DESCRIPTION(provided by applicant): The Principal Investigator proposes to convene a symposium geared towards the development of junior faculty in the area of inflammatory bowel disease research from 1/11/2002 to 1/13/2002 in Chicago, IL at Northwestern Memorial Hospital of the Northwester University Medical School. The purpose of the symposium will be to provide a forum for junior faculty to present their research, network with peers and obtain feedback on their planned research proposals. All presenters will be junior faculty who will present work intended for submission to external funding agencies such as the National Institutes of Health. The talks will be presented in two sections. In the first section, the speaker will present in the following format: 1) a brief introduction, 2) novelty and biologic relevance of the model, 3) results of data from the investigator's lab, and 4) conclusions. In the second section, the speaker will present the rational and hypothesis-driven goals of a research proposal being considered for submission. The presentation will be followed by an open discussion by members of the audience selected for their expertise and experience as grant reviewers. Two members of the audience will be specifically assigned to provide a written critique to the speaker during the meeting along with a priority score based on the NIH scale (1 to 5). The basic science talks will be divided into sessions in the following categories: 1) epithelial cell differentiation and neoplasia, 2) epithelial cell immune activation, 3) mechanisms of mucosal immune responses, and 4) inflammatory bowel disease models. A dinner program will feature a keynote address on mechanisms in human IBD with the remainder of the evening devoted to a poster session with presentations by fellows and junior faculty not speaking during the day. The poster session will be attended by speakers as well as senior faculty. An important purpose of the evening session will be to provide time for speakers to meet other junior faculty as well as senior investigators. The goals of the symposium will be to 1) provide exposure for junior faculty, 2) provide scientific review for projects in their early development, and 3) provide an atmosphere for networking for junior and senior investigators. It is our proposition that the bringing together of junior faculty with their peers as well as senior investigators will generate a dialogue helpful to the development of their research as well as begin their incorporation into the scientific community of inflammatory bowel disease research.