This conference is aimed at a broad scientific community as well as the general public.
A chain of discoveries over the past half century has revealed the mechanism by which cells organize themselves internally. This process began in the 1950s with the discovery of numerous specialized membrane-bounded compartments within the cell using the electron microscope, and culminated with the discovery of the ability to reproduce these events in test tube systems. Tiny transport vesicles carry highly selected cargoes from one compartment to another providing an internal distribution system not unlike a postal service. The specificity of the localization of proteins within the cell is generated and maintained by these vesicles enable the cell to self-organize in three dimensions as it grows and divides. Related processes enable communication between cells in the body by releasing and receiving signals from hormones, growth factors, and neurotransmitters.
