Gordon Research Conference: 2009 Fertilization and the Activation of Development Gordon Research Conference, July 12-17, 2009 at Holderness School, Holderness, New Hampshire

在许多物种中，产生一个新个体需要精子和卵子、雄性和雌性配子的融合。这一关键事件被称为受精，涉及细胞过程，如分化、运动、信息交换、识别、融合和发育，这些都是现代生物学的核心。随着配子生理学的一些基本概念的修订，在受精和早期发育领域召开会议是一个激动人心的时刻。第十七届戈登施肥与发育激活研究会议（GRC）将提供一个论坛，介绍和讨论这个令人兴奋、快速发展的领域的新发展和新思想。这是唯一与配子相互作用有关的GRC，导致受精的重要过程和受精卵的激活，开始胚胎形成的过程。它提供了一个良好的氛围，促进生物化学家，细胞生物学家，分子生物学家，生理学家，遗传学家和在该领域工作的生物物理学家之间的丰富互动。这次会议非常成功地促进了经验和资历迥异的科学家之间的合作，促进了美国以及欧洲、日本、澳大利亚和拉丁美洲的研究实验室之间的合作。这些合作产生了许多卓有成效的成果。自1974年以来，来自该领域的研究人员、博士后和学生不断参加该会议；当被问及这个问题时，许多人表示“这是该领域最好的会议”。关于参与受精的分子机制的基本概念和见解来自于这次会议的形式所促进的会议和个别讨论。毫无疑问，这些知识最终会影响生殖和人类福祉的临床问题。

Generating a new individual in many species requires the fusion of sperm and egg, the male and female gametes. This crucial event, called fertilization, involves cellular processes such as differentiation, motility, information exchange, recognition, fusion and development that lay at the heart of modern biology. This is an exciting time to hold a conference in the field of fertilization and early development as some basic concepts in gamete physiology are being revised. The seventeenth Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on fertilization and the activation of development will provide a forum for presentation and discussion of new developments and ideas in this exciting, rapidly advancing field. This is the only GRC concerned with gamete interaction leading to the vital process of fertilization and activation of the fertilized egg to begin the process of embryo formation. It provides an excellent atmosphere that promotes rich interactions amongst biochemists, cell biologists, molecular biologists, physiologists, geneticists, and biophysicists working in the field. This conference has been singularly successful in fostering collaborations among scientists with widely disparate experience and seniority and, among research laboratories in this country and in Europe, Japan, Australia and Latin America. These collaborations have led to many fruitful results. Since 1974, researchers, postdoctoral fellows and students from the field keep attending this conference; when asked, many indicate "it is the best conference in the field". Fundamental concepts and insights about the molecular mechanisms involved in fertilization come out of the sessions and individual discussions that the format of this meeting promotes. Without doubt, this knowledge eventually impacts clinical issues in reproduction and human well-being.