We are requesting partial support for an international conference on Optical Approaches to the Dynamics of Cellular Motility. With the recent development of electronic methods for increasing control and detecting very low levels of light, significant advances have been made in the detection of macromolecules and macromolecule structures in solution and in cells with the optical microscope. During this conference applications of these techniques will be presented in relation to the field of cellular motility. Since this field has shown an explosive expansion by fusing optical and biochemical techniques, some of the papers presented will explore biochemical implications of the light microscope sessions. The scientific sessions will concern optical techniques in cell biology, amoeboid movement, cytoplasmic streaming, mitosis, microtubule dynamics and axonal transport. In addition, there will be a film session, a poster session and two technological sessions presented by manufacturers of optical and computational equipment. The combination of platform sessions, technological sessions and poster sessions should allow an optimal exchange of ideas among the very diverse groups of people who will attend this meeting. The proceedings of the meeting will be published as two volumes of the journal, Cell Motility and Cytoskeleton.
