This is a request for funds to support a conference on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Ten years ago, a multidisciplinary conference on ACTH and Related Peptides: Structure, Regulation and Action was held in New York. The proceedings of that conference, which was sponsored by the New York Academy of Sciences, were published in 1977 and attracted considerable attention. In the succeeding decade, the field has moved ahead in dramatic fashion. Dorothy T. Kreiger and William F. Ganong, who organized the 1976 conference, were working on a follow up conference when Dr. Kreiger died. Dr. Ganong and his associates, Mary F. Dallman and James L. Roberts now propose to convene the second New York Academy of Sciences conference on the subject as a memorial to Dr. Kreiger. The title of the conference will be The Hypothalamic-Pituitary- Adrenal Axis Revisited, and it will be held in New York, April 6-8, 1987. We plan to have 36 invited speakers. In addition, there will be a poster session so that a large number of additional investigators can be present. Like its predecesor, the conference will have a broad interdisciplinary base and will bring together experts on all aspects of the system from the molecular to the clinical. It will provide a detailed analysis of progress, new developments, and new dimensions in the field. At the time of the last conference, the structure of corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH, CRF) was unknown. Today it has been isolated, its structure has been elucidated, and the gene for CRH has been cloned. Another important discovery has been the demonstration that a variety of different substances have CRH activity. The probable existence of a large precursor molecule for ACTH was appreciated 10 years ago, but now the gene for pro- opiomelanocortin (POMC) has been cloned and its distribution in the body has been mapped. Additional progress has been made in the clinical area, and in understanding the neural pathways involved in the regulation of CRH secretion, elucidating the way ACTH acts on the adrenal cortex, and exploring the relationship of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system to the immune system. Therefore, it seem particularly appropriate to convene another multidisciplinary conference to review progress and foster scientific interchange.
