SEB Bulletin March 2005
TRAVEL GRANT WINNERS
Interested in applying for a travel grant?
Visit http://www.sebiology.org/
Deadlines for applications for the next two rounds are: 30 June 2005, 30 September 2005
| Maaike Binner | Leibniz-Institute | SEB AMM Barcelona |
| Alex Boonman | Utrecht University | SEB Plant Frontier Meeting - Sheffield |
| Ewen Fleming Buckling | University of Birmingham | Keystone Symposia, Colorado |
| Georges Chekuimo | University of Dschang | SEB Plant Frontier Meeting - Sheffield |
| Peter Gorsuch | University of York | SEB Plant Frontier Meeting - Sheffield |
| Ian Greener | University of Leeds | Biophysical Meeting, Long Beach, CA |
| James Holmes | Horticulture Research International | Multinational Arabidopsis Steering Committee, Wisconsin |
| Anthony O'Connell | University of Leeds | International Congress of Physiological Sciences - San Diego |
| Joanna Staley | University of Reading | International Association for Ecology Society of America - Montreal |
Travel Grant Reports
Society for Neuroscience 2004
The 34th Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience was held in San Diego, California, United States of America from Saturday, October 23, to Wednesday, October 27. With over 31,000 neuroscientists and their colleagues attending the conference from 150 countries the SFN meeting was without a doubt an international success. To accommodate the growing and diverse interests of the Society, there were 28 symposia and ten special lectures scheduled over five days, covering all meeting themes spanning from recent molecular advances in neuroscience to a history in neuroscience lecture given by Prof Peter R. Marler, which highlighted controversies that delayed the progression of neuroscience. There was also a new submission category in the 2004 meeting, the mini symposia which acted as a platform for junior neuroscientists to present and exchange their ideas and latest discoveries about the brain, spinal cord and nervous system.
This meeting proved invaluable to me as a scientist as it was the first meeting that I have attended after changing my field from basal ganglia to spinal cord research. While I attended several symposia related to my area of research, the lecture given by Dr Landmesser was particularly interesting. Her lecture, highlighted recent work from her lab that showed that spontaneous activity in the developing spinal cord has wide ranging effects such as neuronal differentiation as well as axon guidance and does not only play a role in fine-tuning connections as previously hypothesised.
I presented my poster on the last day of the conference and despite San Diego's reputation as warm and sunny, Wednesday saw a Pacific storm that brought heavy rain and strong winds, and was 4th wettest day in San Diego history! Despite this 'minor' setback I still got a lot of
Visit to Bobiri Forest Reserve, Ghana
I am very pleased to inform you that thanks to the support provided by the Society for Experimental Biology I was able to complete the experimental work of my PhD project: Effect of lianas on tree regeneration in tropical forest gaps and forest understorey. I was in Ghana from August to November 2004 recording the final data of my experimental work. The visit was absolutely decisive for the completion of my studies because I recorded growth data of my experimental plants correspondent to the end of the rain season. I harvested all individuals to quantify the final dry biomass, including a subsample of roots. These data will allow me to analyse the effect of climbers on tree seedlings biomass allometric patterns. I am confident that these data will provide a missing piece for the understanding of the forest dynamic.
During my field work I was able to attend to the conference “ECOSYN INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM” in September 2004 “ in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. At this conference I presented some preliminary results of my project in a special session for lianas. I had the great opportunity to meet some of the most important specialists of my area of study, who gave me very valuable advice for my project. At the same time the conference gave me the chance to come across with the most recent development in my field of study in a very friendly atmosphere. This was my first international conference and the experience was so enjoyable that I am looking forward to completing my work and be able to present the final results.
My stay in Ghana was also very important to reinforce the collaboration with the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG). I am in total appreciation of the support the Society for Experimental Biology has provided to my endeavor.
Mariana T. Toledo Aceves
University of Aberdeen
Keystone Conference 2005
In January 2005 I attended the Keystone Symposium “Mechanisms of DNA Replication and Recombination” in Keystone Resort, Colorado, using a generous travel grant from the Society for Experimental Biology and the Company of Biologists. This was the first conference that I have attended and I was able to present a poster entitled “Meiosis in Arabidopsis: evidence for two crossover pathways.
There were nearly four hundred participants at this meeting, which made for some very lively social evenings and ensured large audiences to all the talks and poster sessions. Proceedings began with a very interesting keynote speech by James Haber (Brandeis University, USA). After this the daily schedule of talks, workshops and poster viewing was quite daunting. I particularly enjoyed the talks on removal of Spo11 from double strand breaks by Matthew Neale (Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre, USA) and Cdc28 formation of crossovers by Hiroyuki Oshiumi (Institute for Protein Research, Osaka University, Japan). Despite this busy schedule and suffering slight altitude sickness and jet lag, many participants, including myself, found time to get out onto the ski slopes of Keystone. Keystone has a great variety of slopes and the conference organisers had arranged some fantastic discounts on lift passes and equipment hire.
I presented my poster in the first poster session where it was well received. I thoroughly enjoyed discussing my work with those that came to view the poster. This was a great networking opportunity and I got to discuss my research with, and ask questions of, the top members of this field.
All in all it was a fantastic experience and I look forward to being able to return the next time it is held since it was such a lovely venue. I am very grateful to the Company of Biologists grant from the SEB for enabling me to attend this conference and the opportunity to present my work.
Ewan Buckling
University of Birmingham