Deconstructing the genesis of animal form

Santa Fe - with its museums and galleries full of art and crafts inspired by natural forms - was the perfect setting for a Keystone conference on vertebrate organogenesis in February 2004. Organized by Gail Martin and Cliff Tabin, the conference sessions were loosely subdivided into anatomical systems - 'skin, hair, teeth', 'pancreas, liver, gut', 'skeleton', and so on. However, from the outset, common themes emerged that transcended particular organ systems and generated a sense of unity and excitement among the participants.     

Fifteen years of Servitude et Grandeur to the application of a biophysical technique in medicine: The tale of AFMBioMed

AFMBioMed is the founding name under which international conferences and summer schools are organized around the application of atomic force microscopy in life sciences and nanomedicine. From its inception at the Atomic Energy Commission in Marcoule near 2004 to its creation in 2007 and to its 10th anniversary conference in Krakow, a brief narrative history of its birth and rise will demonstrate how and what such an organization brings to laboratories and the AFM community. With the current planning of the next AFMBioMed conference in Münster in 2019, it will be 15 years of commitment to these events.     

Odor and (bio)diversity: single enantiomers of chiral fragrant substances

Our sense of smell is enantioselective. This review reports interesting examples of single stereoisomers of natural and synthetic odorants, prepared via bioorganic routes, that support this statement. This article is the summary of a talk given at the Flavours & Fragrances 2004 conference in Manchester at the MCC/UMIST, 12-14 May, 2004.     

Is it functional?

This report describes the first scientific meeting of the British Society for Proteome Research (BSPR), which was organised jointly with the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) and held in July 2004. The focus of the conference was functional proteomics with an emphasis on possible clinical application. The main subjects described here are: the need to simplify samples, the use of biological fluids versus tissue, consideration of biological and experimental variation and the creation of databases to achieve meaningful functional analysis.     

Aneuploidy Approaching a Perfect Score in Predicting and Preventing Cancer: Highlights from a Conference Held in Oakland,CA in January, 2004

On January 23-26, 2004, a meeting, termed the 1st Conference on Aneuploidy and Cancer: Clinical and Experimental Aspects, united about 70 cancer researchers at the Waterfront Plaza Hotel in Oakland. The conference was organized by two of us (P.D. and D.R.) to evaluate the theory that aneuploidy is sufficient to cause cancer. The abstracts or short papers of the participants are recorded in the Scientific Program & Abstracts booklet of the conference, which is available on request from the conference bureau via email: ssachs@uclink.berkeley.edu. An independent meeting report has since also been published in The Scientist 1.     

Hedgehog signaling: from the Drosophila cuticle to anti-cancer drugs

Hh signaling controls cell proliferation and differentiation in processes that range from insect segmentation and limb formation to vertebrate neural tube development and bone differentiation. Moreover, Hh signaling appears to regulate stem cell homeostasis in adult tissues, while persistent Hh pathway activity has pathological consequences in a number of cancers. Two recent meetings, a Karolinska Institute Nobel conference (August 22-24, 2004) and a joint EMBO and Juan March Institute workshop (October 25-27, 2004), provided the opportunity to take stock of the progress that has been made in understanding Hh signaling and also to remind us of the many questions that still remain unanswered.