To: C. elegans Neuroscience Researchers
We are considering holding the C. elegans Neurobiology Topic Meeting in Heidelberg, Germany in 2012. The Development Topic Meeting was held there in 2010, and by all accounts it was very successful (see below for further information). We invite comments over the next few weeks from the worm neuro community about this proposal before making the final decision.
Please e-mail your comments to Bruce Bamber or Brian Ackley
bruce.bamber@utoledo.edu
bdackley@ku.edu
Information about the Heidelberg site and the 2010 Development Meeting experience
(from Julie Ahringer)
We organized the Topic Meeting on Development and Gene Expression
held in Heidelberg June 2010 as part of an EMBO Conference series.
We applied for and were awarded a grant from EMBO for a series of
three Topic meetings, with EMBO contributing 30,000 euros for each
meeting.
The Development and Gene Expression Topic meeting was a big success
on all fronts: attendance, science, financial, venue. The new venue
at the EMBL in Heidelberg is really impressive; in particular the
auditorium is very comfortable, while the poster sessions were cool,
being held on the two parallel helices that climb internally (like in
the Guggenheim). The feedback from attendants was very positive.
Attendance-wise, we had over 370 participants from many different
countries, including 125 people from the US/Canada, and 7 great
Keynote speakers. This excellent turnout ensured that our budget
balance sheet was clean; moreover we raised a substantial amount of
sponsorship money (some being raised by the EMBL conference office),
so we could offer more than 20000 euros to help those coming from
overseas with one travel grant/lab. The EMBL conference office did
all of the administrative work for the conference (e.g, registration,
abstract submission and book, Keynote speaker travel, hiring of an
excellent band for the party, etc) and also provided 20 registration
waivers.