Funds are requested for partial support of the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Society for Developmental Biology, to be held July 24 - 28, 2004 at the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The Society has organized the major meeting in developmental biology for the past 65 years, missing two during World War II. The meeting size has doubled in the past five years (623 to 1289) and abstract submission has almost doubled as well (442 to 801).
1. What is the intellectual merit of the proposed activity? Participants will be presenting their latest and most important discoveries, many yet to be published, contributing to advancement of knowledge in the field. As it has become a successful tradition, the scientific sessions in platform and poster formats encompass work on diverse organisms including plants, invertebrates and vertebrates. Most of the invited speakers have already accepted the invitation to tell us about some of their most exciting findings in the following areas: Stem cells, Homeoboxes - Twenty years on, how do they explain development? Role of microRNAs in development, The imaginal disc:Development from top to bottom, Patterning, Evo-Devo, Tissue and organ development, Emerging organisms, Inhibition as a mechanism of development, Developmental biology and human health, Transgenics and imaging, Genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics. An additional 24 speakers will be chosen from submitted abstracts for short talks, allowing the inclusion of the latest results and providing an opportunity for postdoctoral fellows and graduate students to address a large audience, as priority will be given to junior investigators.
2. What are the broader impacts of the proposed activity? This year, the Education Symposium will offer an opportunity for scientists to learn how to be more effective teachers of large biology classes, to understand the different ways students learn and to promote active learning. This session will certainly vitalize the way many scientists teach. The meeting will be a timely venue to fulfill the need for public forums in which scientific facts can be aired, such as in the often ill-informed -debate- that occurs in newspapers and in political circles concerning the subject of human cloning and stem cell research; thereby providing the basis for well-informed policy decisions.
They expect an attendance of about 800 people, and most of them will present their new data in the dedicated poster sessions each day. The meals taken together in the campus cafeteria and the social hours around the posters will provide a forum to bring together junior and senior investigators, and to allow them to exchange ideas on science, education and the role of science in todays society. Travel awards will be available to bring underrepresented minorities, students and postdoctoral fellows, faculty at primarily undergraduate institutions, as well as Latin American faculty and students to attend the meeting.
