This is an application for partial support of the 9th biennial FASEB Science Research Conference on Ion Channel Regulation. The objectives of this conference are to; stimulate discourse, seed new ideas, and facilitate collaboration in ways that will accelerate new discoveries about ion channels at the basic and translational levels, and to provide a forum for trainees to participate in scientific sessions and in career development activities. Regulation of ion channel function is essential for myriad physiological functions including neuronal signaling, pain transduction, and the beating of the heart. Accounting for ~2% of human genes, ion channels are subject to numerous disease-causing mutations, leading to over 55 inherited disorders? termed ?channelopathies?? that affect the brain (e.g., epilepsy, migraine, ataxia, autism), the heart (e.g., cardiac arrhythmia), and other tissues (e.g., pain, hearing and vision impairment, cystic fibrosis, hypertension, muscle disease). Not surprisingly, ion channels are major drug targets in the treatment of epilepsy, neuropathic pain, hypertension and cardiac arrhythmia. Dysregulation of ion channels is strongly associated with mental illness and cancer, both of which are profound global health concerns. Thus, the topic of our conference is both timely and highly relevant for a broad population of scientists, clinicians, and the general public. The Co-chairs of the 2019 conference will be Drs. Henry Colecraft (Columbia University) and Rajesh Khanna (University of Arizona), both recognized leaders in ion channel biology with an emphasis on ion channel regulation. The Program consists of nine scientific sessions, two keynote addresses, and two breakout sessions focused on careers in academia/NIH and industry/biotechnology sectors, respectively. There will also be career development lunches with individual tables focusing on fellowships, other funding, strategies for applying for postdocs and faculty positions, early career strategies, etc. Most scientific sessions are organized around general themes rather than ion channel subtype, to foster crosstalk between fields typically kept separate in traditional conferences. There will be 36 session speakers giving full talks, including at least 16 women (44% of speakers) and 9 session chairs (4 of whom are women, 44%). Most of the invited speakers (75%) have not presented at this conference during the prior two meetings and 45% have never presented at the meeting since it started in 2003. Of the 36 session speakers, we are planning to include 6 early career stage investigators and 6 members of under-represented minorities in science (17%), numbers that will be bolstered in 14 short talks to be selected from submitted abstracts.
Regulation of ion channel function is essential for critical physiological functions including nervous signaling, pain transduction, and the beating of the heart. Ion channel dysfunction underlies diseases including epilepsy, chronic pain, migraine, diabetes, periodic paralysis, sudden cardiac death, Parkinson?s disease, and autism. As such ion channels not only represent vital targets for existing therapeutics, but also hold vast untapped potential for future drug development efforts. This grant will provide financial support for trainee attendance at a conference that brings together scientists from a wide variety of disciplines but with several common goals: a fuller understanding of how ion channels function, how they are regulated, what happens when they dysfunction, and how can this be prevented or treated. The conference also provides trainees with a forum for networking with established scientists from academia and industry, participation in the conference scientific proceedings, as well as focused career development activities.
