Meeting: Ctenopalooza - A Workshop on Ctenophore Biology, March 14-15, 2015, Saint Augustine, Florida

第一届栉水母生物学国际研讨会将于2016年3月14-15日在佛罗里达州圣奥古斯丁的惠特尼海洋生物科学实验室举行。这次会议将汇集研究栉水母生物学的研究人员。栉水母，也被称为栉水母，是一群几乎在所有海洋环境中都能发现的动物（沿海和海洋，深海和地表水）。大多数种类是浮游的，并通过八条纤毛带的跳动来移动，这是将该群体联系起来的独特形态特征。最近的生物地理学和进化论发现，以及已发表的基因组资源和进入深水的途径，给这些动物带来了极大的关注，导致了研究活动的复苏。本次国际栉水母研讨会的目的是将新兴的栉水母生物学家社区聚集在一起，促进跨学科合作，讨论社区资源的改进和扩展，并分享与现场，实验和培养技术相关的专业知识。此外，该研讨会旨在促进初级科学家（本科生、研究生和博士后研究人员）与高级研究人员之间的互动，以激励下一代栉水母生物学家识别和承担只有通过研究栉水母才能回答的重大开放性问题。最近对这些迷人而重要的动物的兴趣的涌入为探索未来的方向和解决扩大栉水母研究的一些挑战提供了机会。这将是第一次完全致力于研究栉水母的会议，结果将发表在一个开放获取的期刊上，以促进研讨会期间产生的想法尽可能广泛地传播。最近的研究表明，栉水母是所有其他动物的姐妹群体，因此，它们是了解所有动物最后共同祖先生物学的关键群体。这些发现已被两个栉水母完整核基因组的分析所证实。这些数据的可用性和系统发育位置的含义（例如，动物内部神经细胞类型的独立起源或丧失）引起了广泛关注，对这些动物的研究也越来越多。尽管人们对栉水母的兴趣持续增长，但对这些动物的研究相对较少，而且经常被歪曲。因此，重要的是确定改善和扩大社区资源的方法，以及分享与培养和实验技术有关的专门知识。研讨会将汇集来自不同领域（如分类学、生态学、神经生物学、进化和行为学）的研究人员，以确定改善资源的方法，促进合作，并促进跨学科方法来研究这些独特的生物。

The first international workshop on ctenophore biology will be held at the Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience in St. Augustine, FL on March 14-15, 2016. This meeting will bring together researchers studying the biology of ctenophores. Ctenophores, also known as comb jellies, are a group of animals found in nearly all marine environments (coastal and oceanic, deep sea as well as surface waters). Most species are planktonic and move by the beating of eight ciliary bands, which is the distinct morphological character uniting the group. Recent biogeographic and evolutionary findings, as well as published genomic resources and access to deep water have brought a great deal of attention to these animals, resulting in a revived research activity. The purpose of this international ctenophore workshop is to bring together the burgeoning community of ctenophore biologists, foster cross-disciplinary collaborations, discuss improvements and expansion of community resources, and share expertise relating to field, experimental, and culture techniques. Furthermore, the workshop has been designed to foster interactions between junior scientists (undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral researchers) and senior researchers to inspire the next generation of ctenophore biologists to identify and take on the big open questions that can only be answered by studying ctenophores. The recent influx of interest in these fascinating and important animals presents an opportunity to explore future directions and address some of the challenges for expansion of ctenophore research. This will be the first meeting completely dedicated to studying ctenophores, and the results will be published in an open-access journal to facilitate the broadest possible distribution of ideas generated during this workshop.Recent studies suggest that ctenophores are the sister group to all other animals and as such, are a critical group for understanding the biology of the last common ancestor of all animals. These findings have been corroborated by analyses of the complete nuclear genomes of two ctenophores. The availability of these data and the implications of the phylogenetic position (e.g., independent origin or loss of neural cell types within animals) have captured the attention of a wide audience, and research on these animals has grown. Although interest in ctenophores continues to grow, these animals remain relatively poorly studied and often misrepresented. Thus, it is important to identify ways to improve and expand community resources, as well as share expertise relating to culturing and experimental techniques. The workshop will bring together researchers from a variety of fields (e.g., taxonomy, ecology, neurobiology, evodevo, and behavior) to identify ways to improve resources, to foster collaborations, and to promote cross-disciplinary approaches to studying these unique creatures.