Meeting: The path less traveled: Reciprocal illumination of gecko adhesion by unifying material science, biomechanics, ecology, and evolution; Jan 3-7, 2019, Tampa, Florida

几个世纪以来，壁虎一直吸引着公众和科学家的想象力。它们可以粘在光滑的表面上，甚至倒立行走。卓越的壁虎粘合剂系统已成为进化创新和综合设计的典范。在过去的二十年里，壁虎的研究一直是多样化的，包括生态学，进化，形态学，生物力学和材料科学的焦点。事实上，自2002年以来，人们对壁虎启发的粘合剂的兴趣已经爆发，但现在进展正在放缓，因为材料科学家和工程师与生物学家之间的对话和合作并不那么激烈。因此，前者缺乏对"真实的世界"的了解，而后者才刚刚开始认识到，仿生学家和工程师的发现可以为他们自己的研究开辟新的途径。研讨会将探讨基础和应用方法如何能够阐明壁虎生物学和壁虎启发的合成粘合剂设计中具有挑战性的问题的答案。新兴的合作和洞察力将推动一条新的研究道路，这将导致设计和形成有益于社会的产品。此外，目前对壁虎多样性的理解将扩大，从而更深入地欣赏这些独特的动物。演讲者的名单超越了职业阶段，性别和国籍，导致不同的STEM科学家的培训。壁虎粘合剂系统的研究需要跨尺度的整合，并明确强调了整合方法的好处。虽然在过去15年中取得了很大进展，但该领域还没有达到真正的综合办法。现在需要推动该领域的发展是生态学家，进化生物学家，形态学家，生物力学家和材料科学家之间的联系和合作。本次研讨会旨在解决致力于生物学研究领域的重大挑战，如下：了解生物体在生物体-环境联系中的作用（解决在不同时间尺度上制约或促进适应不断变化的环境的物理、生理和遗传因素）;探索生物体的功能多样性（通过促进应用研究人员和生物学家之间的合作，以推进生物启发技术）;集成生命和物理系统分析（通过跨学科的启发，以及持续合作的发展）;了解基因组如何产生生物体（通过理解产生特定表型的调控网络、整合和反馈，以及介导环境对表型表达和表现的影响的机制和反馈）。研讨会将纳入新兴领域有关壁虎粘附，如基因组学，生物化学和行为，从而扩大目前的研究和应用范围。本次研讨会和补充会议的广泛贡献将促进在几个方面的进步。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

Geckos have captured the imagination of the public and scientists for centuries. They can stick to smooth surfaces, and even walk inverted. The remarkable gecko adhesive system has become a model for evolutionary innovation and synthetic design. Gecko research over the past two decades has been as diverse as the group itself, including ecological, evolutionary, morphological, biomechanical, and material science foci. Indeed, interest in gecko-inspired adhesives has exploded since 2002, but progress is now slowing because dialogue and collaboration between materials scientists and engineers on one hand, and biologists on the other, is less intense than it should be. As a result, the former lack the knowledge of the "real world" in which these lizards employ their adhesive mechanism, and the latter have only just begun to recognize that the findings of biomimeticists and engineers can inspire new avenues for their own investigations. The symposium will explore the ways in which fundamental and applied approaches can reciprocally illuminate answers to challenging questions in gecko biology and gecko-inspired design of synthetic adhesives. The emergent collaborations and insight will fuel a new research path that will lead to the design and formation of products that will benefit society. In addition, the current understanding of gecko diversity will expand, leading to a deeper appreciation of these unique animals. The list of speakers transcends career stages, gender, and nationality, leading to the training of diverse STEM scientists.Study of the gecko adhesive system requires integration across scales and clearly highlights the benefits of an integrative approach. Although much progress has been made over the past 15 years, the field has fallen short of a true integrative approach. What are now needed to propel the field forward are connections and collaborations between ecologists, evolutionary biologists, morphologists, biomechanists, and material scientists. The symposium is designed to address grand challenges in the areas of research devoted to organismal biology, as follows: Understanding the organism's role in organism-environment linkages (by addressing physical, physiological and genetic factors that constrain or promote adjustment to changing environments over different time scales); Exploring the functional diversity of organisms (by fostering collaborations between applied researchers and organismal biologists to advance bio-inspired technology); Integrating living and physical systems analysis (through cross-disciplinary inspiration, and the development of sustained collaborations); Understanding how genomes produce organisms (by understanding regulatory networks, integration and feedbacks that produce particular phenotypes, and mechanisms and feedbacks that mediate environmental effects on phenotypic expression and performance). The symposium will incorporate emerging areas pertinent to gecko adhesion, such as genomics, biochemistry and behavior, thereby expanding the reach of current research and application. The breadth of the contributions in this symposium and complementary sessions will foster advances on several fronts.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.