The 2013 Archaea: Ecology, Metabolism, and Molecular Biology Gordon Research Conference (GRC) will be held on July 28-August 2, 2013 in Lucca (Barga), Italy. Archaea, one of three major evolutionary lineages of life, are a diverse and fascinating group of microbes with deep roots overlapping those of eukarya. The objectives of this conference are to communicate and discuss ideas at the frontiers of science and technology in archaeal research. The meeting will expand on a number of emerging topics, highlighting new paradigms in archaeal physiology and metabolism, protein structure and function, systems biology and genomics, transcription and small RNAs, the ecology and diversity of the archaea, translation and post-transcriptional regulation, replication, repair and recombination, archaeal viruses and cellular defense, the archaeal cell envelope and the central role of archaea in understanding the evolution of early life and eukaryotes.
A diverse and gender-balanced slate of speakers and discussion leaders have been recruited for the conference. A key goal is to encourage participation by graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty from small colleges (including community colleges). Special efforts will be made to support students from underrepresented groups or students from laboratories with limited resources. Students and postdoctoral fellows will present and discuss their research in four poster sessions. In addition, at the beginning of each session two students selected from submitted abstracts will give a short talk to present their research findings. Thus young scientists will be given the opportunity to exchange ideas and make contacts in the formal and informal environment provided by the GRC and will be exposed to cutting-edge archaeal research.
The Gordon Research Conference on ARCHAEA: ECOLOGY, METABOLISM & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY was held at Renaissance Tuscany Il Ciocco Resort, Lucca (Barga), Italy, July 28 – August 2, 2013. The Conference was well-attended with 152 participants (attendees list attached). The attendees represented the spectrum of endeavor in this field coming from academia, industry, and government laboratories, both U.S. and foreign scientists, senior researchers, young investigators, and students. Of the 152 attendees, 36 voluntarily responded to a general inquiry regarding ethnicity which appears on our registration forms. Of the 36 respondents, 20% were Minorities – 11% Hispanic, 6% Asian and 3% African American. Approximately 42% of the participants at the 2013 meeting were women. In designing the formal speakers program, emphasis was placed on current unpublished research and discussion of the future target areas in this field. There was a conscious effort to stimulate lively discussion about the key issues in the field today. Time for formal presentations was limited in the interest of group discussions. In order that more scientists could communicate their most recent results, poster presentation time was scheduled. Attached is a copy of the formal schedule and speaker program and the poster program. In addition to these formal interactions, "free time" was scheduled to allow informal discussions. Such discussions are fostering new collaborations and joint efforts in the field.
