Conference: 1st Global Amphibian and Reptile Disease Conference

首届全球两栖和爬行动物疾病会议(GARD，2022年)将打破以学科为基础的竖井，将专注于研究两栖和爬行动物疾病的各种研究人员聚集在一起。这次会议将作为一个论坛，联合研究人员社区，讨论、比较和对比两栖动物和爬行动物疾病的各个方面。为此，本次会议将包括但不限于病毒学家、真菌学家、寄生虫学家、兽医、免疫学家、生态学家和病理学家。应对困扰两栖和爬行动物的传染病的影响，需要更全面地了解这些病原体的复制、传播和流行病学，致病性的分子基础，以及宿主免疫系统在此类感染中的作用。同时，要更好地了解这些疾病及其后果，需要深入了解病原体生态学，特别是解决寄主范围、寄主-病原体相互作用以及影响寄主易感性和抗药性的各种环境因素，如气候、海拔、紫外线照射、农用化学品和拟人化变化等问题。因此，2022年GARD会议将为研究爬行动物疾病的许多不同方面的科学家提供一个机会，结合他们各自的专业领域，从而提高全球对影响两栖和爬行动物的传染病的认识和了解的水平。统一第一届全球两栖和爬行动物疾病会议的总体目标是通过促进我们对导致这些动物疾病的主要因素的了解并制定缓解策略来控制它们，以减少两栖和爬行动物多样性的损失。为了实现这一目标，这次会议将加强调查人员之间的科学交流，这些调查人员的不同兴趣经常发现他们参加了不同的会议。2022年GARD会议还将通过全面的研讨会和演讲吸引初级研究人员，突出学生、博士后研究员和研究助理的研究。通过由教员所在的大学提供的外展计划，我们将促进少数族裔学生的参与，从而使他们融入我们的科学社区。此外，学生、博士后研究员和主要研究人员将通过GARD 2022提供的研讨会和实地考察获得实践培训，这将加强他们各自的研究努力，推进他们对两栖和爬行动物疾病的研究，并加强STEM总体研究。GARD的出席和参与将是性别平衡的，并将包括种族和民族多样性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The first Global Amphibian and Reptile Disease Conference (GARD, 2022) will break down discipline-based silos and bring together a diverse array of investigators focused on studying diseases of amphibians and reptiles. This conference will serve as a forum for uniting communities of investigators to discuss, compare, and contrast various aspects of amphibian and reptile diseases. To this end, this meeting will include, but will not be limited to virologists, mycologists, parasitologists, veterinarians, immunologists, ecologists, and pathologists. Dealing with the impacts of infectious diseases plaguing amphibians and reptiles requires a more comprehensive understanding of the replication, transmission, and epidemiology of these pathogens, the molecular bases underlying pathogenicity, and the roles of host immune systems during such infections. Concurrently, greater insight into these diseases and their resulting outcomes require in-depth knowledge of pathogen ecology, specifically addressing issues of host range, host-pathogen interactions, and the myriad environmental factors, such as climate, altitude, ultraviolet exposure, agrochemicals, and anthropomorphic changes, that impact host susceptibility and resistance. As such, the 2022 GARD meeting will provide an opportunity for scientists studying the many different facets of herpetological diseases to combine their respective areas of expertise and thus raise the level of global awareness and understanding of infectious disease impacting amphibians and reptiles.The overarching goal unifying the participants of the first Global Amphibian and Reptile Disease Conference is to diminish the loss of amphibian and reptile diversity by advancing our understanding of the principal agents contributing to diseases of these animals and developing mitigation strategies to control them. To accomplish that goal, this conference will improve scientific communication among investigators whose diverse interests often find them attending different meetings. The 2022 GARD meeting will also engage junior researchers through comprehensive workshops and presentations that prominently feature research from students, postdoctoral fellows, and research associates. Through outreach programs offered by the universities whose faculty are in attendance, we will facilitate participation by students from under-represented minorities, thereby integrating them into our scientific communities. Moreover, the hands-on training that students, postdoctoral fellows, and principal investigators will acquire through workshops and field trips offered at GARD 2022, will enhance their respective research endeavors, advance their studies of amphibian and reptile diseases, and strengthen STEM research in general. GARD attendance and participation will be gender-balanced and will include racial and ethnic diversity.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.