- the structural and functional characterization of biological motors

- the design and fabrication of nano-scale devices 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).

NATURE OF THE MEETING

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 September 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 ($350, $400 after August 8) will cover room and meals from the evening of September 4 (Thursday) through midday on September 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 defray 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 contact Carmen Mannella (e-mail: carmen@wadsworth.org; fax: 518-486-4901) or (between August 11 and August 22) for Carole Keith (carole@cnsibm.albany.edu) for a registration form. Carole (who works out of the Center for Molecular Biology at the University at Albany) is our local coordinator. She is the expert on questions related to meeting logistics and will be sending everyone information soon.

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 TELL YOUR COLLEAGUES ABOUT 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, Conly Rieder, Michael Koonce, Ned Seeman, Terence Allen