This is an application for partial funding for the conference on "Retinal Neurobiology and Visual Processing", held under the auspices of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) to be held in Saxtons River, Vermont, July 17-22, 2004.  This will be the seventh in a series of biannual conferences that has established a unique forum for researchers with a variety of backgrounds to discuss vision.  The participants have traditionally drawn from many areas of neurobiology and vision research with the goal of applying state-of-the-art techniques to understanding the neurobiological basis of vision.  A second goal of this meeting is to provide opportunities for graduate and postdoctoral students to meet and share their ideas with established investigators.  The proposed conference program addresses questions that are of high interest to the vision community.  The major session topics will be 1) retinal implants 2) dendritic processing, 3) relative role of genetic factors and neural activity in retinal development 4) visual signaling from retina to brain 5) interneuron signaling 6) models for retinal disease, 7) plasticity in the retina, and 8) the biophysics of release.  In addition, there will be a workshop on transfection techniques and two 2-day poster sessions.  Approximately 180 participants will be chosen from among scientists most likely to participate in discussion in a stimulating free exchange of ideas.  This conference will allow for critical review of recent research as well as an evaluation of future directions. [ unreadable] [unreadable]