This application is submitted by the organizers of the 1988 March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation Clinical Genetics Conference to be held 10-13 July in Baltimore. The sole purpose of the grant is to provide support for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and junior investigators t- attend, and actively participate in, the Conference. The focus of the 1988 Conference is heritable disorders of connective tissue and skeletal dysplasias. This group of conditions is an ideal one for satisfying the major objective of these conferences - that of bringing together investigators in all of the basic and clinical sciences that bear on birth defects. In this forum of invited lectures, contributed papers, poster sessions, clinical case presentations, and informal discussions, attendees can be educated about and stimulated to pursue novel aspects of their special areas of expertise. This is particularly relevant today, as work in molecular biology, ultrastructure and biochemistry is producing comprehensive understanding of the organization of connective tissue. Although the cause of only a few of the more than 150 mendelian disorders has been determined thus far, discoveries should occur at an increasing rate through molecular genetic techniques. Moreover, subtle, genetically coded defects in constituents of connective tissue may prove to underlie susceptibilities to common disease, such as osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. We believe that this Conference is an ideal forum at an opportune time to bring together biochemists, molecular geneticists, teratologists, cell biologists, dysmorphologists and clinical geneticists. Based on the experience of the Clinical Delineation of Birth Defects meetings of the late 1960's, participation of young investigators in this 1988 Conference will contribute importantly to productive collaborations in the coming decade. The individuals listed below form a committee that will evaluate written applications for travel support and will distribute funds on a competitive basis. The selection criteria will include shether an abstract of original investigation is submitted, the quality of the work and whether the organizing committee has selected the work for platform or poster presentation, and financial need.
