Basic Research for the Future: Opportunities in Microbiologyfor the Coming Decade, March 1-3, 1996 in Daytona Beach, FL

9423342佩恩美国微生物学会将召开一次由顶尖科学家参加的学术讨论会，讨论美国研究面临的最困难的挑战之一：确定微生物学中最有前途的研究领域，特别是那些提供最大潜力形成长期利益和机会的领域。将准备一份白皮书报告，向广泛的微生物学界、工业界、关心微生物研究的政策制定者和适当的联邦机构传播这套深入的分析和建议。最终报告也将向公众提供。微生物学对提高农业生产力、维持环境质量和改善人类健康作出了重大贡献。随着现代技术的进步，该领域现在的定位是为公众的科研投资提供最佳回报。强大的新分析技术的可用性-如聚合酶链反应（PCR）， DNA探针的发展，转座子基因插入，扫描隧道显微镜和膜入口质谱-丰富了微生物学的前景。然而，与过去十年的研究一样重要的是，微生物界必须确定哪些科学领域有希望解决我们在环境、可替代生物降解材料的开发以及未来十年改善人类状况方面最关键的问题。该奖项由美国国家科学基金会生物科学理事会颁发，由分子和细胞生物科学部以及环境生物学部共同资助。美国微生物学会将召集一群来自学术界和工业界的顶尖科学家，向大家交流他们对各自领域的科学现状和未来发展方向的看法。他们将制作一份文件，概述微生物学研究中哪些令人兴奋的领域可以用于造福人类，并了解细菌如何利用它们存在的世界上独特的地方。这次会议将使对细菌活动感兴趣的政府机构、科学家和公众受益。＊＊＊

9423342 Payne The American Academy of Microbiology will convene a colloquium of leading scientists to deliberate on one of the most difficult challenges facing research in the United States: identification of the most promising research areas in microbiology, particularly those that offer the greatest potential form long-term benefits and opportunities. A white paper report will be prepared to disseminate this in-depth set of analyses and recommendations to the broad microbiological community, to industry, to policy makers who have concerns about microbiological research and to appropriate federal agencies. The final report will also be made available to the lay public. Microbiology has contributed significantly to more productive agriculture, to sustaining the quality of the environment and to improving human health. With modern technological advances, the field is now positioned to provide the public with optimal return for its scientific research investment. The availability of powerful new analytical techniques--such as the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), development of DNA probes, gene insertion by transposons, scanning tunneling microscopy, and membrane-inlet mass spectrometry--enriches the prospects lying ahead in microbiology. However, as significant as research has been over the past decade, it is critical that the microbiological community identify those scientific areas that present the promise to solve our most critical problems in the environment, in development of alternative biodegradable materials, and in improving the human condition over the next decade. This Award is made by the NSF Directorate for Biosciences, funded jointly by the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences and the Division of Environmental Biology. %%% The American Academy of Microbiology will convene a group of leading scientists from both academic and industrial pursuits to communicate to the group their vision of where the science in their areas is now and where it will go to in the fut ure. They will produce a document outlining where the exciting areas in microbiological research are that can be utilized for the benefit of humankind, and the understanding of how bacteria exploit their unique places in the world where they exist. This meeting will benefit governmental agencies that are interested in bacterial activities, scientists, and the general public. ***