Funds are requested to support the Gordon Conference on Cell Contact and Adhesion. This conference first met in 1973. It has convened every other year since that time. All together there have been 10 sessions. Each session has been highly oversubscribed, thus demonstrating a sustained interest over the past years in this general field by the scientific community. The 1993 conference has been organized to avoid as much as possible an overlap in topics and speakers of other related conferences. The topics emphasize areas of recent progress and are of interest to a diverse community of scientists including molecular biologists, cell biologists, develop- mental biologists, neurobiologists, oncologists, hematologists, plant biologists, and others. The topics covered will examine the molecular mechanisms controlling cell interactions in several interesting biological systems. They will include discussions of specific cell surface receptors, such as those in the integrin, immunoglobulin, cadherin and selectin families. Adhesion mediated-cell signalling, cell motility, and cytoskeletal interactions will be discussed. Several speakers will discuss the roles of cell interactions in mediating developmental processes in vertebrates, invertebrates, and plants, such as fertilization, cell determination and organ differentiation. Other speakers will discuss their roles in cell division, migration, and regulation of gene expression. Finally, cell contact influences on infection, cancer, and other diseases will be considered. The conference aims to provide scientists and students with an overview of the field's recent advances, current status and future opportunities.
