This award supports the participation of five young U.S. biologists in an international conference addressing the relatively new role of experimental genetics in the study of developmental biology. The conference was jointly organized by several European and American scientists, including William F. Dove of University of Wisconsin and Francois Jacob of the Institut Pasteur, Paris, France. The meeting is to be held May 7 - 11, 1990, in Provence, France. The participants have a common intellectual starting point - an understanding of phages and an appreciation of genetical experimental systems, i.e., the discovery of salient developmental mutants to identify key developmenal elements. However, they work with a wide variety of organisms including bacteria, nematodes, plants, drosophila, birds and mice. The conference will review the successes and limitations of this approach, familiarize the 30 or so participants with the experimental systems being used, and encourage new modes of thinking about developmental biology for the coming decade. Specific themes of the meeting include control of transcription versus post-translational interactions; lineages and polar divisions; cell interaction and signalling; and the genetics of dispensible versus essential developmental processes. The framework of the meeting is integrative questions such as: How broadly can one use the formalisms of regulatory loops to extend our understanding of development? In what ways does the reductionist tradition work, and in what ways not? What useful paradigm replaces the nineteenth century dualism of preformation/epigenesis? Participants include several leading contributors to this field as well as some promising younger scientists who will shape the future of developmental biology.
