This application requests partial support for the 6th International Fission Yeast Meeting to be held in Boston June 25 - 30, 2011. Fission yeast is an important model organism for biomedical research that has provided many fundamental insights into human disease biology. The importance of the meeting to the fission community is demonstrated by the high level of participation, with over half of all fission yeast labs expected to attend, and the fact that all participants pay full registration costs to attend. The general goals of the this conference are three fold: to bring together the bulk of the fission yeast community to allow for the exchange of ideas and the establishment of collaborations between labs working on different topics;to introduce new labs to fission yeast;and to give young scientist - students, post docs and junior PIs - an opportunity to present their work to a broad audience. The requested funding will be used to encourage young scientists to be nominated to speak at the meeting by covering all registration costs for students presenting in plenary sessions. Successful completion of this meeting will contribute to the future success of fission yeast research and help to cultivate the relationships required to make new breakthroughs in basic biomedical research.
The meeting will be held at the Harvard Medical School Joseph B. Martin Conference Center. The main auditorium seats 530 and there is exhibit space for 120 posters. Talks, posters, meals and housing are all within in easy walking distance, which will encourage maximum interactions between participants. The site is in the heart of the Longwood section of Boston, with easy access to public transportation and the Boston airport. Housing will be offered across the street at Simons College. 350 air-conditioned dorm rooms (125 singles and 225 doubles) are available. In addition, a block of rooms will available at the nearby Longwood Best Western Hotel, although participants will need to reserve them themselves. Based on past attendance, I project that 300-350 will stay in the dorms, 100 will opt to stay in the hotel and 50 local participants will not need housing. All meals will be served at the Simmons cafeteria, which can accommodate 600 at one sitting. Coffee breaks will be held at the conference center during the morning and evening session. The concurrent sessions will be held in Simmons lecture halls. The rooms seat between 150 and 300 and are all in the same building, which will allow people to move from one session to another. All of the meeting and dining facilities are handicap accessible;handicap-accessible dorm rooms are also available.
