Conference: International Symposium on the Comparative Biology of the Alpha-Proteobacteria to be held in Blacksburg, VA on April 26-29, 2006

关于α -变形菌比较生物学的国际研讨会将于2006年4月26日至29日在弗吉尼亚州布莱克斯堡的弗吉尼亚理工学院和州立大学的弗吉尼亚生物信息学研究所举行。本次研讨会将作为一个重要的论坛，以促进对这一重要微生物群体的基本认识，并将重点关注这些物种基因组的进化适应以及这些生物应对环境变化的机制。它还将涵盖细胞内生活方式，发育过程和代谢的基因组学，功能基因组学和生物信息学挑战，以支持信息获取，存储，管理，整合和传播。这次及时的研讨会抓住了对α -变形菌群进行广泛比较的机会，为关键的发育和进化过程提供了深入的见解。研讨会将汇集α -变形菌的世界领导者以及大量的本科生，研究生和博士后，这将激发思想和兴奋的协同作用。招募工作将针对诸如奇卡诺人和美国土著科学促进会这样的组织。要求资助尽可能多地支持这些年轻科学家。研讨会将定义并启用跨部门计划，最大化跨系统的杠杆作用，并将跨学科团队聚集在一起。

The International Symposium on the Comparative Biology of the Alpha-Proteobacteria will be held at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia on April 26 thru 29, 2006. The symposium will serve as a key forum to advance the fundamental understanding of this important group of microorganisms and will focus on the evolutionary adaptations of the genomes of these species and the mechanisms used by these organisms to respond to changes in their environment. It will also cover intracellular lifestyles, the genomics of developmental processes and metabolism, functional genomics, and bioinformatics challenges to support information acquisition, storage, management, and integration and dissemination. This timely symposium seizes the opportunity for broad comparisons of alpha-proteobacteria to provide deep insight into key developmental and evolutionary processes. The symposium will bring together world leaders in alpha-proteobacteria along with a large number of undergraduate, graduate students, and post-docs which will stimulate a synergy of ideas and excitement. Recruiting efforts will target organizations such as The Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science. Funding is requested to support as many of these junior scientists as possible. The symposium will define and enable cross-cutting initiatives, maximize leverage across systems, and bring transdisciplinary teams together.