This proposal requests funds to permit Dr. John I. Bruce, Director, Center for Tropical Diseases, University of Lowell, to conduct with Dr. Chamlong Harinasuta, Dean Emeritus, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University, Bangkok, a U.S.-Thailand Conference on Application of Biotechnology to the Study of Animal Parasites and Their Vectors, Bangkok and Chiangmai, Thailand, November 30 to December 4, 1987. The conference will bring together 7 U.S. scientists and some 50 Thai participants/observers to exchange information and ideas on the study of animal parasites, the complex interactions occurring between animal parasites and their vectors, and the application of current biotechnology to problems involving animal parasites and their vectors. Two scientists each from Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines also are expected to participate. This grant will support only U.S. participation in the conference. Scientists at Mahidol University have developed a profile of endemicity of the major zoonotic parasites and their vectors whose distribution, prevalence and incidence are related to water-resources development. The application of new biotechnological procedures could be extremely beneficial as an aid to enhancing knowledge and devising logical approaches to containment of these parasitoses. The conference will provide an opportunity for U.S. and Thai scientists to identify priority areas for future research cooperation in parasitology and to develop specific cooperative research proposals. This project is relevant to the objectives of the Science in Developing Countries Program which seeks to increase the level of cooperation between U.S. scientists and engineers and their counterparts in developing countries through the exchange of scientific information, ideas, skills, and techniques and through collaboration on problems of mutual benefit. The U.S. and Thai collaborators are highly respected scientists with extensive international research experience and productive publication records in the field of the proposal.
