LAY SUMMARY Proposal IBN 98-01873 "CONFERENCE: Symposium on subtypes of muscarinic receptors" Ruth Levine, P.I. This award is for partial support of an international conference on the diversity of form and function found among complex molecules of the membrane of living nerve, muscle and other cells controlled by the nervous system. The functional contacts between nerve cells are called synapses, and the biochemical compounds that carry signals between the cells at the synapse are called neurotransmitters. The transmitter molecules are captured on the surface of the cell membrane of the target cell by molecules called receptors. Classes of transmitters, like particular amino acids, or particular catecholamine compounds, were known to have particular receptor types that triggered particular responses in the post-synaptic cell. More recently, subtypes of receptor molecules have been found, often with different chemical binding affinities, molecular arrangement, and coupling mechanisms. This symposium covers recent advances at the molecular level in understanding the subtypes of the particular receptors called muscarinic receptors, which modulate the responses of nerve and muscle cells to a widespread neurotransmitter called acetylcholine. The program will bring together eminent scholars and junior scientists with interests in these receptors, to allow them to exchange data and the latest ideas on these important molecules. Such goals are important to our progressively better understanding of how the brain an organism's body. Support is to help cover some travel costs of young investigators in the field to enable them to attend and deliver their own research results at this meeting. This support will have an impact on fostering the career development of young neuroscientists, and t he symposium presentations will have an impact on muscle and cardiovascular research as well as neuroscience.
