to the 1992 symposium which should be noted. The speakers emphasized the opportunity they received to interact with scientists in related fields and to meet talented minority students. They also noted their desire to initiate a similar program at their institution. In addition, students from major research institutions (e.g., Stanford, University of North Carolina) interacted with students from historically black colleges and universities providing an opportunity for each to network with one another.
