A review of the meeting Protein Phosphatases, FASEB Summer Research Conference, Copper Mountain, CO, 23 to 28 July 2000. Shenolikar and Brautigan summarize the key issues discussed at the conference on protein phosphatases of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB). A theme of the meeting was how basic research in the field of protein phosphatases has led to better understanding and treatments for human disease, including type 2 diabetes and obesity. A second important issue presented related to identification and characterization of various phosphatase-binding proteins that regulate phosphatase action.