The Gordon Research Conference on Protons and Membrane Reactions is held every three years during the winter. The Conference atLempts to bring togetheIr, in creative interaction, groups that more often go to separate conferences. They include: theoreticians and modelers with interests in proton movement through membranes and membrane proteins as well as model compounds; and experimentalists using biophysical, biochemical, and molecular approaches to study proton translating membrane proteins as well as relevant properties and fiinctions of the membrane lipids. In the 1997 Conference there will be thematic focus on: emerging data and models for the structure and finctions of water in membrane proteins; and approaches to dynamic aspects of membrane protein structure and energy-coupled processes, and to the furLher resolution of static structures in specific conformational states. There will be two general sessions on water and on inserLion and interaction of peptides, proteins, and helices with membranes. There will then be sessions on specific categories or examples of proton- translocating membrane proteins or complexes; each session will include structural information and its integration with models of function and mechanism for the proton movement. The systems will include: porters and channels; the ATP synthase; cytochrome oxiase; bacteriorhodopsin; and the photosynthetic reaction center. The Conference will close with a session of workshops integrating the themes that have run through earlier sessions and encompassing notable findings presented briefly by poster session and other Conference participants. The final session will present new structural, functional, and synthetic models of respiratory chain complex III. Funding is requested to defray the on-site costs and a small amount of the travel costs for ten of the speakers and discussion leaders.