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The 61st Symposium of the Society of General Physiologists Membrane Biophysics of Fusion, Fission, and Rafts in Health and Disease

2008; Rockefeller University Press; Volume: 131; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1085/jgp.200709921

1540-7748

J. Kevin Foskett,

Microbial Inactivation Methods

The Symposium featured an unusually large number of speakers, 40, which refl ected the wide diversity of issues discussed and the increasingly detailed understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in these membrane processes.The meeting drew 150 participants from 15 countries.The symposium itself was divided into eight sessions with foci that ranged from viral mechanisms of fusion to lipid domain formation, with much lively discussion on many other topics in between.The weather was typical early September Woods Hole-perfect-and despite the rather crowded program, the participants had time to enjoy the unique atmosphere, including the marine environment during boat tours arranged by the organizers.The meeting got underway with back-to-back keynote addresses that provided examples of the important role of basic research of membrane processes for understanding human diseases.In the fi rst, Robert Brown (Harvard University) discussed dysferlin, membrane repair, and muscular dystrophy.Dysferlin is a large membrane protein that has been implicated in membrane repair processes.Mutations in dysferlin cause a variety of dystrophies without disrupting the dystrophin complex.Various mouse models are available that recapitulate the human disease phenotype.Dysferlin contains several C2 domains that may play a role in Ca 2+ -dependent membrane localization, but the mechanism underlying dysferlin's normal function, and how mutations cause muscular dystrophies are still unclear.William Gall (NIH) provided an overview of disorders of lysosome-like organelles.As a model for such diseases, he focused on melanosome biogenesis, where diseases including Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome, Griscelli Syndrome, and Chediak-Higashi Syndome highlight specifi c molecular defects in this process.Session I, chaired by the coorganizer Josh Zimmerberg, had as its focus viral, synaptic, and intracellular fusion mechanisms.Stephen Harrison (Harvard University) pointed out that viruses have all of the molecular components for fusion built into themselves, but different