This application is for support of the meeting """"""""The Laboratory Mouse in Vision Research"""""""" to be held at The Jackson Laboratory (TJL) in Bar Harbor, Maine on October 14-16, 2004. The function of the meeting is to provide an interactive forum for investigators and students working in eye research using the laboratory mouse as a genetic model system. The laboratory mouse is widely considered the premiere experimental organism for genetic studies that have implications, often direct, for human eye biology and disease. Sessions will include: 1) Photoreceptors/transduction, 2) Inner retinal processing and 3) Central vision systems. The intent of this meeting is to bring students and established investigators with varying expertise and experience together to discuss their research findings, identify areas of common research interest and develop future directions. Invited speakers will present background, raise important scientific questions or discuss their own work in topic areas of vision research. These talks will often be followed by several presentations of 15-20 minutes each, to be chosen primarily from submitted abstracts. These presentations will be selected to illustrate and examine in more detail principles developed in the overviews. There will be one poster session and 9 workshops on topics including: 1) Clinical assessment, 2) Histological assessment, 3) Electrophysiology, 4) Genetic manipulation, 5) Genetic mapping/modifiers, 6) Mouse Mutant Resources, 7) Microarray Experiment Design and Analysis, 8) Proteomics and 9) Grant writing. Postdoctoral and graduate students are encouraged to attend, and funds for student travel will be made available to make the meeting more accessible both to students and under-represented minorities. Due to its relatively small size and interactive format, this meeting represents a unique and rare opportunity for established investigators and students to interact with speakers and other experts that we expect to attend. ? ?
