The nine sessions of the conference will be grouped around the following four subject areas: I. Population genetic and evolutionary analysis of mammalian mobile elements a. LINE-1 elements b. Alu elements II. Bioinformatic analysis of mobile elements in whole genome sequences and the impact of repeated DNA on human genome structure/function III. Functional analysis of autonomous and non-autonomous mobile elements a. Mobile elements in model eukaryotic genomes b. Mammalian mobile elements IV. Practical uses for engineered mobile elements a. Transposon mutagens b. Gene delivery agents ? ? Agreements to speak have been obtained from the two keynote speakers, all of the session chairs, and many of the speakers. About 12 additional speakers will be chosen from among the conference applicants to present 20-minute talks (including discussion) within the regular scientific sessions. Speakers will be chosen based on submitted abstracts (a fact that will be indicated in the conference advertising). Particular attention will be given in the selection of junior scientists, and women and under-represented minority scientists. ? ? This will be the second FASEB conference on the topic of mammalian mobile elements. Because of considerable new information gathered over the past decade, the study of mammalian mobile elements has become a hot topic for a wide variety of biologists and geneticists. The number of principal investigators in this field has expanded from around 5-10 ten years ago to greater than 50 today. In response to this rapid growth, we organized a FASEB meeting on Mobile Elements in Mammalian Genomes, which took place in June 2005. The meeting was attended by eighty-two of our colleagues (56 male and 26 female) and many felt that it was the best meeting they have ever attended on the topic. In this proposal, we request funding for a second meeting on Mobile Elements in Mammalian Genomes to take place in June 2007. ? ? ? ?
