10 travel grants are generally available for each symposium to help defray attendance costs for interested scientists. Undergraduate students, graduate students, postdocs, and faculty are welcome to apply for EDEN Symposium and Workshop Travel Grants. Details on how to apply for EDEN Travel funding will be available closer to the symposium date.

2nd EDEN Symposium

The Evolution of Gene Regulatory Networks

Venue: Evolution Meeting, Snowbird, Utah USA, June 21-25, 2013

Research in evolutionary developmental biology and developmental genetics has highlighted the importance of gene regulation in controlling developmental processes. These regulatory interactions form a complex network that can evolve over time. An emerging principle in eco-evo-devo is the idea that evolution of gene regulatory networks, not just amino acid sequences, plays an important role in adaptive evolution. The goal of the symposium is to highlight some of the recent advances in our understanding of the evolution of gene regulatory networks. The symposium will explore how regulatory evolution is fundamental to research at the frontiers of evolutionary biology, including the origin of novelties, mechanisms underlying phenotypic diversity, and evolution of life history strategies and species interactions. The Evolution meeting has been selected as the site for the symposium because it brings together scientists who address a wide range of questions in evolutionary biology.

Symposium Speakers

Richard Clark, University of Utah

Nels Elde, University of Utah

Veronica Hinman, Carnegie Mellon University

Vincent Lynch, University of Chicago

Antonia Monteiro, Yale University

1st EDEN Symposium

Understanding First Order Phenotypes: Transcriptomics for Emerging Models

Venue: Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, San Francisco, California USA, January 3-7, 2013

In order to understand the evolution of gene expression in an ecological context there are two different general approaches. The first employs genetic model organisms in creative ecological contexts. The second applies modern genomic tools to emerging model organisms that have had a long tradition in ecologically relevant contexts. The RNA sequencing techniques, tools and analyses, established in traditional genetic model organisms often require adaptations and extensions to be applied to new and emerging model systems. It is a good time to get help from pioneers using these techniques to guide and shape future applications in emerging systems. The goal of the symposium is to create productive channels for using these data in evolutionary and developmental hypothesis testing. The SICB conference has been selected as the target site for this symposium due to the Society’s focus on the integration across the many fields of specialization that occur in the broad field of biology.

Symposium Speakers

Corbin Jones, University of North Carolina

Rachel Brem, University of California, Berkeley

Jeffrey Townsend, Yale University

Chris Wheat, University of Helsinki

Antje Fischer, Marine Biological Laboratory

Jason Stajich, University of California, Riverside

Casey Dunn, Brown University

Melissa H. Pespeni, Indiana University

Gil Bejerano, Stanford University