Funds are requested to help support expenses for invited speakers for the 53rd annual symposium of the Society for Developmental Biology (SDB). The meeting will be of medium size (300-400 registrants); junior-level attendees will be provided with some financial support. The meeting will include a broad range of topics; plant, animal and microbial systems will all be represented in sessions organized around developmental problems and themes rather than particular systems or organisms. Approximately sixty scientific talks will be presented; there will be a series of six plenary sessions as well as eight minisymposia. The minisymposia will be organized and chaired by experts in the individual areas, but most of the talks will be given by junior people.
