The purpose of this proposal is to request conference support funds to award travel grants to graduate students to facilitate their attendance at the 35th annual meeting of the Environmental Mutagen Society. The meeting will be held from October 2-6, 2004 at the Hilton Pittsburgh Hotel in/Pittsburgh, PA. The Environmental Mutagen Society (EMS) is the primary scientific society fostering research on the basic mechanisms of mutagenesis as well as on the application of this knowledge in the field of genetic toxicology, Core areas of scientific interest include: Exposure, detection and metabolism of DNA damaging agents, responses to DNA damage (DNA repair and recombination, changes in gene expression, cell cycle effects), mutational mechanisms (spontaneous and exposure related), DNA technologies, Molecular epidemiology, human health effects (developmental, cancer, aging, genetic disease), environmental mutagenesis and applications: testing, regulatory issues and risk assessment. The annual meeting will include symposia, poster and platform sessions and other activities of interest to the NIH including: RNA biology as it relates to the environment; genomics and eukaryotic adaptations to the environment; telomeres and genomic stability; systems biology approaches to environmental exposures; DNA helicases; chromatin and protein modifications that influence DNA repair and mutation; recombination and the maintenance of genomic stability; human variation in cancer susceptibility, germ and stem cell mutagenesis; and mutagenic effects of DNA repair intermediates. Several activities to integrate students into the activities at the meeting and the EMS are also planned. Student achievement awards will be made to selected students who submit an abstract for a presentation to be made at the meeting. Primary criteria for selection of awardees will be the scientific quality of the abstract, a letter of recommendation from the mentor and the relevance of the abstract to the scientific interests of the EMS. Awards will be made without regard to gender, race, ethnicity or disability.
