This proposal requests support for the third meeting of the Experimental Contact Dermatitis Research Group (ECDRG). The ECDRG was founded in 1997 to provide a forum for North American scientists and physicians to discuss issues concerning irritant and allergic contact dermatitis. The first meeting was held in Cincinnati in May 1999 and the second in Dallas in Nov. 2000. The first two meetings have been useful in bringing together parties from academic medicine, university and research institute labs, industry, and government. This will be the second meeting held in conjunction with the American Contact Dermatitis Society (ACDS). The inclusion of the ACDS at the Dallas meeting brought together for the first time on a large scale a coalition of basic scientists and clinicians who have special expertise in contact dermatitis, which helped provide a translational research element in each segment of the meeting. This format was popular with the attendees and the meeting in Cleveland will follow the same combined format. In addition, a satellite meeting will be held on Skin Equivalents immediately prior to the ECDRG, which will help bring in scientists who use such technology to predict contact dermatitis, further enriching the meeting interactions. Three goals of the meeting are to provide an interdisciplinary forum: 1) To discuss: a) predictive methods that identify irritants and sensitizers before human exposure, b) methods to distinguish irritants from allergic responses with current tests, c) pathogenic mechanisms of dermatitis and possible interventions, d) factors that modify expression of dermatitis e) variables in sensitization that affect tolerance and disease expression, and translating these concepts into interventions that reduce or modify sensitization and elicitation and to induce tolerance. 2) To update attendees regarding: a) allergens that are newly recognized or increasingly recognized in clinical practice b) new technology as it applies to data analysis and epidemiology of dermatitis and c) opportunities arising from patient--centered interactions between clinicians, industry and government colleagues. 3) To enable participants to plan collaborative research projects and to introduce young scientists to the field. The proposed meeting will allow exchange not only among researchers in the various lab and clinical research settings, and clinicians but also between researchers interested in this field who see the practical outcomes in patients with diseases.
