We request partial support for the 18th Chronobiology Gordon Research Conference, to be held in Newport, R.I. from July 14-19, 2013. Funds received from the NIH will be used to support registration fees and/or travel costs for participants, especially post-doctoral fellows and graduate students. The conference will focus on key research areas in chronobiology, which include molecular genetics, sleep, neuroscience, metabolism and related diseases, cancer, cardiovascular disease and aging. The subtheme of the conference will be, """"""""from molecule to man,"""""""" which reflects the extent to which circadian rhythms affect virtually all features of physiology and disease. The session chairs are leaders in the field and have played a major role in recruiting the speakers. Special attention has been given to diversity, and the current program reflects this balance, for example gender and youth. To this end, several chairs have agreed to share a time slot to make room for additional younger speakers, and a portion of our requested budget will be to support a new pre-conference program for student and post-doc attendees (Gordon Research Seminar (GRS). In short, we will focus on youth and training to complement the stars of the field. Lastly, we will aim to improve diversity further through registrations;preference will be given to members of under- represented groups. The specific objectives of the conference are: 1. To bring together scientists working primarily on molecular aspects of chronobiology with those who focus on human disease. We expect representatives from industry to attend, which will help integrate across all levels of investigation, from fundamental to applied. 2. To provide a forum for discussion of the latest (unpublished) chronobiology research. More specifically, this conference has been designed to focus on gaps in our knowledge and areas of controversy. To this end, each session has two prestigious chairs, who are tasked with featuring and even debating interesting and unresolved issues in their opening presentations. This strategy should improve conceptual models and help to prioritize future research themes. 3. To continue - in the tradition of Chronobiology - to provide a high quality arena for interactions between trainees and senior researchers. Whereas section chairs will be leaders in the field, younger people (students, post-docs and untenured faculties) will have opportunities to present their work.
The circadian clock regulates a remarkable fraction of the genome (estimated between 15-50%), and it is now well-accepted that the clock has a pervasive impact on human physiology as well as behavior. Not surprisingly therefore, epidemiological and genetic studies show that a disrupted circadian clock - whether due to genetic predisposition or to socially influenced behavior - influences numerous syndromes and pathologies, for example, sleep disorders, metabolic disease, obesity, and cancer. This conference will bring together experts and trainees who are in the best position to integrate basic research from diverse organisms and translate it into applied science and policy. NOTE: The critiques and criterion scores from individual reviewers are provided below in an essentially unedited form. These were prepared prior to the review meeting and may not have been updated or revised subsequent to the discussion at the meeting. Therefore, they may not fully reflect the final opinions of the individual reviewers at the close of group discussion or th final majority opinion of the group. The Resume and Summary of Discussion above summarizes the final outcome of the group discussion.
