The 154 meeting of the sea urchin cell and developmental biology research community, joined with researchers working on Urochordates, Hemichordates, and Cephalochordates, will be held on Sept. 24-28, 2003 at Woods Hole, Mass. This is the most important gathering of researchers interested in the cell, molecular, developmental and evolutionary biology of non-vertebrate deuterostomes. It comes at a critical time for shaping future research because of the new genome sequence data for Ciona species and the emerging sequence of the sea urchin (S. purpuratus) genome. Formal sessions, workshops and informal discussions will be extremely important for coordinating collaborations associated with those projects. Progress and interest in studying the cell and developmental biology and evolution of non-vertebrate deutersotomes recently have been fueled by the identification of many relevant genes; by the development of methods and resources to study their function (e.g. morpholinos, arrayed clone libraries); and by the integration of the work of several laboratories in the elucidation of the gene regulatory networks that drive early development. Sea urchin and tunicate embryos offer many advantages for these studies and recent efforts have given new impetus to analysis of other non-vertebrate deuterostomes as well. The meeting brings together experimentalists to share their findings at the genomic, molecular, and cellular levels. The program includes 7 plenary sessions, 7 concurrent sessions and two workshops with a total of approximately 80 speakers. Poster sessions and discussions over meals add to the highly interactive atmosphere. The meeting is expected to attract an international group of about 175 investigators. Invitees will include all those interested in cell, development, and evolutionary mechanism in sea urchins, tunicates, hemichordates and cephalochordates. Plenary sessions will focus on the genomics of sea urchin and ascidian embryos; oocyte maturation; fertilization and the activation of development; early axial asymmetries; development and evolution of the nervous system, and gene regulatory networks. Concurrent sessions extend and supplement these topics and offer valuable opportunities for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to gain experience speaking at an international meeting. A genomics workshop will provide hands-on familiarization with the computational resources needed to make use of the sea urchin whole genome sequence that is accumulating this year. ? ?
