Subject: Chambery Meeting - April 1998

From: <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 13 Jul 1997 19:17:05 +0200 (DFT)

Division de Chimie Physique
                    Societe Francaise de Chimie

                   CHAMBERY, 20 to 24 April 1998

                      COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY 
                       AND THE LIVING WORLD:
                     FROM SEQUENCE TO FUNCTION

                        A European meeting
                of the Division de Chimie Physique
                      Chambery, French Alps,
                       20 to 24 April 1998

                     organized jointly with:
           BUNSEN-GESELLSCHAFT fuer Physicalische-Chemie
                DIVISIONE DI CHIMICA FISICA (SCI)
                     FARADAY DIVISION (RSC)
                SOCIETE FRANCAISE DE BIOPHYSIQUE

                         FIRST CIRCULAR
_______________________________________________________________________

                 COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY AND THE 
                         LIVING WORLD:
                    FROM SEQUENCE TO FUNCTION

The results of the genome projects are expected to lead to a scientific
revolution  in the beginning  of the next century.  The exploitation of
the genetic information will require an understanding  of the relation-
ships between sequence,  structure and function.  Both theory and expe-
riment are expected to play major roles in obtaining this understanding

The meeting at Chambery will focus on the role of computational chemis-
try in the  activity sparked  by the genome results.  How can numerical
calculation help us  to understand  and exploit genome sequences ?  How
can modelling and simulation  help in  understanding how amino-acid se-
quences  are translated into  three-dimensional  biological structures,
the  functional interactions  of these structures and the effect of en-
gineered modifications ? Practical and pharmaceutical applications will 
also be adressed.  A famous example of `rational' structure  based drug
design is the very recent  development of HIV  protease inhibitors  for 
the treatment of AIDS.

MAIN TOPICS
__________________________________

The meeting will be organized into three themes:

1 - Sequence analysis: the impact of genome sequencing projects will be
    assessed,  genome organization discussed  and the access and direct
    exploitation  of sequence data reviewed.  Evolutionary analysis  of 
    sequences will be examined, together with the classification of se-
    quences in terms of structure.

2 - Biomolecular structure and folding: experimental techniques capable
    of probing  macromolecular structure  will be discussed in relation 
    to theoretical/computational techniques predicting protein structu-
    res from sequence.  Our undersatnding  of the principles of protein
    folding will be examined: the factors determining their thermodyna-
    mic stability  and kinetic  folding pathways.  Modelling of protein
    structure by homology and with energy functions,  the `inverse fol-
    ding' problems  and techniques  for global energy optimization will
    be discussed. Nucleic acid sequence-structure relationships will be
    examined.

3 - Functional interactions of biomolecules: calculation of binding mo-
    des and reaction mechanisms will be  explored together with methods 
    of calculating  free energy changes associated with biological pro-
    cesses.  The modelling and simulation of  ordered biomolecular sys-
    tems will  be reviewed.  Dynamic processes  in biological  function 
    will be examined from  picosecond events  to slower  domain motions 
    and allosteric phenomena.

ORGANIZATION
__________________________________

The meeting  will be over five days  and will consist of 45 minutes and
15 minutes lectures, poster sessions and informal discussion.  Research
into the chemistry  and biological macromolecules requires close coope-
ration between theorists  and experimentalists,  and scientists of both 
fields are welcome.  The aim of the meeting  is to emphasize  the broad
complementarity  between theory  and experiment  in the lectures rather 
than specialized discussion of theoretical methodology.  Industrial re-
searchers working on these problems will also be invited to speak.

The meeting is expected  to be of interest  to researchers in all bran-
ches of  computational chemistry,  as well as structural  and molecular
biologists and biochemists.

The meeting will be held in Chambery in the Savoie region of the French
Alps. The proceedings will be published.

INVITED LECTURES
__________________________________

The following scientists have already accepted to give invited lectures

- Prof. David Chandled (University of California, Berkeley)
- Dr. Cyrus Chothia (Cambridge University)
- Prof. Chris Dobson (Oxford University)
- Prof. Manfred Sippl (Graz)
- Prof. Wilfred van Gunsteren (ETH, Zuerich)
- Prof. Harel Weinstein (Mnt. Sinai, New York)
- Prof. Eric Westhoff (Strasbourg)
- Prof. Michael Hecht (Princeton University)
- Prof. Eugene Shakhnovitch (Harvard University)
- Prof. Klaus Schulten (University of Illinois)

CONTRIBUTIONS   
__________________________________

Title + 200-350 words abstract (typed on a single page)

Deadline 31 October 1997 to be submitted to:

                 Division de Chimie Physique / SFC
            Computational Chemistry and the Living World
                   Laboratoire de Chmie Physique
                      11, rue P. et M. Curie
                           75005 Paris

INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
__________________________________

Dr. J.C. Smith (CEA Saclay) - Chairman, Dr. R. Botter (DCP Paris) - Se-
cretary,  Prof. J. Brickmann (TH Darmstadt),  Dr. C. Chipot (U. Nancy),
Prof. J.E. Dubois (U. Paris VII), Dr. J. Garnier (INRA Jouy,  NIH Beth-
seda),  Prof. M. Karplus  (U.  Strasbourg,  Harvard U.),  Dr. R. Lavery
(IBPC Paris),  Prof. B. Maigret (U. Nancy),  Prof. G. Richards  (Oxford 
U.), Dr. E. Soulie (CEA Saclay), Prof. J. Tomasi (U. Pisa), Dr. C. Tro-
yanowsky (DCP Paris).

INFORMATION
__________________________________

>From R. Botter, at above address

Phone: 01-44-27-62-70
Fax  : 01-44-27-62-23

 ............................................................... >8 ....

                    Division de Chimie Physique
                    Societe Francaise de Chimie

                      COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY 
                       AND THE LIVING WORLD:
                     FROM SEQUENCE TO FUNCTION

                        A European meeting
                of the Division de Chimie Physique
                      Chambery, French Alps,
                       20 to 24 April 1998
                     jointly organized with
                   DBG, DCF/SCI, FD/RSC, SFB

PREREGISTRATION
__________________________________

NAME, First name (Prof, Dr, Mrs, Ms, Miss, Mr).........................

LABORATORY 
or COMPANY.............................................................

MAILING ADDRESS........................................................

 .......................................................................

Telephone.......................... Fax................................

- Wishes to receive the second circular................................

- Submits poster contribution(s).......................................

- Wishes poster contribution to be 
  considered for oral presentation.....................................

                   Pre-registration form to be received
                  by 31.8.1997 at the following address:

                    Division de Chimie Physique / SFC
               Computational Chemistry and the Living World
                      Laboratoire de Chmie Physique
                         11, rue P. et M. Curie
                              75005 Paris

                         Phone: 01-44-27-62-70
                         Fax  : 01-44-27-62-23

 ............................................................... >8 ....