MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT FüR PHYSIK KOMPLEXER SYSTEME
Dresden, Germany

International workshop on

EXPERIMENTAL AND THEORETICAL CALCIUM DYNAMICS

October 24 - 27, 2000

Scientific coordinators:

James D. Lechleiter     Dieter Malchow     James Sneyd    

Dresden     San Antonio     Konstanz     Auckland    

Calcium is an important second messenger in living organisms. Recent discoveries like calcium sparks, intracellular calcium waves, intercellular calcium waves in brain and other tissue and capacitative calcium entrance caused a surge of experimental research. At the same time, mathematical modeling of calcium dynamics has been one of the major subjects in mathematical Biology.

The workshop aims at bringing together researchers from Biology, Mathematics and Physics to continue the ongoing interdisciplinary discussion. Most scientific topics will be presented with contributions from both theory and experiment. The workshop is intended to display the current trends in research on:

• Local calcium signalling: elementary release events from the endoplasmic or sarcoplasmic reticulum, buffering, spatial distribution of channels, single channel dynamics, stochastic behavior
  
  
• Global calcium signalling: intercellular waves, coupling by IP₃, cyclic ADP ribose and Ca²⁺, coordination on large space and time scales
  
  
• Elementary processes: SERCATPases, pores and channels on cellular organelles, communication between organelles and the cell membrane, the role of mitochondria, differences between channel isoforms
  
  
• Modulation, control and significance of calcium signals: control of calcium dynamics on the microscopic and the whole-cell level and different time scales, physiological significance of calcium waves

Invited speakers include (* to be confirmed):

N. L. Allbritton Irvine Y. Bezprozvanny Dallas G. Bird Res. Tr. Park

M. Bootman Cambridge P. Camacho San Antonio A. Charles^* Los Angeles

L. Combettes Orsay M. R. Duchen London A. Galione Oxford

D. Friel Cleveland A. Goldbeter Bruxelles T. E. Gunter Rochester

M. Jaconi Geneva S. Joseph Philadelphia B. Kaupp Jülich

H. Levine La Jolla L. Loew Farmington I. Mitkov Boston

V. Nanjundiah Bangalore H. Othmer Minneapolis I. Parker Irvine

J. Pearson Los Alamos O. H. Petersen Liverpool R. Rizzuto Ferrara

M. J. Sanderson Worcester C. Schlatterer Konstanz G. D. Smith Tempe

N. C. Spitzer La Jolla T. H. Steinberg St. Louis C. A. Swanson^* Stanford

C. W. Taylor Cambridge A. P. Thomas Newark M. Wussling Halle

R. Young^* Charleston D. Yule^* Rochester B. Zimmermann Potsdam

Participation is mainly by invitation. Nevertheless, additional applications will also be considered. Application forms are available upon request or on the conference web page. The registration fee for the workshop is DM 150. Costs for accommodation and meals will be covered by the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems. Limited funding to partially cover travel expenses is available upon request.

Deadline for applications is August 15, 2000.

For further information and application forms please contact:
Visitors Program, Max-Planck-Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems,
Nöthnitzer Str. 38, D-01187 Dresden, Germany
Phone: +49-351-871-2105 / Fax: +49-351-871-2199
Conference email: calcium@mpipks-dresden.mpg.de
http://www.mpipks-dresden.mpg.de/~calcium