<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.17102" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><IMG alt="" hspace=0
src="cid:8CE09DA3C8F44088923497D08E7A84B0@MUCO" align=baseline
border=0><STRONG>1st International Volvox Conference</STRONG> (focused on the
green alga Volvox and its close relatives) to be held December 1-4, 2011 at the
Biosphere 2, in Arizona, USA (http://www.b2science.org/). This is the first of
what we hope to be a long series of Volvox meetings to be held every other year,
alternating with the Chlamydomonas meetings. For additional information and
updates (including preliminary program, registration and abstract submission
deadlines) please visit the Conference page at
<STRONG>http://www.unbf.ca/vip/IVC/index.htm.<BR></STRONG>The idea of a meeting
on everything about Volvox and its relatives (aka Volvocales or volvocine algae;
seehttp://www.unbf.ca/vip/index.htm) reflects both an increase in the size of
the Volvox community and the realization that many researchers from fields
traditionally not associated with Volvox research (e.g., physics, theoretical
biology) are interested in various aspects of the system. Volvocine algae have
become an important model system for the evolution of multicellularity,
development and cellular differentiation, and lately have yielded important
results in fields as diverse as genomics, hydrodynamics, and social evolution.
We hope that such a meeting will foster exchange of ideas and expertise, and
will initiate new collaborations. With these meetings we also wish to attract
new people and to build a stronger Volvox community.<BR>In addition to sessions
(contributed papers and posters) on various aspects of the biology, taxonomy,
ecology, development and evolution of Volvox and its relatives, we are
organizing a workshop on Volvox genetics and genomics that will provide a forum
to discuss emerging tools and methods (or ways of adapting those that have been
developed in other systems) to enhance our understanding of
genetically-controlled processes in this group of algae. <STRONG>Thanks to the
American Genetics Association and the Phycological Society of America, support
and awards will be available for student/postdoc participants.
<BR></STRONG></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>