Isotopes in Interdisciplinary Studies

At the 2014 meeting, the "Isotopes" GRC will celebrate its 60th anniversary. Over the past 60 years this conference has emphasized the use of isotopes in the study of inorganic, organic, environmental, biogeochemistry, and biochemical reaction mechanisms and other processes. In more recent years the conference has come to recognize the importance of isotopes in the biomedical sciences. This includes applications of isotopes in medicine, in the determination of protein structure and dynamics, and the use of isotopic probes in studies on enzymatic reaction mechanisms.

The 2014 conference will have a session commemorating the career and contributions of W.W. (Mo) Cleland. Cleland was one of the major contributors to studies of enzyme kinetics and the use of kinetic isotope effects in exploring enzymatic mechanisms. In recent years he developed many methods for the use of heavy-atom isotope effects in mechanistic enzymology. Another session will be devoted to celebrate Richard (Dick) Schowen’s 80th Birthday. Prof. Schowen pioneered and was a major contributor to the physical elucidation of organic and enzymatic reaction mechanisms. Sessions will include: Studies of Heavy-Enzymes (Born-Oppenheimer enzymes); Computational Modeling of Isotope Effects; Transition State Characterization Based on Multiple Isotope Effects; Isotopes in Mechanistic Enzymology; Isotopes in Environmental Studies; and more. Finally, the Thursday evening session will feature "Isotopes at the Frontiers of Science".

This conference is very interested in providing younger scientists with a forum in which to present their work. Poster presentations are strongly encouraged and several oral presentations will be selected from among the submitted abstracts (to be announced in advance).