Conference: "2011 Molecular Genetics of Bacteria and Phages"; to be held August 2-7, 2011, in Madison, Wisconsin.

科学影响。这项NSF拨款将为研究生、博士后研究员和一些缺乏资金的新研究人员提供旅行奖励，以参加将于2011年8月2日至7日在麦迪逊的威斯康星州大学举行的2011年细菌和噬菌体分子遗传学会议。申请人将通过在科学期刊上刊登广告和直接向过去和可能的会议与会者发送电子邮件来招募。广告将收件人引向会议网址（http：//www.union.wisc.edu/phages/index.html），其中载有申请旅费赠款的说明。所有申请旅行奖的人都必须提交一份口头或海报介绍的摘要和一封概述财政需要的信。申请和摘要由会议组织者审查，他们根据科学价值和经济需要提供赠款。细菌和噬菌体的分子遗传学会议是原始的直接后裔？噬菌体会议由Delbruck，Luria，Hershey及其同事在20世纪40年代组织，因此是专注于原核分子生物学的最古老的科学聚会。会议地点现在在冷泉港实验室和麦迪逊的威斯康星州大学之间交替。虽然多年来会议的重点已经扩大，但它仍然致力于创立会议的物理学家，化学家和微生物学家的以问题为导向的哲学。会议提供了一个论坛，介绍和讨论现代原核分子生物学的最新研究成果和技术进展。这是许多研究原核生物的实验室的主要科学会议，当在麦迪逊举行时，平均出席人数超过325人。会议的一个中心方面和主要吸引力是所提出的研究的广度，从基本的噬菌体遗传学到有机体基因组学/蛋白质组学，从原子水平的结构功能分析到微生物细胞生物学，从单分子生物化学到病毒自组装，从宿主相互作用到生态学和进化。研究领域的多样性反映在所研究的生物体的多样性上，包括模式生物以及与环境和医学相关的细菌和真菌。 更广泛的教育影响。会议的一个主要目标是为研究生，博士后研究员和其他年轻科学家提供广泛的教育经验，他们占会议与会者的一半以上。几乎所有参加这次会议的研究生和博士后都做了海报或口头报告。这是为数不多的开放式会议之一，其中大多数口头报告都是从提交的摘要中选出的，所有充满活力的海报会议都是在整个会议期间举行的。因此，大部分的演示文稿是由实际执行研究的人给出的。此外，还邀请了顶尖科学家对10个科学会议进行全面介绍，并就自己的工作进行简短演讲。会议主席既有资深调查员，也有处于职业生涯早期阶段的杰出的新兴调查员。世界著名科学家卡罗尔·格罗斯博士和约翰·罗斯博士也将发表两个主题演讲。会议领导人和主旨发言人在整个会议期间都留在现场。因此，科学专家总是在观众席上，这确保了高科学标准，以及在会谈结束时提出批评性但支持性的问题和评论。研究生，博士后研究员和初级和高级教师的紧密联系为科学互动创造了独特的氛围。组织者考虑到性别平衡，并试图让尽可能多的少数民族科学家担任会议主席和发言人。在细菌和噬菌体分子遗传学领域的一些最重要的发现每年在这个会议上提出和讨论。

Scientific Impact. This NSF grant will fund travel awards for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and some starting investigators who lack funding, to attend the 2011 Molecular Genetics of Bacteria and Phages Conference to be held at the University of Wisconsin, Madison from August 2-7, 2011. Applicants will be recruited by advertisements in scientific journals and direct emails to past and probable conference attendees. The advertisement directs the recipient to the conference web site (http://www.union.wisc.edu/phages/index.html), which contains instructions for applying for a travel grant. All applicants for the travel awards are required to submit an abstract for an oral or poster presentation and a letter outlining financial need. The applications and abstracts are reviewed by the conference organizers, who award travel grants based on scientific merit and financial need. The Molecular Genetics of Bacteria and Phages conference is the direct descendent of the original ?phage meetings? organized by Delbruck, Luria, Hershey, and colleagues in the 1940s, and thus is the oldest scientific gathering focused on prokaryotic molecular biology. The conference site now alternates between its historical home at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories and the University of Wisconsin, Madison. While the focus of the meeting has expanded over the years, it still remains dedicated to the problem-oriented philosophy of the physicists, chemists, and microbiologists who founded the meeting. The conference provides a forum for the presentation and discussion of the latest research findings and technical advances in modern prokaryotic molecular biology. It is the primary scientific meeting for many laboratories working with prokaryotes, and when held in Madison, the average attendance is over 325. A central aspect and major attraction of the meeting is the breadth of the research presented, ranging from basic phage genetics to organismal genomics/proteomics, from atomic level structure-function analyses to microbial cell biology, from single-molecule biochemistry to viral self-assembly, and from host interactions to ecology and evolution. The diversity of research areas is mirrored by the diversity of organisms investigated, including model organisms as well as environmentally and medically relevant bacteria and phages. Broader Educational Impact. A key objective of the meeting is to provide a broad educational experience for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and other young scientists who constitute over half of the attendees of the meeting. Nearly all the graduate students and postdoctoral fellows attending this meeting give a poster or oral presentation. It is one of the few remaining open-program meetings, where the majority of the oral presentations are selected from submitted abstracts and all of the vibrant poster sessions run for the entire meeting. Consequently, most of the presentations are given by the people actually performing the research. In addition, leading scientists are invited to present comprehensive introductions to the 10 scientific sessions and short talks on their own works. The session chairs represent a mixture of established senior investigators and prominent emerging investigators at earlier stages of their careers. Two keynote lectures will also given by world-renowned scientists, Dr. Carol Gross and Dr. John Roth. The session leaders and keynote speakers remain on site for the entire meeting. As such, scientific experts are always in the audience, which ensures high scientific standards and critical yet supportive questioning and commentary at the conclusion of talks. The close proximity of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior and senior faculty generates a unique atmosphere for scientific interactions. The organizers take into account gender balance and try to include as many minority scientists as possible as session chairs and presenters. Some of the most important findings in the field of bacterial and phage molecular genetics are presented and discussed yearly at this meeting.