CONFERENCE: C. elegans Development, Cell Biology and Gene Expression Meeting being held June 7-10, 2012 in Madison, Wisconsin.

Intellectual Merit

The C. elegans Development, Cell Biology and Gene Expression Topic Meeting will be held at the U. Wisconsin, in Madison, from June 7th to 10th, 2012. This meeting, expected to attract 500 scientists from around the world, will bring together junior and senior researchers to discuss the latest findings in C. elegans development, cell biology and gene expression studies. The C. elegans Topic Meetings, held every two years at diverse locations, are smaller meetings that encourage frequent interactions between meeting attendees through short oral presentations, long poster sessions, workshops and shared meals. An Organizing Committee with a breadth of experience and background will select the best talks from submitted Abstracts with particular attention to highlight the work of graduate students and postdocs and to keep the speaker list diverse. Students and postdoctoral fellows, and persons underrepresented in science will be encouraged to present their research at this meeting to promote their scientific and career development. This meeting will include seven thematic sessions. Each will begin with a Keynote Address from a leading C. elegans researcher, including one Nobel Laureate, who will place their work in historical context for the benefit of new researchers in the field and to highlight the interconnections between different subfields of biology that have led to the growth of research in C. elegans development, cell biology and gene expression

Broader Impacts

This meeting will promote excellent science and will support the career development of younger scientists. The findings from the meeting will be shared with the public through the posting of meeting Abstracts and of data collections introduced at the meeting via WormBase (www.wormbase.org), a well-curated web site that supports research in C. elegans. Support from the NSF will allow scientists in the U.S. to send their junior trainees to the meeting including undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, as well as lab members with disabilities and/or persons underrepresented in science, who may otherwise not be able to attend this meeting. Of the four meeting organizers three are women, including two underrepresented in science. The Organizing Committee includes men and women from around the world, with high representation by junior faculty.