We request support for students and new investigators (within 5 year years of doctoral degree, hereafter """"""""students"""""""") to participate in the 9th International Conference on Environmental Mutagens (9th ICEM) hosted by the Environmental Mutagen Society (EMS). The meeting will be held September 3-8, 2005 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel at the Embarcadero in San Francisco, CA. The ICEM is held every 4 years and was last hosted in the US 16 years ago. We anticipate attracting 1200 participants worldwide, including about 200 students and new investigators who are associated with members of the EMS and corresponding environmental mutagen societies in many other countries. The EMS is the primary scientific society devoted to the understanding of the basic mechanisms of mutagenesis and their implications for human genetic disease, cancer, and aging. The EMS is unique in that it also is the relevant society for applied science in this field, including genotoxicity risk assessment and regulatory matters. It is the appropriate society for researchers interested in the development and application of transgenic technology for toxicological studies and for the development of methods for studying mutations, mutagenic mechanisms, environmental carcinogens, and DNA repair in model cellular systems as well as humans. The theme for the 9th ICEM is """"""""Global Issues in Genetic Toxicology and Environmental Mutagenesis."""""""" To highlight these issues and to explore solutions to these global threats to our collective health, the 9th ICEM will offer 46 symposia, 2 keynote lectures, and 12 plenary lectures from the world leaders in environmental mutagenesis and related fields. The development of students and new investigators onto productive research scientists and full participating members of the Environmental Mutagen societies, worldwide is a key goal of the EMS and ICEM. Providing students with the opportunity to participate in the ICEM is a critical factor in their development. A variety of activities during the meeting have been planned to integrate students into the full activities of the meeting. Student achievement awards will be made to students who submit an abstract for a presentation at the ICEM. Primary criteria for selection of awardees will be the scientific quality of the abstract, a letter of recommendation from the mentor, and relevance of the abstract to the scientific interests of the EMS/ICEM. Awards will be made without regard to gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, or disability.
