Developmental Biology of Sea Urchins-XV

描述(由申请人提供)：海胆细胞和发育生物学研究社区的154次会议，与从事尾索动物、半角动物和头索动物的研究人员一起，将于9月9日举行。2003年24-28日，马萨诸塞州伍兹霍尔这是对非脊椎动物后口动物的细胞、分子、发育和进化生物学感兴趣的研究人员最重要的聚会。它出现在塑造未来研究的关键时刻，因为新的Ciona物种基因组序列数据和新出现的海胆(S.Puratus)基因组序列。正式会议、讲习班和非正式讨论对于协调与这些项目有关的协作极为重要。最近，由于确定了许多相关基因，开发了研究其功能的方法和资源(如吗啡、阵列克隆文库)，以及整合了几个实验室在阐明驱动早期发育的基因调控网络方面的工作，推动了对非脊椎动物后生生物细胞和发育生物学及进化研究的进展和兴趣。海胆和被囊类胚胎为这些研究提供了许多优势，最近的努力也为其他非脊椎动物后口动物的分析提供了新的动力。这次会议将实验者聚集在一起，在基因组、分子和细胞水平上分享他们的发现。该方案包括7次全体会议、7次并行会议和2次研讨会，共约80名发言者。海报会议和吃饭时的讨论增加了高度互动的气氛。这次会议预计将吸引一个由大约175名调查人员组成的国际小组。受邀者将包括所有对海胆、被毛类、半角类和头颈类动物的细胞、发育和进化机制感兴趣的人。全体会议将集中讨论海胆和海鞘胚胎的基因组学；卵母细胞成熟；受精和激活发育；早期轴不对称；神经系统的发育和进化，以及基因调控网络。同时举行的会议是对这些主题的延伸和补充，并为研究生和博士后研究员提供宝贵的机会，以获得在国际会议上发言的经验。基因组学研讨会将提供实际操作，熟悉利用今年积累的海胆全基因组序列所需的计算资源。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The 154 meeting of the sea urchin cell and developmental biology research community, joined with researchers working on Urochordates, Hemichordates, and Cephalochordates, will be held on Sept. 24-28, 2003 at Woods Hole, Mass. This is the most important gathering of researchers interested in the cell, molecular, developmental and evolutionary biology of non-vertebrate deuterostomes. It comes at a critical time for shaping future research because of the new genome sequence data for Ciona species and the emerging sequence of the sea urchin (S. purpuratus) genome. Formal sessions, workshops and informal discussions will be extremely important for coordinating collaborations associated with those projects. Progress and interest in studying the cell and developmental biology and evolution of non-vertebrate deutersotomes recently have been fueled by the identification of many relevant genes; by the development of methods and resources to study their function (e.g. morpholinos, arrayed clone libraries); and by the integration of the work of several laboratories in the elucidation of the gene regulatory networks that drive early development. Sea urchin and tunicate embryos offer many advantages for these studies and recent efforts have given new impetus to analysis of other non-vertebrate deuterostomes as well. The meeting brings together experimentalists to share their findings at the genomic, molecular, and cellular levels. The program includes 7 plenary sessions, 7 concurrent sessions and two workshops with a total of approximately 80 speakers. Poster sessions and discussions over meals add to the highly interactive atmosphere. The meeting is expected to attract an international group of about 175 investigators. Invitees will include all those interested in cell, development, and evolutionary mechanism in sea urchins, tunicates, hemichordates and cephalochordates. Plenary sessions will focus on the genomics of sea urchin and ascidian embryos; oocyte maturation; fertilization and the activation of development; early axial asymmetries; development and evolution of the nervous system, and gene regulatory networks. Concurrent sessions extend and supplement these topics and offer valuable opportunities for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to gain experience speaking at an international meeting. A genomics workshop will provide hands-on familiarization with the computational resources needed to make use of the sea urchin whole genome sequence that is accumulating this year.