Funds are requested for partial support of the 2011 Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Red Cells, the next in a series of meetings that have been held every other year since 1979. This conference assembles the top established and the most promising new investigators who are working on all aspects of erythroid cells, from the developmental/environmental control of its ontogeny, to cellular/morphogenic aspects related to its unique membrane structure, to transcriptional/epigenetic regulation of its gene expression, and to disorders following from variations in these normal processes. Sessions in 2011 will include Developmental Biology of Erythropoiesis;Transcriptional Control of Gene Expression;Epigenetics and Systems Biology of Red Cells;Erythropoiesis, Signaling and Red Cell Production;Erythrocyte Terminal Maturation;Membrane Protein Structures, Associations and Functions;Red Cell Disorders;Iron, Heme and the Red Cell;Parasite Interactions with Red Cells. By focusing on these topics, the Red Cells GRC continues to be the primary venue for presentation of the latest cutting edge basic science, novel insights into human disease, and innovations in methodology that it has covered throughout its history and for which it has become famous. The meeting attracts an international coterie of researchers and provides a lively forum for active participation and discussion within intimate surroundings that facilitates interactions between senior and junior investigators, and between investigators that normally may not readily interact. The meeting will be held on July 24-29, 2011 at Proctor Academy in Andover, New Hampshire, and will convene 52 speakers with a total of ~140 participants. The conference aims to be inclusive for women, minorities, and persons with disabilities;participants will include postdoctoral fellows and graduate students in addition to investigators who are early in their academic careers. Some postdoctoral fellow and student poster presenters will be selected for short talks. The opportunities for informal gatherings at meals and in the afternoons and evenings, provides an avenue for scientists from different disciplines to interact, promoting cross-disciplinary collaboration. By the nature of its subject matter, the Red Cells GRC remains fully relevant to enhancing the understanding of both the normal progression of erythroid cell maturation and the alterations that lead to its pathology.
Defects in red blood cell formation and function can lead to anemias that range from mild to life-threatening. The 2011 Red Cells Gordon Research Conference is the primary means for investigators in the field to present their most recent findings, exchange ideas, and discuss future directions for investigating and understanding normal and aberrant modes of the erythroid cell. This exchange of new findings and ideas will accelerate development of improved diagnoses and therapies for human anemias.
