Conference: 15th International Conference on Arabidopsis Research, to be held in Berlin, Germany, July 2004

该项目将为2004年7月11日至14日在德国柏林Estrel会议中心举行的第15届拟南芥研究国际会议提供支持。其目的是为国际拟南芥社区的研究人员提供一个交流思想的机会。会议将包括关于发展，细胞生物学，与环境（非生物和生物）的相互作用，自然变异和比较基因组学（包括基因组进化和适应），代谢，遗传机制，新工具，技术和资源，建模/虚拟植物/生物信息学和非拟南芥（拟南芥模型的局限性）研究的会议。会议的一个重要组成部分是，将从提交的摘要中选出大约36名发言者进行简短的会谈。研究生，博士后研究人员或在他们职业生涯的早期阶段的主要研究人员将给出这些讲座的大部分。这将确保介绍最新成果，并为选定的发言者提供重要的职业发展机会。更广泛的影响：拟南芥研究实验室之间协同互动的一个关键组成部分是有机会与来自世界各地的同事见面并分享研究成果。拟南芥研究年会已被证明是实现这一目标的一个非常有效的场所。当然，这次会议也提供了一个工具，传播对拟南芥的研究，以更广泛的植物科学家，包括那些谁与作物物种的工作。确保来自不同背景的科学家的参与对美国科学的活力至关重要。过去，这次会议在吸引妇女和青年科学家担任会议主席、发言人和与会者方面取得了很大成功，并将继续强调这些群体在各级的参与。一个关键目标是增加少数民族科学家的参与。为实现这一目标，会议组织者将采取重要的新办法，促进代表性不足的少数群体研究人员和少数群体服务机构的科学家的参与。

This project will provide support for the 15th International Conference on Arabidopsis Research to be held at the Estrel Convention Center in Berlin, Germany, July 11th to 14th, 2004. The aim is to provide an opportunity for the exchange of ideas among researchers of the international Arabidopsis community. The conference will include sessions on development, cell biology, interaction with the environment (abiotic and biotic), natural variation and comparative genomics (including genome evolution and adaptation), metabolism, genetic mechanisms, novel tools, techniques, and resources, modeling / the virtual plant / bioinformatics, and non-Arabidopsis (limitations of the Arabidopsis model) research. An important component of the conference is that approximately 36 speakers will be chosen from submitted abstracts for short talks. Graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, or principle investigators at early stages of their careers will give the majority of these talks. This will ensure presentation of the latest results and provide important career development for the selected speakers. Broader Impacts: A key component in the synergistic interactions among Arabidopsis research labs has been the opportunity to meet and share research with colleagues from around the world. The Annual Conference on Arabidopsis Research has proven to be a highly effective venue for this purpose. Of course, the meeting also provides a vehicle for dissemination of research performed on Arabidopsis out to the broader community of plant scientists, including those who work with crop species. Ensuring the participation of scientists from diverse backgrounds is critical to the vitality of science in the United States. In the past this conference has had good success in attracting women and young scientists as session chairs, speakers and participants, and will continue to emphasize participation of these groups at all levels. A key goal is to increase participation among minority scientists. To achieve this objective, the conference organizers will undertake significant, new approaches to foster participation of underrepresented minority researchers and scientists from minority-serving institutions.