15th International Xenopus Conference

描述（由申请人提供）：非洲爪虫是一种被广泛用于基础生物医学发现的模式生物。本申请请求资助第15届国际爪蟾大会。自1984年以来每两年举行一次，这个两年一次的会议的主要目标是为使用非洲爪蟾作为生物医学研究模式生物的研究人员提供一个信息交流和互动的论坛。最后一次会议（在法国）有来自世界各地的350多名研究人员参加。除了作为一个信息交流的平台，这次会议还将提供1)一个将年轻科学家介绍给该领域更成熟的成员的场所，2)一个让爪蟾社区了解最新技术并协调其基础设施的机会，以及3)一个将这种强大的模式生物介绍给代表性不足群体的学生的机会。这次会议将产生重大影响，因为非洲爪蟾被广泛应用于发育生物学、细胞生物学、分子生物学和神经生物学，现在许多最令人兴奋的发现都来自这些学科之间的接口。通过将具有不同研究兴趣的研究人员聚集在一起，但有一个共同的模型系统，会议应该培养杰出的跨学科思维。现代生物学要求我们在研究方法上要见多识广、基础广泛、有组织、合作，而国际爪蟾会议将促进这种科学风格。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Xenopus is a widely-used model organism for basic biomedical discovery. This application requests funds to support the 15th International Xenopus Conference. Held every two years since 1984, this biennial meeting's prime objective is to provide a forum for information exchange and interaction amongst researchers using Xenopus as a model organism for biomedical research. The last iteration of this meeting (in France) being attended by over 350 researchers from all over the world. In addition to serving as a platform for information exchange, this meeting will also provide 1) a venue for introducing younger scientists to more established members of the field, 2) an opportunity for the Xenopus community to learn about the latest technologies and to coordinate its infrastructure, and 3) an opportunity to introduce this powerful model organism to students from under-represented groups. This meeting will have a significant impact because Xenopus is widely used in developmental biology, cell biology, molecular biology, and neurobiology, and many of the most exciting discoveries now are coming from the interfaces between these disciplines. By bringing together researchers with divergent research interested, but a common model system, the meeting should foster outstanding interdisciplinary thinking. Modern biology demands that we be well-informed, broad-based, organized, and collaborative in our approaches, and the International Xenopus Conference will facilitate exactly that style of science.