Plant development makes strides in Vermont

Plants are an excellent system for studying developmental biology. Depending on the species, they can be easily transformed and mutagenized, undergo grafts, tolerate changes in chromosome number, and provide fertile offspring after wide species crosses. Most importantly, they are perpetually embryonic, and thus development unfolds throughout the life of a plant. At a recent FASEB meeting, scientists shared their discoveries about plant development, covering topics that ranged from the evolution of form to cellular differentiation. The meeting demonstrated that the genetic and cellular basis of plant development is currently an exciting and growing field of research.     

Caenorhabditis evolution: if they all look alike, you aren't looking hard enough

Caenorhabditis elegans is widely known as a model organism for cell, molecular, developmental and neural biology, but it is also being used for evolutionary studies. A recent meeting of researchers in Portugal covered topics as diverse as phylogenetics, genetic mapping of quantitative and qualitative intraspecific variation, evolutionary developmental biology and population genetics. Here, we summarize the main findings of the meeting, which marks the formal birth of a research community dedicated to Caenorhabditis species evolution.     

New insights into plant development in New England

This year, the biannually organized FASEB meeting 'Mechanisms in Plant Development' took place in August in Vermont, USA, organized by Martin Hulskamp (University of Koln, Koln, Germany) and John Schiefelbein (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA). The meeting covered numerous topics, ranging from patterning and differentiation to the evolution of developmental mechanisms. Despite apparent distinctions between the sessions, many of the talks were broad ranging and most highlighted unifying developmental concepts.     

Protein Design and Evolution for Biocatalysis

Cover illustration: Protein Design and Evolution for Biocatalysis. This special issue of Biotechnology Journal contains selected contributions from scientists participating to the ESF-EMBO Symposium which took place in October 2008 in San Feliu, Spain. Guest Editor is the chair and organizer of the meeting, Jiri Damborsky from Brno (Czech Republic). He highlights a variety of topics brought up in the meeting, ranging from new methods of rational design, directed evolution, metagenomics and single-molecule techniques, to construction of useful enzymes for industrial applications. Uwe Bornscheuer (Greifswald, Germany) authored a meeting report. Image colored pencils, © PhotoDisc, Inc.; Protein logo © ESF.     

Interdisciplinary malaria vector research and training for Africa

The National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and International Centers for Tropical Disease Research Network held their 11th annual meeting ‘Research Beyond Boundaries’ on 15–18 April 2002.     

Antibody Engineering and Therapeutics

The 24^th Antibody Engineering & Therapeutics meeting brought together a broad range of participants who were updated on the latest advances in antibody research and development. Organized by IBC Life Sciences, the gathering is the annual meeting of The Antibody Society, which serves as the scientific sponsor. Preconference workshops on 3D modeling and delineation of clonal lineages were featured, and the conference included sessions on a wide variety of topics relevant to researchers, including systems biology; antibody deep sequencing and repertoires; the effects of antibody gene variation and usage on antibody response; directed evolution; knowledge-based design; antibodies in a complex environment; polyreactive antibodies and polyspecificity; the interface between antibody therapy and cellular immunity in cancer; antibodies in cardiometabolic medicine; antibody pharmacokinetics, distribution and off-target toxicity; optimizing antibody formats for immunotherapy; polyclonals, oligoclonals and bispecifics; antibody discovery platforms; and antibody-drug conjugates.     

Antibody Engineering and Therapeutics: December 8-12, 2013, Huntington Beach,CA

The 24^th Antibody Engineering & Therapeutics meeting brought together a broad range of participants who were updated on the latest advances in antibody research and development. Organized by IBC Life Sciences, the gathering is the annual meeting of The Antibody Society, which serves as the scientific sponsor. Preconference workshops on 3D modeling and delineation of clonal lineages were featured, and the conference included sessions on a wide variety of topics relevant to researchers, including systems biology; antibody deep sequencing and repertoires; the effects of antibody gene variation and usage on antibody response; directed evolution; knowledge-based design; antibodies in a complex environment; polyreactive antibodies and polyspecificity; the interface between antibody therapy and cellular immunity in cancer; antibodies in cardiometabolic medicine; antibody pharmacokinetics, distribution and off-target toxicity; optimizing antibody formats for immunotherapy; polyclonals, oligoclonals and bispecifics; antibody discovery platforms; and antibody-drug conjugates.     

Social sciences in malaria control

The second annual meeting of the Partnership for Social Sciences in Malaria Control was held at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, from 8 to 10 January 2002.     

A global alliance against tropical disease

The tenth annual meeting of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Internal Centers for Tropical Disease Research was held, 7-9 May 2001, in Bethesda, MD, USA.     

Workshop summary. Biomedical and Space-Related Research with Heavy Ions at the BEVALAC

The authors provide an overview of papers presented at a workshop on Biomedical and Space-Related Research with Heavy Ions at the BEVALAC at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Goals of the meeting were to determine the critical experiments using heavy ions as probes in radiation physics, radiation chemistry, macromolecular and cellular biology, evolution science, basic neurophysiology, and medical therapies; how beam lines and facilities at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory can be improved for these experiments; and implications in priorities and funding for national policy. Workshop topics included physics and facilities, cellular and molecular biology, tissue radiobiology, and the future of heavy ion research.     

Erscheinung von Dermatophyten bei Hautmykosen im Gebiet von Conakry in der Republik Guinea

Ohne ZusammenfassungRead in the meeting of the First Congress of International Society for Tropical Dermatology, Naples, June 8–13, 1964.     

Symposium on the evolution and development of the vertebrate head

Among the symposia held at the seminal meeting of the European Society for Evolutionary Developmental Biology was one centered on the development and evolution of the vertebrate head, an exquisitely complex anatomical system. The articles presented at this meeting have been gathered in a special issue of the Journal of Experimental Zoology, and are here reviewed by the organizers of the symposia. These articles cover a breadth of subjects, including interactions between cells derived from the different germ layers, such as those underlying neural crest cell migration and fate and cranial muscle specification, as well as placode development and the origin, development, and evolution of important evolutionary innovations such as jaws and the trabecula cranii. In this introduction, we provide a short historical overview of themes of research into the fundamental organization, structure, and development of the vertebrate head, including the search for head segmentation and the relevance of the New Head Hypothesis, and subsequently present the topics discussed in each of the articles. This overview of the past and the present of head evo-devo is then followed by a glimpse at its possible future and a brief examination of the utility of the notions of heterochrony, heterotopy, and heterofacience in describing evolutionarily important changes in developmental events.     

2015—2020年间海南热带雨林国家公园景观格局变化

海南热带雨林国家公园森林资源富集，探究该地区景观格局时空演变特征，对维护海南岛生态安全屏障具有重要意义。该研究依托2015年和2020年海南热带雨林国家公园地表覆盖数据，建立景观分布格局体系，采用景观格局指数、单一景观动态度和景观转移矩阵的方法，分析海南热带雨林国家公园10类土地覆盖类型的景观格局变化特征，探究其变化的影响因素。结果表明：(1)2015—2020年，海南热带雨林国家公园整体景观破碎度呈现降低趋势，空间集聚性增加，综合动态度较小，景观类型整体较稳定。(2)雨林优势种常绿阔叶林面积不断增加，破碎度减小，呈正向增长态势；针叶林与灌木林面积减少；部分水体转化为湿地等，面积减小；其余景观类型面积占比较小，按自然演替方向发展变化。(3)景观格局演变主要以雨林自然演替为主，其次受政策、气候等因素综合影响。综上所述，自开展海南热带雨林国家公园体制试点以来，其景观格局趋于稳定。政策引导发挥着重要的正向作用，有针对性地开展热带雨林景观保护及修复工作，有助于海南热带雨林国家公园可持续发展。     

Advances in pattern formation: Signaling and transcription

The 49(th) Annual Drosophila Research Conference was held in the sunny confines of San Diego. As usual, large numbers of Drosophila scientists working in fields as different as immunology and evolution descended on the venue. The meeting showed that the fly community is still vibrant and diverse even with the funding crunch at the NIH and the renewed rumors that Drosophila may have outlived its usefulness. This short review will focus on one session of platform presentations detailing the recent advances in the field of pattern formation. This session offered a variety of topics reviewing the formation of pattern in various tissues through diverse mechanisms. I will focus on early embryonic patterning through pair-rule genes, specificity of FGF signaling, and tissue regeneration.     

Know Your Enemy: How to Build and Vanquish a Global Fungal Scourge

The 8th International Conference on Cryptococcus and Cryptococcosis, chaired by Maurizio Del Poeta (Medical University of South Carolina), and organized together with June Kwon-Chung (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases), Stuart Levitz (University of Massachusetts Medical School), and John Perfect (Duke University), occurred in May 2011. This meeting brought together the world's leading researchers on Cryptococcus and cryptococcosis, including basic scientists, epidemiologists, and clinicians, to discuss new developments in Cryptococcus biology. With more than 60 oral presentations and 180 posters, this meeting enhanced our understanding of pathogenicity of Cryptococcus and served as a robust forum that facilitated cross-disciplinary discussions, research, and clinical collaborations. Due to space constraints, this brief overview highlights only a few of the topics discussed in this meeting, focusing on the evolution of virulence, host and pathogen interactions, fungal and host signaling, new advances of genomics studies on Cryptococcus, and the current status of the outbreak caused by C. gattii. The 8th International Conference on Cryptococcus and Cryptococcosis brought together scientists from across the globe in the beautiful historical downtown setting of Charleston to share their latest findings and highlight advances in Cryptococcus research. With more than 250 participants, this meeting was the largest gathering of the Cryptococcus international community in the 24-year history. Here, we review the advances presented and the current state of knowledge in the field.     

International Workshop at the Nobel Forum,Karolinska Institutet on G protein-coupled receptors: finding the words to describe monomers,oligomers, and their molecular mechanisms and defining their meaning. Can a consensus be reached?

A meeting was held May 19, 2010 at the Karolinski Institute on Nomenclature in Pharmacology. This meeting occurred in conjunction with the Symposium The Changing World of G Protein Coupled Receptors: From Monomers to Dimers and Receptor Mosaics (Higher-order Oligomers) held the previous day at the Royal Swedish Academy of Science. Two broad topics of nomenclature were discussed; ligand nomenclature and the definition of ‘receptor–receptor’ interactions. This paper summarizes discussions on these topics along with a consensus definition of the term ‘receptor–receptor’ interaction.     

From genes to plants via meristems

The Society for Experimental Biology organised a "Plant Frontier" meeting, which was recently held at the University of Sheffield, UK. One of the sessions of this broad meeting was on plant meristems, which covered a range of topics, including stem cells, patterning, long distance signalling and epigenetic regulation of meristem development.     

Preliminary studies of Eutorna phaulocosma (Lepidoptera: Oecophoridae) in New Zealand

Abstract

In 1978 George C. Williams predicted that the last two decades of this century would be a fabulous age, and that evolutionary biology would provide critical insights into the processes of change in the biological world. He suggested that these might come to be described as the “good old days”. I am not so sure that this is likely, but I am very sure that it will be a turbulent time. I think also that those biologists who attended the recent SYSTANZ meeting on evolution must by now be equally convinced. The conference was punctuated by heated debates on major topics such as Darwinian and neo-Darwinian theory, vicariance biogeography, and teleology, to mention but a few.     

Advances in Pattern Formation: Signaling and Transcription

Key Words: Wingless, Pair-Rule, FGF, Regeneration, Extracellular Matrix The 49th annual Drosophila research conference was held in the sunny confines of San Diego. As usual, large numbers of Drosophila scientists working in fields as different as immunology and evolution descended on the venue. The meeting showed that the fly community is still vibrant and diverse even with the funding crunch at the NIH and the renewed rumors that Drosophila may have outlived its usefulness. This short review will focus on one session of platform presentations detailing the recent advances in the field of pattern formation. This session offered a variety of topics reviewing the formation of pattern in various tissues through diverse mechanisms. I will focus on early embryonic patterning through pair-rule genes, specificity of FGF signaling, and tissue regeneration.