The development of a fertilized egg into a fully-grown person relies on a basic toolkit of genes that are conserved in all animals. Identifying the components of the toolkit and understanding their function is not only essential for understanding human development, but also for understanding the diversity of body forms we find in nature. Humans share many genes with sea urchins, including those that turn on and off during embryonic development. Sea urchins, along with starfish, sea squirts and other marine invertebrates are therefore powerful models for studying development, because their embryos rapidly develop outside the mother, and also because they are closely related to vertebrates and humans. This conference brings together an international group of scientists and students that use sea urchins, sea stars and other invertebrates to study the basic mechanics and evolution of development. This conference brings together investigators applying cutting edge genomic, bioinformatic and imaging approaches to share their findings in a small meeting format. The meeting also provides opportunities for junior faculty and students to present their findings, with 60% of speaking slots offered to postdoctoral fellows and graduate students, and funds will be used to support the participation of these scientists in training. Lastly, sea urchin embryos provide a powerful educational tool, and the conference supports the travel of faculty and their students from primarily undergraduate institutions We will host a panel session on the use of these organisms in K-12 and undergraduate education. In summary, this award will not only support a small but vibrant community of scientists dedicated to understanding one of the most complex problems in biology, 'How does an egg develop into a human? but will also foster the next generation of developmental biologists. as well as supporting faculty and undergraduates from primarily undergraduate institutions.
Conference Support for the Developmental Biology of the Sea Urchin XXI IOS 1302013 This award provided support for the 21st "Developmental Biology of the Sea Urchin XXI" conference, which was held at the Marine Biological Laboratory on October 24-27, 2012. http://biology-web.nmsu.edu/~shuster-lab/DBSU/Program.html This is the primary international meeting for researchers who use the echinoderms and other basal deuterostomes as a model to study fertilization, developmental mechanisms, and evolution. The meeting has traditionally focused on the sea urchin as a model system for studying development, but for DBSU XXI, we featured investigators using hemichordates, ascidians, cnidarians, ctenophores, and polychaetes, thus providing a diversity of animal models for development that are not typically highlighted at the Society for Developmental Biology annual meetings. In addition to broadening the developmental models, the program also featured a broader scientific focus, with multiple sessions dedicated to the cell biology and evolutionary aspects of development. There were 133 in attendance, representing 50 institutions and 10 countries. and included 91 plenary and concurrent speakers. The final program reflected a true diversity of questions and approaches with strong representation in all aspects of animal development and evolution. The primary goal of the award was to help foster the next generation of developmental biologists by supporting the participation of graduate students, women, and junior faculty, as well as faculty and students from primarily undergraduate institutions. Historically, undergraduates have not been a major presence at the meeting, even though the small meeting format represents an excellent environment for students to give their first scientific presentation. Twenty individuals were awarded travel reimbursements, including seven undergraduate students and three faculty from undergraduate institutions. Additionally, five awardees were from underrepresented backgrounds. In addition to financially supporting these individuals, the conference organizers increased the usual representation of women and junior faculty as speakers and session chairs at these meeting. 70% of plenary and concurrent sessions were chaired by women and/or junior faculty. Thus, travel awards assisted in the greater mission of student training and broadening participation in developmental biology. There was also a lively and well attended educational session, that described practical ways to use marine invertebrates in developmental biology courses.
