Funds are requested to support the 2007 Proteins Gordon Research Conference. This is a long established and usually oversubscribed meeting that serves the scientific community focused on the fundamental properties of protein molecules, including their structure, folding, dynamics, stability, and interactions. After reviewing the state of the field and role of the conference, we have made some adjustments that will continue to serve to meeting's core constituency while emphasizing important new directions and future challenges. These adjustments place greater emphasis on the connection between molecular properties and biological function, and are expected to attract new attendees, especially advanced graduate students, postdoctorals and junior investigators who will combine rigorous molecular analyses with a broad view of biological context. In choosing topics and speakers for the 2007 meeting, we sought input from the protein science community and have incorporated suggestions offered in response to the 2005 program. The 2007 Proteins GRC co-chairs, Hill and Pielak, served as co-vice chairs of the 2005 Proteins GRC. The current co-vice chairs, Fetrow and Oas, are also heavily involved in planning the 2007 meeting. We are particularly interested in supporting the participation of minorities and women. The research discussions and the informal interactions of the Proteins GRC should directly benefit biomedical research across diverse fields. In addition to two keynote sessions, the 2007 schedule includes the following regular sessions: ? ? 1. Protein Chemistry & Biophysics in Cells ? 2. Motion and Function ? 3. Disorder, Aggregation, Kinetic Stability, and Disease ? 4. Membrane Proteins ? 5. Protein Networks and Complexes ? 6. Protein Trafficking, Targeting, & regulation ? 7. Protein Design, Modeling, & Prediction ? ? ?
