Meeting: SDB 67th Annual Meeting, July 26-30, 2008 at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

发育生物学学会（SDB）成立于1939年，在过去的69年里组织了世界范围内发育生物学的主要会议，二战期间只缺席了两次。今年的会议将于2008年7月26日至30日在宾夕法尼亚州费城的宾夕法尼亚大学举行。深发展的会议一直吸引着有兴趣了解植物和动物如何发展的人，以及不同生物的发展如何适应进化的背景。一些让科学家和非专业人士都感兴趣的基本问题是：一个受精卵是如何产生成年人身上所有不同类型的细胞和器官的？触发这些过程的机制是什么？它们是如何被调节的？过去几十年的重大技术进步有助于在遗传、分子和细胞水平上更好地了解这些过程。我们现在知道，控制发育的基因突变可以解释许多人类出生缺陷，并在成人癌症等临床疾病中发挥重要作用。很明显，这些来自发育生物学的知识对我们对基本生物体功能的理解以及与农业、医学和国家安全政策相关的见解做出了重大贡献。与会者将展示他们的最新数据，其中许多尚未发表，为该领域的进步做出贡献。除了由知名研究人员组成的杰出演讲者阵容外，组织者还将选择包括博士后和研究生在内的年轻科学家进行简短的演讲，让他们有机会展示自己的工作并在社区中广为人知。这次会议也是提高本科、研究生和研究生水平的教育和指导的场所，也是在不同层次上使用不同方法研究不同生物的学者之间进行互动的场所，从成熟的研究者到刚刚进入该领域的人。

The Society for Developmental Biology (SDB) was founded in 1939 and has organized the major worldwide meeting in developmental biology for the past 69 years, missing only two during World War II. The meeting this year will be held at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, July 26-30, 2008.The SDB meetings have always attracted people interested in understanding how plants and animals develop, and how development in different organism fits into the context of evolution. Some basic questions that have fascinated both scientists and non-specialists are: How does a fertilized egg produce all the different cell types and organs found in the adult? What are the mechanisms that trigger these processes and how are they regulated? Major technological advances in the past decades have contributed to a better understanding of these processes at the genetic, molecular and cellular levels. We now know that mutations in genes controlling development account for many human birth defects and play major roles in clinical conditions like cancer in adults. It is clear that this knowledge from developmental biology contributes significantly to our understanding of fundamental organismal functions, as well as insights relevant to agriculture, medicine and national security policy. Meeting participants will present their latest data, many unpublished, contributing to advancement in the field. In addition to a line-up of outstanding speakers made up of established investigators, the organizers will choose junior scientists, including postdoctoral fellows and graduate students for short talks, giving them an opportunity to showcase their work and become known in the community. This meeting is also the venue for improving education and mentoring at undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate levels, and for interactions among an otherwise disparate community of scholars working on different organisms using varied approaches and at all levels, from well-established investigators to those just entering the field.