Conference Support for the Tenth Congress of the International Society for Developmental and Comparative Immunology to be held in Charleston, South Carolina , July 1-6, 2006

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The International Society for Developmental and Comparative Immunology (ISDCI) have been meeting every 3 years for the last 27 years through an International Congress in order to bring together the community of researchers working in developmental, comparative and evolutionary immunobiology for exchange of information and new ideas and to develop new collaborative projects. The previous Congress was held at St. Andrews in Scotland in 2003 and brought together delegates from 28 countries. This Congress provides 1) a forum in which this community of scientists can assess, collectively, the state of the field and the direction in which it is moving 2) unique opportunities for the exchange of information in both formal and informal settings, and 3) the chance for young researchers to present their ideas to established workers in their field, and to engage in scientific debate. The Congress has traditionally been a venue where many new research collaborations, both national and international, have been incubated. The Society is committed to providing, in its Congress, a research forum in which all scientists working in developmental, comparative and evolutionary immunobiology can actively participate. Thus, while invited plenary speakers and chairs of sessions will mostly be drawn from the pool of senior researchers, the Congress will be structured to allow many short oral presentations, which provide valuable experience for younger scientists, especially postdoctoral researchers and graduate students, to present their work. The poster sessions will be structured to ensure that everyone who wishes to present a poster will be able to do so. In order to maximize the value of the poster sessions, the Congress will set aside two blocks of time that are scheduled only for poster viewing. In addition to the oral and poster presentations, the Congress will also schedule Workshops. The Workshops will deal with more focused topics and will permit researchers who have very specific interests in a particular area to exchange information and ideas in an informal atmosphere. As part of its major commitment to the future of the discipline, ISDCI is particularly interested in providing opportunities for young scientists, women and under-represented minorities to participate in their meetings. ISDCI traditionally provides substantial numbers of travel bursaries to young scientists to facilitate their participation, and makes every effort to contribute to the participation costs of every applicant who is either a graduate student or a postdoctoral fellow.