[Arabidopsis] Gordon Conference on Mechanotransduction and Gravity Signaling

[Gloria K. Muday]

         The ninth biennial Gordon Research Conference on 
"Mechanotransduction and Gravity Signaling in Biological Systems" will be 
held July 24-29, 2005 at the University of New England at Biddeford, 
Maine.  The theme of the meeting is gravity and mechano-sensing, an ancient 
sensory capability. Approximately 100 participants are expected, including 
27 speakers and 9 discussion leaders.  In addition 6 hot topics speakers 
will be chosen for short talks from among the poster presenters in early 
June.  The full program can be viewed at 
<http://www.grc.org/programs/2005/mechano.htm>http://www.grc.org/programs/2005/mechano.htm.
         This is an exciting time for research on gravity and 
mechano-sensation. The field is rapidly growing, especially in the area of 
genetic approaches to understanding of the perception of physical 
stimuli.  There are major advances in our understanding of transduction of 
gravity and mechanical signals in a range of plant and animal tissues.  The 
focus for the 2005 meeting will continue to be the molecular and 
physiological analysis of protein and cellular components needed for 
different aspects of mechano- and gravity- sensation and response.
             The meeting will bring together scientists who do not normally 
meet because they study different organisms (microbes, plants, or animals) 
or different kinds of mechanical responses (rapid responses in specialized 
mechanosensors or slow responses to sustained gravitational forces in bone 
or plants) or because they employ widely different approaches (genetics 
versus physiology).  Moreover, the Gordon Conference format facilitates 
informal communications and discussions of controversial issues.  These 
factors will promote inter-disciplinary transfer of ideas and approaches 
and the formation of new strategies for the study of mechanotransduction.
         We have considerable financial support, so we are hoping to 
provide some support for meeting expenses for poster presenters, including 
graduate students and postdoctoral researchers.  For additional information 
on the meeting contact Marty Chalfie (MC21 at columbia.edu), Chair or Gloria 
Muday (muday at wfu.edu) and Paul Blount (Paul.Blount at UTSouthwestern.edu), 
Co-Vice Chairs.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.bio.net/bionet/mm/arab-gen/attachments/20050527/213a1241/attachment-0003.html