International symposium:
NONBILATERIAN ANIMAL MODEL ORGANISMS 2008
www.namo2008.de
October 17-20, Altes Schloss Dornburg/Saale, Jena, Germany

1. Circular

SYMPOSIUM RATIONALE: Study of the early evolution of multicellular animals (Metazoa) holds the key to some of the most important questions in Evolutionary Biology. In recent decades gene and genome data have strongly influenced our understanding about the phylogenetic relationship of the main metazoan clades and of their developmental biology, but other fields such as comparative morphology and physiology have also provided new insight into animal organization.

The use of model organisms has greatly contributed to our expanding knowledge of animal body plans, but the most widely used model organisms (Caenorhabditis, Drosophila, Danio, Xenopus, Mus and Gallus) are all representatives of bilaterian animals; there is a serious absence of models to use for understanding early metazoan evolution. The need for new widely available nonbilaterian model organisms has become pronounced, and while some models have been identified for Cnidaria, none exist for the Porifera.
The fully sponsored NAMO2008 symposium (final funding commitment pending) aims at catalyzing the process of choosing models for research on early evolution of metazoan organization. Recent progress but also the most important questions, tasks and the first steps that nonbilaterian animal research should take will be addressed. NAMO 2008 will bring together scientists from various disciplines who are all specialized in different nonbilaterian animal groups and catalyze the process of establishing new nonbilaterian animal model organisms that can be studied in detail by every lab worldwide. We also aim at input from existing bilaterian model organism communities (e.g. the  Caenorhabditis elegans community).

VENUE: The symposium venue, the 1000 year-old castle Altes Schloss Dornburg near Jena, will help to create an exclusive working environment for a unique, interdisciplinary team of experts. The castle provides the ideal retreat for exchange of ideas across disciplines and for fostering new alliances and pathways. Two days of combined presentations (invited perspectives) and workshops (discussion and exchange of ideas) will result in a synopsis of the current questions and proposed new directions for future research. In addition NAMO2008 will put together recommendations concerning the selection of new animal models as well as mechanisms to promote use of these experimental models world-wide.

PARTICIPANTS: The symposium will be open for a limited number of participants: 21 invited contributors and 45 assorted participants representing graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and senior scientists, who will be chosen by their excellence of research and expression of interest plus an abstract.

FURTHER INFORMATION: visit www.namo2008.de for further information and our symposium poster.

MAILING LIST: You will be able to register for our mailing list to make sure you will not miss the 2nd Circular and the opening of the registration.

COVERED PERSPECTIVES & KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:
   

ORIGIN OF MULTICELLULAR ANIMALS
    Claus Nielsen, Denmark

    THE NEED FOR NEW MODEL ORGANISMS
    Ronald A. Jenner, Great Britain

    PALEONTOLOGY OF NONBILATERIAN ANIMAL GROUPS
    Andrew H. Knoll, USA

    SELECTED TOPICS: PORIFERA
    Maja Adamska, Norway
    Noriko Funayama, Japan
    April Hill, USA
    Sally P. Leys, Canada
    Michael Nickel, Germany
    Gert Wörheide, Germany

    SELECTED TOPICS: CNIDARIA & CTENOPHORA
    Thomas Bosch, Germany
    Allen G. Collins, USA
    Mark Martindale, USA
    Katja Seipel, Great Britain
    Uli Technau, Austria

    SELECTED TOPICS: PLACOZOA
    Ana Signorovitch, USA

    GENOMICS OF NON-BILATERIAN ANIMALS
    Claire Larroux, Australia
    John R. Finnerty, USA
    Dennis Lavrov, USA

    LESSONS FROM BILATERIAN MODEL ORGANISMS
    David C. Hall, USA
    Peter Ladurner, Austria
    Sheldon McKay, USA

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE:
    Maja Adamska, Sars Centre, Bergen, Norway
    Dennis Lavrov, Iowa State University, Ames, USA
    Sally Leys, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
    Michael Nickel, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany
    Gert Wörheide, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany

LOCAL ORGANIZER:
    Michael Nickel
    Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
    Institut für Spezielle Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologie
    Erbertstr. 1
    07743 Jena
    Germany
    Email contact via webpage form at www.namo2008.de