Meeting: SDB 67th Annual Meeting, July 26-30, 2008 at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

发育生物学学会(SDB)成立于1939年，在过去的69年里组织了发育生物学的重大全球会议，第二次世界大战期间只缺席了两次。今年的会议将于2008年7月26-30日在宾夕法尼亚州费城的宾夕法尼亚大学举行。发育生物学学会的会议一直吸引着人们对了解植物和动物的发育，以及不同生物体的发育如何适应进化的背景感兴趣。一些让科学家和非专家都着迷的基本问题是：受精卵是如何产生成人身上发现的所有不同细胞类型和器官的？触发这些过程的机制是什么？它们是如何受到监管的？过去几十年的重大技术进步有助于在遗传、分子和细胞层面更好地了解这些过程。我们现在知道，控制发育的基因突变是许多人类出生缺陷的原因，并在成人癌症等临床疾病中发挥重要作用。显然，这种来自发育生物学的知识对我们理解基本的生物功能以及与农业、医学和国家安全政策相关的见解有很大贡献。与会者将介绍他们的最新数据，其中许多数据尚未公布，有助于该领域的进步。除了由知名研究人员组成的杰出演讲者阵容外，组织者还将选择初级科学家进行简短演讲，其中包括博士后研究员和研究生，让他们有机会展示自己的工作并在社区中出名。这次会议也是改善本科生、研究生和研究生各级教育和指导的场所，也是利用不同方法和各级研究不同生物体的不同学者社区之间互动的场所，从知名的研究人员到刚刚进入该领域的人。

The Society for Developmental Biology (SDB) was founded in 1939 and has organized the major worldwide meeting in developmental biology for the past 69 years, missing only two during World War II. The meeting this year will be held at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, July 26-30, 2008.The SDB meetings have always attracted people interested in understanding how plants and animals develop, and how development in different organism fits into the context of evolution. Some basic questions that have fascinated both scientists and non-specialists are: How does a fertilized egg produce all the different cell types and organs found in the adult? What are the mechanisms that trigger these processes and how are they regulated? Major technological advances in the past decades have contributed to a better understanding of these processes at the genetic, molecular and cellular levels. We now know that mutations in genes controlling development account for many human birth defects and play major roles in clinical conditions like cancer in adults. It is clear that this knowledge from developmental biology contributes significantly to our understanding of fundamental organismal functions, as well as insights relevant to agriculture, medicine and national security policy. Meeting participants will present their latest data, many unpublished, contributing to advancement in the field. In addition to a line-up of outstanding speakers made up of established investigators, the organizers will choose junior scientists, including postdoctoral fellows and graduate students for short talks, giving them an opportunity to showcase their work and become known in the community. This meeting is also the venue for improving education and mentoring at undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate levels, and for interactions among an otherwise disparate community of scholars working on different organisms using varied approaches and at all levels, from well-established investigators to those just entering the field.