The Sixteenth Ovarian Workshop, """"""""The Ovary: Signaling Mechanisms Regulating Development and Dysfunction"""""""" will be held July 19-21, 2007 in San Antonio, Texas at the Sheraton Hotel. The Ovarian Workshop provides a forum for clinicians, scientists, and students to exchange ideas and current concepts on the development, regulation, and maintenance of the ovary without regard to disciplinary boundaries. The Workshop promotes the presentation and exchange of ideas at the frontiers of research in female reproductive biology. The scientific program has evolved into an internationally respected conference attracting scientists from diverse backgrounds who share a common interest in understanding the function of cells in the ovary. The goal of the proposed meeting is to advance our understanding of ovarian function so that this basic knowledge can be translated to clinical applications to enhance or control fertility and to treat, reduce, and/or eliminate ovarian dysfunctions and cancer. The format at this Workshop expands on the theme of translational research that reaches from bench to bedside by incorporating new basic science together with clinically relevant issues and presentations by clinical scientists. The theme of the workshop is ovarian development and includes a variety of topics on sex determination, follicle assembly, new concepts in follicle engineering and diseases that impact ovarian formation or function. The program includes two key-note addresses and posters sessions related to the theme of the Workshop. New investigators will be invited to submit expanded abstracts that will be evaluated for scientific merit and competition for travel awards and the Cornelia P. Channing New Investigator Award. The program has an outstanding list of speakers who are new to this venue, and provides trans-disciplinary topics with clinical relevance and a focus on fellows and cutting edge science. These ingredients make the Ovarian Workshop the premier program in ovarian biology in the nation. The goal of this Ovarian Workshop is to advance our understanding of ovarian function so that this basic knowledge can be translated to clinical applications to enhance or control fertility and treat, reduce and/or eliminate ovarian dysfunction and cancer. These conditions include: sex reversal; metabolic disease that adversely impacts ovarian function; steroid excess, including hyperandrogenic states leading to hirsutism; acne and alopecia; infertility treatments for women with ovarian dysfunction; preservation of fertility for women with cancer; the prevention and treatment of gynecological cancers related to ovarian dysfunction, including endometrial and ovarian cancer; and environmental threats to reproductive function. Further, given the public controversies that surround many of these treatments, our goal is to provide all participants with the ethical framework to understand the varying positions of the many constituents who weigh in on these issues. ? ? ?
