The conference will take place on July 17-22, 1999 in Snowmass Village, Colorado. This will be the fourth international meeting devoted specifically to the subject of glucose transport.
The aim of the conference is to bring together a group of international experts to discuss various aspects of glucose transport, at several organizational levels: from molecular and cellular to organismal glucose homeostasis and its disruption in diseases such as diabetes mellitus. The conference will be limited to 150 participants with clinical or basic science backgrounds chosen on the basis of their expertise and interests. There will be eight major scientific sessions, each with 4-5 invited talks of ca. 30 minutes (20 + 10 discussion) followed by a 40 minute period where selected abstracts and/or late breaking data will be presented. At the end of each major session, there will be an additional 20 minutes of general discussion. There will be a poster session that will be up for the duration of the meeting, and there will be 2 Poster Discussion sessions. These will allow junior participants the opportunity to present and discuss their data with experts in the field, and as noted above, some of these will be chosen for oral presentation. The specific topics to be discussed include: 1) Structure/function of glucose transporters, 2) Interaction of GLUTs with cellular proteins and transport activity modulation, 3) New methodology applied to GLUTs, 4) Glucose transporter synthesis and degradation, 5) GLUTs and pathophysiology, 6) New GLUTs in mammals, worms and yeast, 7) Signaling pathways to transporter activation, 8) GLUT vesicular trafficking. The topics of controversy, uncertainty, and agreement within each of these areas will be defined and discussed in the ample discussion periods. The conference will provide a unique opportunity for interaction between basic scientists interested in glucose and related transporter biology/biochemistry/cell biology with clinicians interested in the possible role of these molecules in various metabolic disorders. As proven the case in all previous meetings, the interactive environment will stimulate collaborative research efforts among participants and help to identify and set future goals for research on glucose transporters.
