application) Funding is requested for a scientific workshop entitled """"""""Signal transduction pathways in immune and inflammatory cells"""""""". The workshop is being organized under the auspices of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America and will be help on December 2, 2000 through December 5, 2000. The workshop will be attended by approximately 100 participants with an emphasis on junior investigators and fellows. It will include five sessions focusing on signal transduction pathways in T cells and inflammatory cells (macrophages) and end up with a session on the potential for therapeutic intervention based upon our knowledge of these intricate pathways. Investigators from outside the field of IBD research will be asked to participate so that, along with a number of established IBD researchers, junior investigators will be able to optimize their interactions and gain new insights into this growing area of research. It is anticipated that a CCFA sponsored RFA for research into the regulation of signaling pathways in the gut associated lymphoid tissue will result from this workshop and that this potentially fruitful area of research will be stimulated. It is clear that many of the newer avenues for therapy of these debilitating diseases will come from a greater understanding of the normal pathways of signaling in immune and inflammatory cells. There is already preliminary evidence in animal models that several small peptide inhibitors of inflammatory signal transduction pathways can prevent disease occurrence or control ongoing inflammation. It is with this focus that this workshop has been organized and it is the hope that, like the CCFA sponsored workshops in the past, it will foster new directions in IBD research and lay the basis for potential novel therapeutic intervention strategies. The two goals of this workshop are to foster new interactions with scientists outside the field of IBD and enhance the training of new/junior investigators.
