Conference: Developmental Biology of the Sea Urchin and Other Marine Invertebrates XXVIII (April 2-5, 2025, Woods Hole, MA)

About This Grant

The Developmental Biology of Sea Urchins and other Marine Invertebrates (DBSUMI) conference is a meeting that brings together scientists who perform basic research with marine invertebrate animals. The location of the conference at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, MA provides an inspiring and historical setting since it is the location of many groundbreaking discoveries. Over a four-day period, attendees from all stages of the profession come together to present their research, exchange ideas, share new techniques, build community and discuss best practices and ideas for STEM education. The conference intentionally supports junior scientist attendees. Scientific breadth is an important feature of DBSUMI, and the conference structure promotes formal and informal interactions among participants to build new collaborations across fields. The conference and the research performed by the attendees focus on creative and original research that leverage animal diversity to answer fundamental questions in the field of developmental biology. Previous examples of fundamental discoveries from research on marine invertebrates include the identification of cyclins and the control of cell division, the role of microtubule motor kinesins, the isolation of green fluorescent protein and the concept of gene regulatory networks. Such discoveries are central to most aspects of modern biology, and curiosity-driven research presented at conferences such as DBSUMI have the potential to lead to additional ground-breaking discoveries. The Broader Impacts of this award are multiple and include supporting trainees and the next generation of STEM researchers, sessions on new tool developments, and a STEM education session. The DBSUMI conference convenes at the Marine Biological Laboratory every 1.5 years and brings together a large community of over 100 researchers who utilize marine invertebrates for fundamental studies in biology. In addition to research presentation opportunities, attendees are invited to participate in a pre-conference workshop on technology advancement, career development workshops and a STEM education plenary and panel discussion. While originally conceived for investigators working with sea urchins and which generated the first gene regulatory network (GRN), DBSUMI has more recently diversified with respect to research organisms, topics, and the breadth of attendees. This breadth serves as a valuable incubator to build new collaborations across fields. Topics currently discussed cover a range of subdisciplines, including oogenesis, gamete interactions, the oocyte-to-embryo transition, body axis patterning, signaling, organogenesis, regeneration, immunity, and environmental influences on development. Methodologies used by DBSUMI researchers are also broad and include GRN-based approaches, genomics, experimental embryology, cell biology, advanced imaging and evolutionary comparisons. Recent technological advances spurned in part by sea urchin researchers have lowered barriers to work with novel animal systems and has motivated the community to grow by including research on additional marine invertebrates. Parallel research efforts across a wide range of study animals placed within a phylogenetic context has allowed this research community to reveal common mechanisms defining unifying biological principles. Currently, this conference is unique in its focus on comparative development of marine invertebrates. 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.