9805878 Spiegel The 1998 Gordon Research Conference on Glycolipid and Sphingolipid Biology will be held January 11-16, 1998, at Ventura, California. The purpose of the conference is to encourage the transfer of ideas and information within the community of scientists who work at the forefront of glycolipid and sphingolipid research, an area long recognized as important for many biological processes, such as cell-cell recognition, cell-substratum adhesion, extracellular matrix function, transmembrane signaling, immune regulation, and differentiation of all cells in tissues and organisms. Glyco and sphingolipids are important lipid constituents of all eukaryotic membranes. Recently, it has become increasingly evident that functions of glyco and sphingolipids reside not only in their complex structures but also in their metabolic products. Much attention has been focused recently on the sphingolipid metabolites, ceramide, sphingosine, and sphingosine-1-phosphate, which are emerging as a new class of lipid second messengers involved in cell growth, differentiation, and apoptosis. An important aspect of the Gordon Conference on Glycolipid and Sphingolipid Biology is that it brings together scientists who work in different disciplines. Because of its breadth, the Sphingolipid and Glycolipid Biology Gordon Conference has continued to play a seminal role, despite the proliferation of subspecialty meetings. A broad range of speakers and participants have been sought for the 1998 Conference, particularly graduate and postgraduate students, women and minorities. Conferees are encouraged to participate both in the formal lecture/discussion sessions, and less formally in poster presentations. The platform sessions cover all the leading edge research topics in glycolipid and sphingolipid biology (e.g., structural biology, trafficking and subcellular localization, molecular aspects of glycosyltransferases and hydrolases, gene targeting approaches to glycolipid and sphingolipid biology, ceramide and apopto sis, with special emphasis on signal transduction). Approximately 140 foreign and domestic scientists will attend the meeting and many of the conferees will be graduate students or postdoctoral fellows.
