This application is submitted by the organizers of the 1992 March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation Clinical Genetics Conference entitled Clinical and Molecular Cytogenetics of Developmental Disorders which will be held July 12-15, 1992, on the campus of Stanford University, California. Funds are requested to defray housing and travel costs of 20 graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior investigators, so they can attend this conference as active participants. The focus of this conference is on developmental disorders caused by chromosome imbalance with particular emphasis on the new insights into basic mechanisms and on the tools of molecular and cellular genetics as recombinant DNA technology, fluorescent in situ hybridization, chromosome sorting and gene mapping. The rapid progress in this area makes this an opportune time for such a conference. The conference will bring together investigators in a variety of basic and clinical sciences: molecular and classical cytogeneticists, cell biologists, embryologists, teratologists, dysmorphologists, and clinical geneticists, all focusing on birth defects. The format includes invited lectures, contributed talks and poster presentations, clinical case presentations and informal discussions. Attendees will learn about novel approaches to studying developmental disorders, and be stimulated to pursue them. The planners of the conference have taken steps to assure that the clinical relevance of each presentation will be very apparent. Based on the previous experience of these annual meetings over the past 22 years, participation of young investigators in this 1992 conference will contribute significantly to the development of productive collaborations in the next decade. The individuals listed below form a subcommittee that will evaluate written applications for travel support and will distribute funds on a competitive basis. The criteria for selecting travel award grantees include submission of an abstract of high quality original research, selection of the research for presentation, and financial need.
