Hydroidfest: A Workshop on Hydroid Biology, September 23-25, 2016, Bodega Bay, CA

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"Hydroidfest 2016" will take place September 23-25, 2016 at the Bodega Bay Marine Laboratory in Bodega Bay, California. This meeting will focus on hydroids, a group of aquatic animals with untapped, but exciting potential for developmental biology and neurobiology research. Major breakthroughs are made using model laboratory animals (e.g. mouse or fruit fly) to understand basic concepts that will apply to many or all animals. Traditionally, only a small number of model animals are used by researchers due to the limitation of experimental techniques in non-model animals; this can lead to biases and knowledge gaps. Recent breakthroughs in technology allow a great expansion in the number of animal models, which will dramatically increase insight into fundamental biological processes. One such group of interesting, but understudied animals are hydroids. A small but growing number of scientists have used hydroids to make fundamental discoveries and with newly developed technologies are now poised to make major breakthroughs. This burgeoning hydroid community will meet at "Hydroidfest 2016" to discuss new ideas, learn about new technologies, form new collaborations, and foster community growth. The meeting will focus particularly on encouraging interactions between experienced scientists and new trainees, with an emphasis on increasing diversity. This meeting will have a very positive effect on the hydroid research community and will be established as a biennial event. Hydroids are exciting laboratory models for making fundamental discoveries in many areas of biology, including development and neurobiology: 1) They have a simple and well-understood body plan that has been key to understanding developmental concepts such as Wnt signaling; 2) They have an informative phylogenetic position: they are in the clade that is sister to bilaterians and therefore discoveries made often reflect deeply conserved eukaryotic processes; 3) Hydroids are transparent, which greatly facilitates live imaging, particularly for recording the activity of the nervous system; 4) The study of colonial hydroids (e.g. Hydractinia) offers insights into the early evolution of metazoans and the origins of self-/non-self-recognition, and; 5) Hydroids are a great model for stem cell biology and aging, as Hydra has an estimated lifespan upwards of 3000 years. These topics will be the major scientific focus of this meeting, with an emphasis on bringing new technological approaches to bear on the biology of hydroids, particularly in combination with traditional techniques such as grafting and aggregating cell suspensions into new animals. Three technology workshops led by experts outside of the hydroid community will focus on: 1) Live imaging; 2) Genome editing with CRISPR-Cas9, and; 3) Collecting and analyzing genomic and transcriptomic data. This exciting and informative scientific program will enormously benefit the community of scientists working on hydroids.