9407321 Brautigan This grant will provide partial support for the third FASEB summer conference on Protein Phosphatases. Research on protein phosphatases is proceeding at a brisk pace, revealing the fundamental importance and unexpected complexity of these enzymes in the signal transduction pathways that govern cell growth, structure and metabolism. Within the past year dozens of new phosphatases and phosphatase regulatory subunits have been cloned. Now there is appreciation that protein phosphatases initiate important intracellular events such as G2 to M progression in the cell cycle. Particular phosphatases already have been identified as the targets for natural toxins such as microcystius and cantharidin. Like other FASEB summer conferences this meeting will select about 150 participants from applications, including representatives from industry and academia, including senior scientists, postdocs, and graduate students. There is a constant infusion of new researchers into this area and the 1994 conference will be important for a focused, yet comprehensive, introduction to the genetics, biochemistry, and cell biology of protein phosphatases. The conference will consist of eight sessions, each with a discussion leader and four speakers who will be selected from investigators that have made important recent contributions. In addition, two poster sessions will be organized, with published abstracts. At the prior conference on this subject more than eighty posters were presented for two days, each providing an important format for scientific exchanges. Inclusion of women, minorities, and students as speakers and participants is a special priority. The 1994 summer conference on Protein Phosphatases will orient new researchers, disseminate current information and identify areas for investigations. ***
