During the period August 5-9, 1992, and immediately preceding the 1992 Gordon Research Conference on Motile and Contractile Systems, the "Third International Conference on the Structure and Function of Ubiquitous Cellular Protein Actin" was held at the Emma Willard School in Troy, New York, under the title "ACTIN '92". This conference focused on the fundamental properties and cellular functions of actin and actin based microfilament systems. The first conference in this series was held in 1982, in Sydney, Australia, and hosted by Dr. Cristobal G. dos Remedios and Dr. Julian A. Barden, both from the University of Sydney (New South Wales, Austrailia). The second conference convened in Monza, Italy in June 1987, and was organized by Dr. Roberto Colombo, University of Milan (Italy). This third gathering of researchers devoted to the study of actin and actin-associated proteins was organized by Dr. James E. Estes, Albany Stratton V A Medical Center and Dr. Paul 1. Higgins, Albany Medical College, who were assisted by an Organizing Committee consisting of Dr. Edward D. Korn (National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, NIH), Dr. Thomas P. Stossel (Massachusetts General Hospital), Dr. Fumio Matsumura (Rutgers University), and Dr. Stephen Farmer (Boston University). This meeting was dedicated to the many pioneering contributions of Professor Fumio Oosawa to the field of actin research.

Basic Properties of the Actin Molecule and Actin-Based Microfilament Systems.- Vibrational Modes of G-Actin.- Combining Electron Microscopy and X-Ray Crystallography Data to Study the Structure of F-Actin and its Implications for Thin-Filament Regulation in Muscle.- Evidence for an F-Actin Like Conformation in the Actin: DNase I Complex.- Actin-Bound Nucleotide/Divalent Cation Interactions.- Influence of the High Affinity Divalent Cation on Actin Tryptophan Fluorescence.- C-Terminus on Actin: Spectroscopic and Immunochemical Examination of its Role in Actinomycin Interactions.- Actin Polymerization: Regulation by Divalent Metal Ion and Nucleotide Binding, ATP Hydrolysis and Binding of Myosin.- Actin-Associated Proteins and Control of Filament-Based Assembly-Disassembly.- Structural Requirements of Tropomyosin for Binding to Filamentous Actin.- Actin-Gelsolin Interaction.- Actin Regulation and Surface Catalysis.- Caldesmon: Possible Functions in Microfilament Reorganization During Mitosis and Cell Transformation.- Cytoskeleton, Motile Structures and Macromolecular Crowding.- Cellular Functions of the Microfilament System.- Actin Filament Dynamics in Cell Motility.- Changes in Adhesion Plaque Protein Levels Regulate Cell Motility and Tumorigenicity.- Induction of Collagen Synthesis in Response to Adhesion and TGF? is Dependent on the Actin-Containing Cytoskeleton.- Gelsolin Expression in Normal Human Keratinocytes is a Function of Induced Differentiation.- Actin Filaments and the Spatial Positioning of mRNA.- Redistribution of p52(PAI-l) mRNA to the Cytoskeletal Framework Accompanies Increased p52(PAI-l) Expression in Cytochalasin D-Stimulated Rat Kidney Cells.- Brush Border Myosin I Has a Calmodulin/Phosphatidylserine Switch and Tail Actin-Binding.- Control of p52(PAI-l) Gene Expression in Normal and Transformed Rat Kidney Cells: Relationship Between p52(PAI-l) Induction and Actin Cytoarchitecture.- Contributors