? ? The Teratology Society will hold its 47th Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh, PA from June 23-28, 2007. The meeting attendees historically come from a diverse professional background including basic and clinical scientists from the academic, industrial and government research sectors. This rich and scientifically diverse mix of professionals meets in an informal setting that encourages open exchange of ideas and the latest experimental findings. The Teratology Society recognizes the importance of encouraging and mentoring students and postdoctoral fellows. One of the Platform Sessions during the Annual Meeting highlights the research of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. This Platform Session is comprised of talks competitively selected from the pool of abstracts submitted for platform presentation by students and post doctoral fellows. Those whose abstracts are not submitted or selected for this session are included in other platform and poster sessions throughout the meeting. During the poster sessions, abstracts presented by students and postdoctoral fellows are marked as such in order to encourage interaction between the presenters and the members of the Society and meeting attendees. These steps are part of the Teratology Society strategic goal of fostering education and training. The Teratology Society recognizes that the student and fellows are the future of both the Society and the scientific discipline. Involving the students and fellows in the science by providing them an opportunity to present their research, interact with some of the leading scientists in the field, and form relationships that they will carry throughout their career is vital to field of birth defects research. Many of these students and postdoctoral fellows rely on travel awards to assist them in offsetting the financial burden of attending the meeting. Without funding such as this, many would not be able to take advantage of the rich exchange of scientific information and new ideas generated at this scientific meeting. In this proposal, the investigators are requesting funds to defray part of the cost of travel awards, which will be granted to students and postdoctoral fellows presenting their research findings at the 2007 Teratology Society Annual Meeting. ? ? ? ?
