SDB 66th Annual Meeting/1st Pan American Cong Dev Biol, Cancun, Mexico, June 16-20, 2007

发育生物学学会（SDB）自1939年成立以来一直举办年会，二战期间只缺席了两次。这些会议一直被认为是世界范围内的重大事件，在发育生物学领域的最新发现被提出。2007年，SDB将与拉丁美洲发育生物学学会和墨西哥生物学会合作，在墨西哥坎昆格兰梅里亚酒店举办第一届泛美发育生物学大会。经过多年的外联和合作，以加强对西半球领域的了解和研究，现在召开首届大会的时机已经成熟。43位受邀演讲者将在三场全体会议和六场同期会议上报告他们最激动人心的发现，主题涵盖从植物和动物胚胎的早期发育到神经系统的模式和生殖。从提交的摘要中选择了另外40位演讲者，主要是初级研究人员，在同期会议和博士后研讨会上进行简短的演讲。所有其他注册者将在海报环节展示他们最近的成绩。由于教育是深发展使命的主要重点，因此该项目包括一个关于交流科学的研讨会，撰写科学论文的研讨会，选择最合适的博士后培训和资助机会的研讨会。未被充分代表的少数民族学生、博士后研究员以及主要教学部门或本科院校的教师将获得旅费援助，以便在会议上发表论文。首届泛美大会延续了深发展年会的传统，为与会者提供了一个学术氛围，不仅可以传播他们的新科学发现，还可以建立未来的培训或合作。

The Society for Developmental Biology (SDB) has been organizing annual meetings since its foundation in 1939, missing only two during the WW II. These meetings have always been considered the major worldwide event where the latest discoveries in the field of developmental biology are presented. In 2007, together with the Latin American Society for Developmental Biology and the Sociedad Mexicana de Biologia del Desarrollo, SDB will organize the First Pan American Congress in Developmental Biology at Gran Melia Hotel, Cancun, Mexico. The time is now ripe to hold this first congress after many years of SDB's outreach and collaboration to enhance the understanding and research in the field in this hemisphere. The 43 invited speakers will report their most exciting findings in three plenary and six concurrent sessions, covering topics from early development of the plant and animal embryo to patterning of the nervous system and reproduction. Forty additional speakers, mostly junior investigators, have been chosen from submitted abstracts for short talks in the concurrent sessions and the postdoctoral symposium. All other registrants will present their recent results in poster sessions. Since education is a major emphasis in SDB's mission, a symposium on communicating science without the jargon, workshops on writing a scientific paper, on choosing of the most appropriate postdoctoral training and on funding opportunities are included in the program. Underrepresented minority students, postdoctoral fellows, as well as faculty from primarily teaching departments or undergraduate institutions will receive travel assistance to present their papers at the meeting. This First Pan American Congress follows SDB annual meetings' tradition to provide a collegial atmosphere for the participants to not only disseminate their new scientific findings, but also to forge future trainings or collaborations.