International Society for Regenerative Biology Biennial Conference

Duke University, Durham NC

Investigators

Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY This proposal requests partial funding for the first biennial conferences of the International Society for Regenerative Biology (ISRB) to occur over a 5-year period, including its inaugural meeting in Vienna scheduled for September 2-6, 2023. The ISRB is a foreign entity, registered as a charity in England and Wales. The ISRB was established in 2021 with an overarching goal to formalize an inclusive and integrated community of scientists that studies all aspects of tissue regeneration in invertebrate and vertebrate model organisms. These include a dominant theme of basic discovery research, while also welcoming engineering and regenerative medicine applications. There are currently 248 ISRB members, including 130 faculty, 56 postdoctoral fellows, and 62 graduate students. We anticipate our first in-person meeting will provide a major recruitment opportunity. More than 50% of the current membership is located in the United States. The conference location of Vienna for 2023 is expected to increase European memberships and to provide opportunities for an international science experience for many US trainees. The 2025 Conference will take place in North America at a site to be determined in 2023, and the 2027 site will be determined later in the funding period. Functions of the ISRB are to organize its own main conference and virtual events such as webinars, while supporting and enhancing other workshops and small meetings. ISRB will convey the importance and impact of regeneration research to the greater scientific and lay communities, highlight regenerative biologists and their discoveries, and promote regenerative biology by giving awards for achievements and service, and by advocating for research and community funding. The ISRB biennial conference is intended to be the premier opportunity for researchers in the broad field of tissue regeneration, across many species, tissues, and contexts of injury and disease, to meet and share data and ideas. It will provide an interactive forum for students, postdocs and junior investigators to present their work and interact with senior investigators, and to actively support diversity and inclusion in science. Enabling a discourse regarding cross-species and cross-tissue comparisons will be key to enhancing understanding of the commonalities and divergences in regenerative capacity and of the mechanisms regulating regeneration across paradigms – toward the creation of an integrative framework. In this proposal, financial support is requested to help defray conference fees for attendees, with a goal of ensuring diversity among attendees and to enable attendance of those at early career stages.