Symposium: Society Developmental Biology Annual Meetings 2009-2011, July 23-27, 2009 at the Hyatt Regency, San Francisco, CA

发育生物学领域包括几个科学学科，探索从植物到人类的复杂生物体是如何从单个受精卵产生的。发育生物学学会成立于1939年，在过去的70年里组织了这一主题的主要全球会议，在第二次世界大战期间错过了两次。在这些会议上，各个职业水平的科学家交流并分享他们的最新成果。最近的一个例子是约翰·吉尔哈特（John Gearhart）博士发表的关于分离和培养人类胎儿干细胞的第一份公开报告，为再生医学领域铺平了道路。关于利用不同模式生物调节发育过程的其他基本发现有助于改善人类以及动物和环境的健康。虽然大多数参与者来自美国，其中许多人获得了美国国家科学基金会（National Science Foundation）的资助，但也有一些来自世界各地的研究人员参加了会议。会议在全国各地轮流举行，以减轻来自不同地区的调查人员的旅行负担，并展示一系列主办大学。学生、博士后学员和初级教师有充分的机会在海报会议上展示他们的实验结果，并选择最好的人做简短的演讲。此外，这些会议还提供讲习班，以促进初级调查员的职业发展，并教授他们在职业道路上应对挑战的技能。人们对发育生物学这一核心生物学问题有着长期的兴趣，公众对出生缺陷、克隆和干细胞等问题也越来越感兴趣。这突出了这门学科在科学进步和公众教育方面的重要性。

The field of developmental biology encompasses several scientific disciplines that explore how complex organisms, from plants to humans, arise from a single fertilized egg. The Society for Developmental Biology, founded in 1939, has organized the major worldwide meeting in this subject for the past 70 years, missing two during World War II. At these meetings, scientists at all career levels communicate and share their latest results. A recent example is the first public report on the isolation and culture of human fetal stem cells by Dr. John Gearhart, paving the way for the field of regenerative medicine. Other basic findings on regulation of the process of development using different model organisms have contributed to improvements in health of people as well as of animals and environment. Although the majority of participants are from the United States, many of whom receive grants from the National Science Foundation, some investigators attend from around the world. The meetings rotate across the country to ease the travel burden for investigators from various regions, as well as to showcase a range of hosting universities. Students, postdoctoral trainees and junior faculty are given ample opportunity to present their experimental results in poster sessions, and the best ones are chosen to give short talks. In addition, workshops are offered at these meetings to promote career advancement of junior-investigators and teach them skills to navigate the challenges along their career path. There is long-term interest in the subject of developmental biology, which is a central biological problem, as well as increasing public interest in issues such as birth defects, cloning and stem cells. This highlights the importance of the subject both in terms of scientific advancement and public education.