CSHL Conference on Molecular Genetics of Bacteria & Phages being held at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on August 20-24, 2008

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This award will provide funds for graduate student travel to attend the 2008 Molecular Genetics of Bacteria and Phages Conference held from August 20-24, 2008 at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island. Applicants will be recruited by advertisements in scientific journals and e-mails to past and probable attendees. The advertisements direct students to the conference web site, which contains instructions for applying for a travel grant. The application requires an abstract of the student's proposed oral or poster presentation. The applications and abstracts are reviewed by the three meeting organizers, who award the travel grants based on scientific merit and financial need. The Molecular Genetics of Bacteria and Phages Conference is the direct descendant of the original "phage meetings" organized by Delbruck, Luria, Hershey and colleagues in the1940s, and thus it is the oldest scientific gathering focusing on prokaryotic molecular biology. This annual, typically 6-day meeting was traditionally held at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, but since 1997 the meeting has been held in alternate years at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and at Cold Spring Harbor. Although the scope of the meeting has greatly expanded with time, its main thrust has remained constant. This conference is intended to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and information and to discuss the latest research findings and technical advances in modern prokaryotic biology. The meeting brings together scientists who use the tools of molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry, structural analysis, and cell biology to learn about bacteria and phages. The Molecular Genetics of Bacteria and Phage Conference is the primary scientific meeting for most laboratories working with prokaryotes, and when held in Cold Spring Harbor the average attendance is 200. A major attraction is the wide range of topics presented, ranging from basic phage genetics to organismal genomics/proteomics, from atomic-level structure-function analyses to microbial cell biology, and from single molecule biochemistry to viral self-assembly. Another key feature of this meeting is that over half the attendees are graduate students, and most of them present a talk or poster. In addition, leading senior scientists are invited to this meeting to present comprehensive introductions to the 10 scientific sessions and remain on site for the entire meeting. With planned close proximity of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior and senior faculty, a unique atmosphere is created for scientific interactions which are beneficial for all, but especially for the graduate students. Many postdoctoral mentors and job candidates are discovered at this meeting. In summary, this award will provide travel grants to encourage and assist graduate students working on various aspects of prokaryotic molecular biology to attend one of the premier meetings in their field. This meeting provides a unique wide-ranging education experience and encourages students to present their results to their peers as well as senior scientists. Scientific experts are always in the audience, which ensures high scientific standards and acute questioning and commentary at the conclusion of talks. Furthermore, this meeting provides opportunities for young and senior scientists to interact, which stimulates everyone's research and often leads to future training and academic job opportunities.