Conference: 7th International Volvox Conference

University Of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore MD

Investigators

Abstract

The 7th International Volvox Conference will be held in Baltimore, MD on the campus of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, from June 11-14, 2023. This meeting will be attended by undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, as well as senior researchers to discuss and advance our understanding of all aspects of the biology of the photosynthetic green alga Volvox and its close relatives, which include single-celled species and colonial forms that swim as a unit. The conference will contain sessions on development, the evolution of organisms with more than one cell, reproduction, swimming appendages and responses to light, and the DNA and RNA of these organisms. The application of novel techniques for studying these creatures will also be presented and discussed. The interactions of faculty members at all levels and from a diversity of educational institutions will increase understanding of these organisms, and their engagement with students at all levels, will increase the number of future scientists working on this organism important for understanding algal function, including its ability to increase its photosynthetic output through behavioral responses to light. This engagement will be facilitated by two poster sessions to allow interactions between senior and junior scientists. NSF support will be used to defray registration fees and/or travel costs to allow attendance of participants from early stages of their careers, especially for members of groups historically under-represented in this field. The science presented at the 7th International Volvox Conference will cover the biochemistry, genomics and transcriptomics, and cell biology of a species fundamental to understanding the evolution of multicellular organisms from single-celled green algae. The meeting will include talks and poster sessions on the development and reproduction of these creatures (which span the range from unicellular to undifferentiated multicellular to differentiated multicellular), their behavioral photoresponses, and analyses of their genomes and transcriptomes. The diversity of disciplines represented among invited speakers and graduate and post-graduate students will offer abundant opportunities for interactions among all conference participants, and is expected to inspire innovative thinking about mechanisms of evolution of multicellular organisms, ciliary function, and behavior in response to changing light levels as a means to optimize photosynthetic output. Education of a wide range of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows will increase the critical mass of future independent investigators studying these organisms, which are critical to understanding algal growth function, photosynthesis, and ciliary function. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.