Conference: Bridging the divide between the C. elegans and parasitic nematode research communities: June 21-25th, 2017; Los Angeles, CA

寄生虫，也被称为寄生线虫，感染全世界超过10亿人，是主要的农业害虫，造成数十亿美元的农作物损失和牲畜减产。尽管对公共卫生和食品安全产生了巨大影响，但可用于抗击这些寄生虫的药物和化学品数量有限，而且对特定药物的抗药性正在显现。因此，需要新的方法来控制寄生虫。秀丽隐杆线虫是一种非寄生线虫，由一个庞大而强大的研究社区进行研究，该社区拥有一套强大的工具来研究其生物学。然而，线虫群落和寄生虫学群落之间的互动历来有限。这次研讨会将使线虫生物学家和寄生虫学家在国际线虫会议(将于2017年6月21日至25日在加利福尼亚州洛杉矶举行)期间聚集在一起，以便在这些社区之间架起桥梁，并推动新的方法和合作来控制寄生蛔虫。资金将用于资助寄生虫问题专家，包括女性和代表不足的少数群体发言者的旅费，并允许代表不足的少数群体学生出席和参加这次讲习班以及线虫会议的其他部分。这次会议的主要目的是教育和促进寄生虫群落和线虫研究人员之间的互动和合作。特别是，目标是提高线虫科学家对寄生蛔虫研究人员面临的问题的认识，并为将其应用于寄生蛔虫研究铺平道路，这些方法和技术促进了线虫研究的进步。即将召开的国际线虫会议为接触大多数线虫研究人员提供了最好的机会。将在该次会议上组织一次会议，由六名植物、动物和人类寄生线虫专家就寄生物种的生活史和独特生物学及其领域的悬而未决的问题发言。除了对线虫社区进行教育外，还将为两个社区的研究人员提供互动的时间。目的是激励线虫研究人员思考寄生线虫研究和控制面临的问题，并将他们的专业知识应用于解决这些问题。为此目的，会后将举办第二次更非正式的活动，提供与受邀发言者进行一对一对话的机会。这个研讨会是独一无二的，因为它嵌入了线虫半年一次的会议，确保了与大量线虫调查人员的接触。

Parasitic roundworms, also known as parasitic nematodes, infect over one billion people worldwide and are major agricultural pests, causing the loss of billions of dollars in crops and reduced production from livestock. Despite this massive impact on public health and food security, a limited number of drugs and chemicals are available to combat these parasites, and resistance to particular drugs is emerging. Novel approaches are therefore needed to control parasitic roundworms. Caenorhabditis elegans is a non-parasitic nematode that is studied by a large, robust research community which possesses a powerful collection of tools to study its biology. However there is historically limited interaction between the C. elegans community and the parasitology community. This workshop will bring together C. elegans biologists and parasitologists during the International C. elegans Meeting (to be held in Los Angeles, CA June 21-25th, 2017) in order to bridge these communities and to drive new approaches and collaborations to control parasitic roundworms. Funds will be used to support travel expenses for experts on parasitic roundworms, including female and underrepresented minority speakers, and to allow underrepresented minority students to attend and participate in this workshop as well as the rest of the C. elegans meeting. The primary objective of this conference is to educate and promote interactions and collaborations between the parasitic roundworm community and C. elegans researchers. In particular, the goal is to increase awareness among C. elegans scientists of the issues and problems that parasitic roundworm researchers face, and pave the way for applying to parasitic roundworm studies the powerful approaches and technologies that have advanced C. elegans research. The upcoming International C. elegans Meeting provides the best opportunity to reach the majority of C. elegans researchers. A session will be organized at that meeting in which six experts on plant, animal and human parasitic nematodes speak on the life history and unique biology of parasitic species and on the outstanding issues in their field. In addition to educating the C. elegans community, time will be provided for researchers in the two communities to interact. The goal is to stimulate C. elegans researchers to think about problems facing the study and control of parasitic nematodes and to apply their expertise toward solving these problems. To this end, a second, more informal event will be hosted after the session to provide opportunities for one-on-one conversations with the invited speakers. This workshop is unique, because it is embedded within the C. elegans biannual meeting, ensuring exposure to a large number of C. elegans investigators.