U.S.-Australia Seminar: New Frontiers in Cellular Interactions in Cnidarian/Dinoflagellate Symbioses

0605804 weis该奖项支持美国研究人员、博士后和研究生参加将在澳大利亚Heron岛举行的美澳联合研讨会，该研讨会的主题是刺胞/鞭毛藻共生中细胞相互作用的新领域。共同组织者是俄勒冈州立大学的Virginia Weis教授和澳大利亚布里斯班昆士兰大学的Ove Hoegh-Guldberg教授。许多刺胞动物，包括珊瑚，与光合鞭毛藻进行内共生。这些关联具有全球意义，因为珊瑚构成了珊瑚礁生态系统的营养和结构基础。世界范围内的珊瑚礁数量正在减少，这在很大程度上是由于共生伙伴关系破裂导致的珊瑚白化现象。由于我们缺乏对动物/鞭毛藻合作伙伴关系背后的基本细胞和分子事件的理解，对负责漂白的细胞机制的深入了解受到了阻碍。迫切需要发起一项国际努力，使来自细胞生物学和其他动物/微生物相互作用生物学家领域的研究人员研究珊瑚/鞭毛藻共生，以便提供他们的专门知识和观点。这些专家将在澳大利亚大堡礁的赫伦岛研究站（Heron Island Research Station）举行研讨会，这是世界上最重要的珊瑚研究设施之一。美国和澳大利亚拥有世界上最多的珊瑚生物学家，他们研究这种共生关系。讲习班将使他们能够开始一项国际倡议，旨在了解构成珊瑚基础的细胞和分子伙伴之间的相互作用。深入了解这些过程的本质最终可以帮助我们预测珊瑚是否有能力在气候变化中生存。此外，对相对未被充分研究的刺胞细胞和鞭毛细胞的研究增加，可能很好地揭示细胞-细胞信号传导、协调基因调控、细胞周期控制、细胞形态发生和细胞分裂的新方面。该研讨会将为美国博士后和研究生提供一个获得全球研究经验的绝佳机会，因为他们将参与实验室项目，实地考察和海报会议。预计他们将在其整个职业生涯中与外国研究人员保持联系和合作。组织者将创建一个网站，提供有关研讨会及其发现的信息。此外，他们将向几个专业协会提交讲习班摘要，以便在通讯中发表。

0605804WeisThis award supports the participation of American researchers, postdocs and graduate students in a U.S.- Australia joint workshop on new frontiers in cellular interactions in cnidarian/dinoflagellate symbioses to be held on Heron Island in Australia. The co-organizers are Professor Virginia Weis at Oregon State University and Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Many cnidarians, including corals, engage in an endosymbiosis with photosynthetic dinoflagellates. These associations are of global significance as corals form both the trophic and structural foundation of coral reef ecosystems. Coral reefs are in decline worldwide due in large part to the phenomenon of coral bleaching, which results from the breakdown of the symbiotic partnership. Insight into the cellular mechanisms responsible for bleaching has been hampered by our lack of understanding of the very basic cellular and molecular events underlying the cooperative animal/dinoflagellate partnership. There is an urgent need to launch an international effort to bring investigators into coral/dinoflagellate symbioses from the fields of cell biology and other animal/microbe interaction biologists in order to provide their expertise and perspective. The workshop will bring these experts together at Heron Island Research Station on Australia s Great Barrier Reef, one of the world s premiere coral research facilities. The United States and Australia together have the world s largest concentration of coral biologists who study the symbiosis. The workshop will enable them to begin an international initiative aimed at understanding the cellular and molecular inter-partner interactions that form the foundation of corals. Insight into the nature of these processes could ultimately help us predict whether corals have the capacity to survive climate change. In addition, the increased study of the relatively understudied cnidarian and dinoflagellate cells may well reveal novel aspects of cell-cell signaling, coordinated gene regulation, cell-cycle control, and cellular morphogenesis and cytokinesis. The workshop will provide the US postdocs and graduate students an excellent opportunity to receive a global research experience, as they will participate in lab projects, field excursions and a poster session. It is anticipated that they will maintain contacts and collaborations with the foreign researchers throughout their careers. The organizers will create a website that will provide information about the workshop and its findings. In addition they will submit workshop summaries to several professional societies for publication in newsletters.