Meeting: Chronobiology Workshop, Sao Paulo, Brazil, November 3, 2015

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

Abstract

The one-day Workshop on Chronobiology in Sao Paulo, Brazil, brings together junior and senior scientists from countries throughout the Americas, and offers an opportune environment for the exchange and discussion of the latest topics in chronobiology, the study of biological rhythms such as sleep-wake adaptations to solar cycles. The workshop also serves to identify relevant research topics and approaches that are addressed particularly well in the context of international collaborative work. The award provides support to US-based principal investigators to participate in this workshop. The intellectual merit of the workshop derives from its small size, which promotes interactions between participants, the assembly of many top scientists in chronobiology, the international make-up of the participants, and its temporal and spatial contiguity with the 13th biannual Latin American Symposium on Chronobiology. With the Latin American foreign partnership as well as a strong representation of women among session chairs and speakers, the workshop provides opportunity for outreach to populations underrepresented in science. The close, intensive interactions with senior members in the field afforded by this highly interactive workshop offer learning and networking opportunity for the many trainees and junior faculty participating in this event. The workshop includes 4 roundtable sessions, each consisting of 4 brief presentations followed by a thorough discussion, and one keynote presentation. The roundtable topics include molecular as well as network, and circadian as well as sleep-focused themes. The collection of presentations spans a complementary range of topics and experimental systems with considerable promise for impactful activities. In addition to engendering a fertile ground for the development of new collaborations between US and Latin American laboratories, the format of the workshop and the composition of speakers and roundtable chairs foster broadening participation in STEM disciplines as well as exchange of ideas across professional levels and ethnic diversity. These aspects, combined with the workshop's central goal of exchanging and advancing exciting new ideas in chronobiology, constitute long-term benefits for the larger Chronobiology community.