FASEB Conference on Mechanisms in Plant Development; August 7-11, 2004; Saxtons, VT

植物的生长和发育方式与动物完全不同。因此，对植物发育的了解对于解决基础生物学(例如，地球上的生命进化了什么发展策略)和应用生物学(例如，如何控制植物生长以提高边缘土壤的生产力)中的问题非常重要。目前，对植物用于正常生长和发育的分子机制只有一个初步的了解。这次名为“植物发育机制”的研究会议致力于传播和讨论植物发育生物学领域许多主要研究人员的最新发现。重点将是比较不同的方法和实验系统，以揭示植物完成其发育程序所使用的共同分子机制。这次会议将汇集致力于研究广泛的发展问题并使用不同方法的研究人员。为了促进互动，会议按发展主题组织，而不是按实验有机体或采用的方法组织。会议预计将向与会者提供该领域的最新观点，通过为未来研究创造新的方向来提高他们的研究生产率，并促进具有互补兴趣的研究人员之间的合作。这次会议的一个更广泛的影响是，许多研究生、博士后科学家和初级研究人员将有机会直接从主要研究人员那里了解该领域的最新发现。此外，所有与会者将能够利用他们在这次会议上获得的知识，为他们所在小组的研究人员提供更好的培训，并改进他们教授的课程的内容。

Plants grow and develop in ways that are fundamentally different from animals. An understanding of plant development is therefore important for solving problems in basic biology (e.g. what developmental strategies have evolved in life on Earth) as well as applied biology (e.g. how can plant growth be manipulated to enhance productivity in marginal soils). Currently, only a rudimentary understanding of the molecular mechanisms that plants use to grow and develop properly has been achieved. This research conference, entitled "Mechanisms in Plant Development", is devoted to disseminating and discussing the recent findings from many of the leading investigators in the field of plant developmental biology. The emphasis will be on comparing diverse approaches and experimental systems to uncover the common molecular mechanisms employed by plants to accomplish their developmental programs. The conference will bring together researchers engaged in studying a broad range of developmental problems and using different methodologies. To stimulate interactions, the sessions are organized by developmental topic, rather than by the experimental organism or approach employed. The conference is expected to provide the participants with an up-to-date view of the field, to enhance their research productivity by generating new directions for future research, and to stimulate collaborations between investigators with complementary interests. A broader impact of this conference is that numerous graduate students, postdoctoral scientists, and junior researchers will have an opportunity to learn about the most recent findings in this field directly from the principal investigators. In addition, all of the participants will be able to employ the knowledge they gain at this conference to provide better training of researchers in their groups and to improve the content of the courses they teach.