DOPAMINE 2002 will take place in Portland, Oregon from July 10 to July 14, 2002. The meeting will be held at the Benson Hotel in downtown Portland. DOPAMINE 2002 is the next in a series of approximately quadrennial international meetings that began in 1977 at the University of Southampton, England. The goal of the DOPAMINE meeting is to provide broad coverage of the most cutting-edge areas of research related to the neurotransmitter dopamine, and to do this in an informal setting that maximizes interactions among meeting attendants. The characteristics of the meeting that promote interaction include its relatively small size, the scheduling of all events in series (i.e., there are no symposia or poster sessions taking place simultaneously), and the inclusion of a majority of meals as part of the conference schedule. The scientific program includes 12 symposia and 1 workshop organized within 4 themes. Theme I, """"""""Molecular Biology of Dopamine Signaling,"""""""" includes symposia on presynaptic mechanisms, receptor structure and function, and receptor trafficking, as well as a workshop on knockout and transgenic mice. Theme II, """"""""Physiology and Pharmacology of Dopamine Systems,"""""""" includes symposia on dopamine regulation of non-neuronal systems, interactions between dopamine and other neurotransmitters, and the development and differentiation of dopamine systems. Theme III, """"""""Cognition and Behavior,"""""""" includes symposia on the roles of dopamine in reward and substance abuse, in psychiatric disorders, and in cortical function. Theme IV, """"""""Dopamine and Neurological Disorders,"""""""" includes symposia on dopamine and mechanisms of neurotoxicity, Parkinson's disease, and hyperkinetic movement disorders. The symposia will consist of formal presentations from senior leaders in the field as well as junior investigators engaged in particularly exciting research related to dopamine. Poster sessions presenting work by a diverse mix of participants from senior investigators to pre- and post-doctoral fellows will accompany each theme. The banquet will feature informal talks by 2000 Nobel Prize Laureates, Arvid Carlsson and Paul Greengard, and the opening lecture will be given by Marc Caron, the organizer of Dopamine '94 in Quebec City.
