GORDON RESEARCH CONFERENCE -
GRAVITATIONAL EFFECTS ON LIVING SYSTEMS:
Evolution of Gravitational Sensing and Interaction with Other Sensory
Systems
JULY 12 - 17, 1998
Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH
(Michael L. Evans, Chair and Ruth Anne Eatock, Vice Chair)
This conference will be the last such conference of the 20th century and
this perspective has led us to select an evolutionary theme as our focus,
with a secondary theme of the overlapping of environmental response systems
as a consequence of evolution. The conference will begin with a
consideration of the physical limitations of gravisensing (quantitative
treatment) and then address gravisensing/response from simple to more
complex systems. This will include talks on the nature of gravisensing and
response in microorganisms (bacteria/single celled eukaryotes) to
multicellular lower organisms to complex plants and animals. The theme will
include a consideration of the evolution of loadbearing structures both at
the cellular (cytoskeletal) level and the whole organism level. In addition
there will be symposia on the mechanisms of gravisensing and on the overlap
of gravisensing/response systems with other response systems (e.g.
gravitropism/phototropism interaction). We will extend the level of
complexity theme all the way to the influence of gravity on the evolution
of ecosystems with a novel symposium on astrobiology during which we will
consider how the strength of the gravitational force influences the
evolution of life and ecosystems.
List of general topics, speakers and tentative titles. Three remaining
speakers to be added.
(For additional information and instructions on registration procedure,
visit the Gordon Research Conferences web site at http://www.grc.uri.edu/
or the web page for this particular conference at http://140.254.14.55/grc/)
Limits of Gravisensing
Paul Todd, Univ. of Colorado. Physics of gravisensing
David Klaus, Univ. of Colorado. Effects of microgravity on the development
of microorganisms
Evolution of Gravisensing/response Systems: Cytoskeleton/Extracellular
Matrix Interaction
Paul Blount, Univ. Texas Southwestern. Bacterial mechanosensitive
channels, from genes to physiology
Mike Gustin, Rice Univ. Stretch activated channels and osmosensing in yeast
Owen Hamill, Univ. of Texas, Galveston. Stretch-activated channels
Richard Cyr, Penn State Univ. BY cells as model systems for subcellular
effects of gravity
Evolution & Transduction Mechanisms in Load Bearing Systems
Karl Niklas, Cornell Univ. Evolution of Load Bearing Systems in Plants
Zigmunt Hejnowicz, Silesian Univ. Plant responses to mechanical stress
Teresa Nicolson, Max Planck Inst, Tubingen. Mechanotransduction mutants in
Zebrafish
Evolution/Genetics of Gravitropism and Mechanosensing
Fred Sack, Ohio State Univ. Evolution of gravisensing/response systems in
plants
Monica Driscoll, Rutgers Univ. Genetics and models of mechanotransduction
in the roundworm, Caenorhabditis elegans
Patrick Masson, Univ. Wisconsin. Genetics of Arabidopsis gravitropism
Maurice Kernan, SUNY Stoneybrook. Using Drosophila mutants to find the
molecular bases of mechanotransduction
Primitive graviresponse systems/specialized mechanosensors
Ruth Hemmersbach, Inst. Aerospace Medicine, Koln. Graviorientation in
protists
David Corey, Harvard Univ. Genetic approaches to the inner ear in mouse
and man
David Cove, Univ. of Leeds, England. Gravitropism and phototropism in moss
Cellular level systems/specialized mechanosensors
Peter Gillespie, Johns Hopkins. Medical Inst. Molecular and biophysical
approaches to transduction and adaptation in vertebrate hair cells
Klaus Palme, Max Planck Inst., Cologne. Molecular characterization of the
auxin transport carrier
Guy Richardson, Univ. Sussex, England. Development of hair cell epithelia
Elmar Weilar, Ruhr Univ., Germany. Mechanosensing and calcium channels in
plants
Mechanosensitivity/Development
Donna Fekete, Purdue Univ. Development of the inner ear
Andrew Staehelin, Univ. Colorado. Morphology of gravisensing cells in the
root columella
Bernd Fritzsch, Creighton Univ. Mechanisms that guide and maintain proper
connections between the inner ear and the brain
Elison Blancaflor, Penn State Univ. Selective laser ablation of
gravisensing cells in roots of Arabidopsis
Genetics and Sensory Systems
Terri Lomax, Oregon State Univ. Gravitropism response mutants and auxin
transport patterns
Jay Goldberg, Univ. of Chicago. Why do amniote vestibular organs have type
I hair cells?
Roger Hangarter, Indiana Univ. Interactions between phytochromes and
gravitropic response systems in Arabidopsis
Dora Angelaki, Univ. Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson. How does the
brain distinguish gravity from linear acceleration?
Astrobiology -- Gravity and Evolution, the Big Picture
Jack Cohen, Univ. of Warwick, England. Evolution and extraterrestrial life
forms
