September 4-7, 1997
Rensselaerville, New York
This is a call for participation in a conference to be held
this Fall that will bring together investigators involved in:
- the structural and functional characterization of
biological motors
- the design and fabrication of nano-scale device
- and related subfields of bioscience and bioengineering.
The aim is to stimulate a free exchange of information and
ideas among researchers working in these fast-moving fields with
considerable overlap in interests but few opportunities for
communication. It is hoped that the meeting will attract:
- biophysicists and structural biologists working on
macromolecular motors and complex cellular machines,
including but not limited to ATP synthase, bacterial and
eukaryotic flagella, cilia, axostyles, myosin, kinesin,
dynein, and complex protein-nucleic acid machines like
ribosomes, polymerases and kinetochores.
- molecular biologists, biochemists and computational
biologists engaged in the engineering of structural
subunits from macromolecules (proteins, nucleic acids,
polysaccharides)
- chemists and nano-engineers involved in the design and
production of sub-micron scale mechanical devices (e.g.,
nanomachines and switches).
The intent of the conference is to encourage a free-flow of
information and opinion about how nature has designed molecular
and supermolecular machines and to explore how (or whether) these
principles might apply to nano-engineering.
The meeting will be held on Sept 4-7 in a conference center set
on a picturesque hillside in the Helderbergs in upstate New York.
The site includes a modern auditorium building for plenary and
poster sessions, and several comfortable buildings and cottages
(with antique furnishings, parlors with working fireplaces,
kitchens, honor bars) for housing the participants. The
conference fee ($400) will cover room and meals from the evening
of Sept 4 (Thursday) through midday on Sept 7 (Sunday), as well
as transportation between the conference site and the Albany
airport. Formal plenary sessions will be restricted to mornings
and evenings, with the afternoons free for informal discussion
and impromptu workshops.
The organization and format of the meeting will follow the
"Albany model", developed last year for our conference
on "Frontiers
of Mitochondrial Research", which optimizes
interactivity and spontaneity. The meeting will be organized as
follows:
- Specific session topics will be developed by a program
committee over the summer based on responses to this
call-for- participation and input from participants (see
below). The committee is currently composed of
bioscientists from Albany and New York City (listed
below) but will be expanded to include other interested
researchers worldwide.
- A meeting homepage will be established on the WWW that
will contain updates about evolving topics and
participant lists. Through this page, potential
participants will be able to see who is coming, and
participants will be able to provide timely, ongoing
input into the topic-shaping process.
- All pre-registered participants will be asked to submit a
short abstract (200-300 words). These abstracts will be
posted on the homepage over the summer and a vote of the
participants will be taken in August to select the
speakers for the plenary sessions. Those participants not
selected as speakers will be asked to mount a poster
describing their work at the meeting.
- We currently have a modest base of financial support for
the meeting and additional funding is being sought. This
limited funding will be used to partially diffray costs
of all participants and to assist individuals with
limited resources to attend the conference, including
young investigators (i.e., students and postdocs
nominated by participants).
If you are interested in attending the conference, please send
the pre-registration form at the end of this announcement to carmen@wadsworth.org or
fax it to Carmen Mannella (Wadsworth Center, Albany NY) at
518-486-4901. You may also use the form to ask to be kept updated
about topics and participants without pre- registering at this
time.
Please respond to this "call" as soon as possible since
we are limited to about 100 participants at the conference
center. Note that you need not send the conference fee now in
order to register, just check the first box in registration form
below. We will bill you later.
Finally, and this is important, PLEASE RELAY THIS MESSAGE TO YOUR
COLLEAGUES WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN THIS MEETING. I will keep
all respondents appraised of developments by email and (later) by
the meeting page WWW site.
Thank you for considering to participate in what we hope will be
an exciting conference.
Program Committee, The 1997 Albany Conference
Carmen Mannella, Joachim Frank, Conley Rieder, Michael Koonce,
Ned Seeman
Preregistration Form
1997 ALBANY CONFERENCE ON
BIOMOLECULAR MOTORS AND NANOMACHINES
Name:
Address:
Phone number:
Fax number:
Email address:
[ ] I would like to pre-register for this conference. Put me
down as a participant in the area of:
[ ] I don't wish to pre-register at this time, but keep me
updated regarding participants and topics
[ ] (optional at this time) The title of my abstract is:
[ ] (optional at this time) My abstract is attached at the
end of this form. (Note: please send abstracts as
unencoded, ascii files.)
Comments:
Questions? Contact:
Carmen Mannella
The Wadsworth Center and The Albany Conferences
carmen@wadsworth.org
(518)474-2462
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