Meeting: The path less traveled: Reciprocal illumination of gecko adhesion by unifying material science, biomechanics, ecology, and evolution; Jan 3-7, 2019, Tampa, Florida

几个世纪以来，壁虎一直吸引着公众和科学家的想象力。它们可以粘在光滑的表面上，甚至可以倒立行走。卓越的壁虎胶粘剂系统已成为进化创新和合成设计的典范。在过去的二十年里，对壁虎的研究和壁虎本身一样多样化，包括生态学、进化论、形态学、生物力学和材料科学等领域。事实上，自2002年以来，人们对壁虎启发的粘合剂的兴趣激增，但目前进展缓慢，因为材料科学家和工程师与生物学家之间的对话和合作没有达到应有的程度。结果，前者缺乏对这些蜥蜴使用其粘附机制的“真实世界”的了解，后者才刚刚开始认识到仿生学家和工程师的发现可以为他们自己的研究提供新的途径。研讨会将探讨基础和应用方法如何相互阐明壁虎生物学和壁虎启发的合成粘合剂设计中具有挑战性的问题的答案。新兴的合作和洞察力将推动新的研究路径，这将导致设计和形成有利于社会的产品。此外，目前对壁虎多样性的了解将会扩大，从而更深入地了解这些独特的动物。演讲者的名单超越了职业阶段、性别和国籍，从而培养了多样化的STEM科学家。壁虎胶粘剂系统的研究需要跨尺度的整合，并明确强调了整合方法的好处。尽管在过去的15年里取得了很大的进展，但该领域还没有形成真正的综合方法。现在需要推动该领域向前发展的是生态学家、进化生物学家、形态学家、生物力学家和材料科学家之间的联系和合作。本次研讨会旨在解决生物生物学研究领域的重大挑战，包括：理解生物在生物-环境联系中的作用（通过解决在不同时间尺度上限制或促进对不断变化的环境进行调整的物理、生理和遗传因素）；探索生物的功能多样性（通过促进应用研究人员和生物生物学家之间的合作，以推进生物启发技术）；整合生活和物理系统分析（通过跨学科的灵感和持续合作的发展）；了解基因组如何产生生物体（通过了解产生特定表型的调控网络、整合和反馈，以及介导环境对表型表达和表现影响的机制和反馈）。研讨会将纳入与壁虎粘附相关的新兴领域，如基因组学、生物化学和行为学，从而扩大当前研究和应用的范围。本次专题讨论会和补充会议的广泛贡献将促进在若干方面取得进展。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Geckos have captured the imagination of the public and scientists for centuries. They can stick to smooth surfaces, and even walk inverted. The remarkable gecko adhesive system has become a model for evolutionary innovation and synthetic design. Gecko research over the past two decades has been as diverse as the group itself, including ecological, evolutionary, morphological, biomechanical, and material science foci. Indeed, interest in gecko-inspired adhesives has exploded since 2002, but progress is now slowing because dialogue and collaboration between materials scientists and engineers on one hand, and biologists on the other, is less intense than it should be. As a result, the former lack the knowledge of the "real world" in which these lizards employ their adhesive mechanism, and the latter have only just begun to recognize that the findings of biomimeticists and engineers can inspire new avenues for their own investigations. The symposium will explore the ways in which fundamental and applied approaches can reciprocally illuminate answers to challenging questions in gecko biology and gecko-inspired design of synthetic adhesives. The emergent collaborations and insight will fuel a new research path that will lead to the design and formation of products that will benefit society. In addition, the current understanding of gecko diversity will expand, leading to a deeper appreciation of these unique animals. The list of speakers transcends career stages, gender, and nationality, leading to the training of diverse STEM scientists.Study of the gecko adhesive system requires integration across scales and clearly highlights the benefits of an integrative approach. Although much progress has been made over the past 15 years, the field has fallen short of a true integrative approach. What are now needed to propel the field forward are connections and collaborations between ecologists, evolutionary biologists, morphologists, biomechanists, and material scientists. The symposium is designed to address grand challenges in the areas of research devoted to organismal biology, as follows: Understanding the organism's role in organism-environment linkages (by addressing physical, physiological and genetic factors that constrain or promote adjustment to changing environments over different time scales); Exploring the functional diversity of organisms (by fostering collaborations between applied researchers and organismal biologists to advance bio-inspired technology); Integrating living and physical systems analysis (through cross-disciplinary inspiration, and the development of sustained collaborations); Understanding how genomes produce organisms (by understanding regulatory networks, integration and feedbacks that produce particular phenotypes, and mechanisms and feedbacks that mediate environmental effects on phenotypic expression and performance). The symposium will incorporate emerging areas pertinent to gecko adhesion, such as genomics, biochemistry and behavior, thereby expanding the reach of current research and application. The breadth of the contributions in this symposium and complementary sessions will foster advances on several fronts.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.