ASGSB/ISGP 2011 Joint Meeting

描述（由申请人提供）：美国引力与空间生物学学会的会议是这个跨学科领域的年度盛会。会议将由三场专题讨论会、论文会议、海报会议和研讨会组成，其中包括利用空间生物学作为激励主题的科学教育会议。航天飞行对免疫功能、宿主免疫、微生物毒力的影响以及疫苗开发的新方法将成为会议的特色议题，反映出最近的成果所激起的兴奋。由于太空微重力环境为理解重力相关刺激转化为感知提供了特殊的机会，因此另一个研讨会将讨论前庭可塑性的神经生理学、发育和进化数据和概念，这对空间适应、运动控制和修复以及衰老等生物医学问题具有重要意义。这些考虑适用于许多相关的主题，包括骨质疏松症、骨骼肌萎缩和心血管萎缩。生物工程问题和细胞科学也将由一个前瞻性的研讨会来讨论组织工程、合成生物学和生物反应器的使用。提交的论文和海报将涵盖所有这些主题。会议活动还强调学生的参与和有效的科学教育。我们寻求对专题讨论会演讲者、学生旅行、海报展示租赁以及前往附近NASA中心参加活动的交通的部分支持。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The meeting of the American Society for Gravitational and Space Biology society is the singular, annual event for this interdisciplinary field. The meeting will be composed of three invited symposia, paper sessions, poster sessions, and workshops including sessions on science education using space biology as a motivating topic. Spaceflight effects on immune function, host immunity, microbial virulence, as well as novel approaches to vaccine development will be a featured topic at the meeting, reflecting excitement stirred by recent results. Because the microgravity environment of space presents special opportunities for understanding the translation of gravity-related stimuli into perception, another symposium will address neurophysiological, developmental, and evolutionary data and concepts for vestibular plasticity, which have implications for biomedical problems of space adaptation, movement control and remediation as well as aging. These considerations apply to a host of related topics, including bone osteoporosis, skeletal muscle atrophy, and cardiovascular atrophy. Bioengineering issues and cellular science will also be represented by a forward-looking symposium addressing tissue engineering, synthetic biology, and the use of bioreactors. Submitted papers and posters will cover all these topics. Student involvement and effective science education are also emphasized with the conference activities. We seek partial support for symposia speakers, student travel, poster display rental, and transport to activities at the nearby NASA center. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The meeting of the American Society for Gravitational and Space Biology society will host three symposia. The speakers will cover fundamental and biomedical-related research, including spaceflight effects on immune competence and microbe virulence, microgravity effects on neural plasticity as well as bone and muscle adaptation, photobiology and plant growth, and bioengineering studies of tissues and synthetic biology on cellular levels.