Abstract

The 2018 Meiosis Gordon Conference (GRC) is the premier international meeting bringing together researchers studying the fundamental processes of meiosis, utilizing a wide range of approaches in various different organisms, to present new and unpublished results in the field. Researchers performing genetics, cell and molecular biology, structural biology, biochemistry, and evolutionary analyses in organisms including yeast, insects, plants, nematodes and mammals, will discuss the mechanistic insights being gained in the underpinnings of this specialized cell division process. Meiosis is essential for sexually reproducing organisms ensuring fertility and genetic diversity, and therefore, both conserved and diverged strategies are present throughout nature to ensure accurate meiotic chromosome segregation. Meiosis research informs many fields including germ cell biology, DNA repair and chromosome behavior. Work in the meiosis field is of tremendous relevance to human health given that errors during meiosis result in aneuploidy leading to birth defects such as Down syndrome, infertility and miscarriages. In addition, manipulation of meiosis is intrinsically linked to improvements in animal breeding and crop production. Only by studying meiotic processes across the myriad of eukaryotic organisms may we begin to fully understand the translational impacts on human, animal, and crop health. The GRC will be held at Colby-Sawyer College in New London, NH on June 10-15, 2018, and will be preceded by the Meiosis Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) at the same location (June 9-10, 2018). The GRC will gather approximately 175 participants, including 53 speakers. The GRS, which is organized by graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, is aimed at junior researchers and will include between 50-60 participants. These two conferences will provide a collegial environment for graduate students, postdocs, young and established investigators to openly exchange ideas at the forefront of this exciting field in both formal and informal settings.