GRC/GRS Venom Evolution, Function and Biomedical Applications: Bridging Gaps in Venom Research: From Ecology and Evolution to Socio-Economic Impacts

戈登研究会议（GRC）和戈登研究研讨会（GRS）毒液进化，功能和生物医学应用代表了独特的国际论坛，分享关于毒液进化，功能和应用的前沿研究。动物毒液是在许多动物谱系中独立产生的关键进化适应，以协助防御、捕食和竞争。毒液是自然界已知的一些最复杂的分泌物，由毒素和其他生物活性化合物组成，其分子结构和目标在整个动物王国中通常是相似的。这些特征使毒液成为回答进化生物学基本问题的优秀系统，并且这些毒素是未开发的新化合物资源，具有巨大的生物技术应用潜力，包括药物先导物和杀虫剂。毒液GRC和GRS将汇集来自学术界和工业界的高级和初级研究人员，确定毒液研究的关键领域，建立合作以推进该领域，并评估挑战和机遇，以在基础科学和应用科学方面取得更大的影响。该奖项将专门为早期职业研究人员，包括研究生、博士后、女性和其他科学界代表性不足的少数群体，提供参加2022年Venom GRS（2022年8月6日至7日）和GRC（2022年8月7日至12日）的机会。这将为早期职业研究人员提供一个很好的平台来分享他们的工作，同时建立联系和国际网络，从而促进毒素研究的合作。GRS将特别为这一努力提供帮助，由来自工业界和学术界的导师组成的小组将提供职业建议，并与与会者讨论他们的背景，以培养未来毒液研究领导者的职业生涯。2022年毒液GRC和GRS的具体主题是“弥合毒液研究的差距：从生态和进化到社会经济影响”。联合计划包括13个专题会议，邀请演讲者和早期职业和成熟研究人员的精选演讲，以及6个互动海报会议，为参与者提供世界级的毒液跨学科研究视角。会议重点讨论了毒液领域合作和跨学科创新的一些最重要的挑战和机遇，包括“毒液的功能生态学和生物多样性”、“毒液研究的新兴模型”、“毒素结构和功能”以及“毒液的生物医学和农药应用”等。GRC和GRS的指导原则是鼓励交流，讨论领域前沿的想法和未发表的结果，强调个人互动和社区建设。因此，这些GRC和GRS会议是建立一个强大、多样化和有凝聚力的毒液研究社区的绝佳机会，能够培养创新的方法来应对毒液研究领域最重要的挑战和机遇。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。

The Gordon Research Conference (GRC) and Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) on Venom Evolution, Function and Biomedical Applications represent unique international forums to share cutting-edge research on the evolution, function, and applications of venom. Animal venoms are key evolutionary adaptations that have originated independently in many animal lineages to assist in defense, predation, and competition. Venoms are some of the most complex secretions known in nature and are made up of toxins and other bioactive compounds whose molecular structure and targets are often similar throughout the animal kingdom. These features make venoms excellent systems to answer fundamental questions in evolutionary biology, and these toxins are untapped resources of novel compounds with great potential for biotechnological applications including drug leads and pesticides. The Venom GRC and GRS will bring together senior and junior researchers from academia and industry to define key areas of venom research, establish collaborations to advance the field, and evaluate challenges and opportunities to achieve a greater impact in basic and applied science. This award will specifically enable early career researchers, including graduate students, postdocs, women and other underrepresented minorities in science, to attend both the 2022 Venom GRS (August 6-7, 2022) and GRC (August 7-12, 2022). This will provide an excellent platform for early career researchers to share their work, while establishing connections and international networks leading to collaborations that will advance venom research. The GRS specifically will aid in this endeavor by concluding with a panel of mentors from industry and academia to offer career advice and discuss their background with attendees, fostering the careers of the future leaders of venom research. The specific theme of the 2022 Venom GRC and GRS is “Bridging Gaps in Venom Research: From Ecology and Evolution to Socio-Economic Impacts”. The combined programs include 13 topical sessions featuring invited speakers and selected presentations by both early career and established researchers, and six interactive poster sessions to provide participants with a world-class view of the interdisciplinarity of venom research. The sessions highlight some of the most important challenges and opportunities for collaboration and interdisciplinary innovation in the venom field and include “Functional Ecology and Biodiversity of Venom”, “Emerging Models in Venom Research”, “Toxin Structure and Function” and “Biomedical and Pesticidal Applications of Venom” among others. The guiding principle of GRC and GRS is to encourage communication, discussion of ideas and unpublished results at the frontier of the field, emphasizing personal interactions and community-building. As such, these GRC and GRS meetings are an outstanding opportunity to build a strong, diverse and cohesive venom research community able to cultivate innovative approaches to address the most important challenges and opportunities for the field of venom research.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.