DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Gordon Research Conference titled "Cilia, Mucus and Mucociliary interactions" will be held in Il Ciocco, Italy from February 22 to 27, 2009. The conference has been approved by the GRC committee and will represent the third meeting following the successful GRC-sponsored conferences of the same title that were held in Buellton, CA in February of 2005 and Ventura Beach, CA in February 2007. The general organization of the conference is based on the established and very successful formula of the previous GRCs, with minor changes to make the meeting format even better. The meeting will open Sunday night with two talks from senior, eminent scientists who will give complementary overviews of the field, lay out the challenges for the future, and provide a framework for discussions throughout the remainder of the conference. This will be followed by a total of 8 plenary sessions from Monday morning through Thursday evening; each morning session will have at least 6 speakers and each evening session will have at least 4 speakers. The goal is to present new data not yet published according to the tradition of GRCs. Each of the speakers and discussion leaders will be individuals with a recognized scientific record in the areas of cilia, mucus, or mucociliary interactions or young investigators presenting outstanding data, usually representing work from the laboratory of a recognized leader in the field. Discussion leaders will be selected from individuals knowledgeable in the topic areas who are especially capable of maintaining focus and stimulating discussion. Discussion leaders will give brief introductions to each session to provide a perspective on the topics to be covered. Speakers for some shorter talks will be selected from submitted abstracts in order to include the latest "hot" results. In addition to the plenary platform presentations, there will be one poster session on Monday and Tuesday afternoon and a second poster session on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon; this will allow ample time for interactions focused on the poster presentations. Posters also will be available for viewing following the evening sessions. Applicants will have the opportunity to indicate if they prefer a poster or platform venue, and those not chosen for platform presentation will be delegated to the poster sessions. The last GRC had a total of about 60 posters, which was a manageable number; we expect a similar number for this conference. If needed, room for laptops will be available for individuals who might wish to present additional data that cannot be easily shown on posters, such as 3-D molecular modeling, 3-D reconstruction of confocal images, video microscopy and time-lapse microscopy movies, all of which are particularly well-suited for cilia and mucociliary studies.

One of the primary defense mechanisms of the respiratory tract against inhaled bacteria, viruses and pollutants is the mucociliary system. A layer of mucus lines the airways, and the coordinated beating of the underlying cilia propel the mucus "blanket" out of the airways, where it is either expectorated or swallowed. However, abnormalities in either quantity or physicochemical properties of the mucus produced by cells of the respiratory tract, or inherited defects in ciliary assembly or structure, can lead to airway obstruction and resultant disease; thus the proposed conference addresses an important area.