meeting announcement

[Francisco Pelegri]

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Dear Zebrafish community,

We are co-chairing a platform session for the FASEB Experimental
Biology meeting in San Diego, April 2-6 2005, which is organized by  the
American Association of Anatomists (AAA).  The title of our
session is "Maternal factors in vertebrate development: from oogonia  to
fins and limbs" and focuses on molecular processes driven by
maternally-derived factors present in the fertilized egg, which are 
required for the earliest events of vertebrate embryonic development. 
Given the subject matter and the model systems represented we feel  this
platform may appeal to the zebrafish community.  Therefore, we  encourage
interested investigators to consider this meeting and
platform and submit an abstract.  There are already four confirmed 
speakers covering studies in different vertebrate species, and four  more
speakers will be selected from submitted abstracts.  Below is a  general
description of the topic, a preliminary list of speakers and  directions
for registration.  Please note that the deadline for
abstract submission is rapidly approaching (November 3, 2004).

We hope to see many of you at the meeting!

Best wishes,

Diane Slusarski and Francisco Pelegri



Description:  Maternal factors supplied to the egg are critical
components of development.  Data from recent genetic screens and
functional knock-down approaches in a variety of vertebrate species, 
including mammals, have lent insight into the mechanisms of action of 
early-acting genes, specifically those of maternal origin.  Such
insights are instrumental to understand the earliest stages of
development, specifically the initiation and execution of cascades of 
events involved in processes such as fertilization, cell
proliferation, germ cell formation, patterning and morphogenesis.  The
platform session will include studies from a wide range of
vertebrate species, from ascidians to mammals.  In addition, early 
developmental patterning processes involve key signaling pathways, 
including the Wnt, Bmp and nodal signaling pathways, which are of  wide
interest within the biomedical community.  We therefore
anticipate a strong interest for this platform session within the AAA 
society as well as from other member societies at the FASEB meeting.

Invited speakers:  Speakers already confirmed for the session are  Janet
Heasman (Xenopus), Martin Matzuk (mouse), Hiroki Nishida
(ascidians) and Francisco Pelegri (zebrafish).  We will select four 
additional speakers from submitted abstracts.

Confirmed sponsors:  Aquatic Habitats, GeneTools

Meeting information:

Abstract submission deadline: November 3.

For details and AAA meeting information, go to
http://www.anatomy.org/Meetings/annual_meeting_EB_2005.htm

IMPORTANT DEADLINES:
- Abstract submission: November 3, 2004
- AAA Student Travel Award Application: November 10, 2004
- Advance Registration: February 4, 2005
- Housing: February 21, 2005

Questions?  Contact the American Association of Anatomists at
exec at anatomy.org or call (301) 634-7910.  If you have any additional 
questions, please contact us at diane-slusarski at uiowa.edu (Diane
Slusarski) or fjpelegri at wisc.edu (Francisco Pelegri).

See you in San Diego, April 2-6!

-- 


___________________
Francisco Pelegri
Assistant Professor
Department of Genetics
University of Wisconsin - Madison
445 Henry Mall
Madison, WI 53706-1574
Tel: office (608) 265-9286; lab (608) 262-2920
Fax: (608) 262-2976
Email: fjpelegri at facstaff.wisc.edu
http://www.genetics.wisc.edu/faculty/pelegri.html