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The 2014 World Forum on Biology, a Joint Meeting of the Society for In Vitro Biology and the Society for Cryobiology, was an outstanding success. Many thanks go out to Program Chairs Valerie Pence (Plant Biotechnology Section), Addy Alt-Holland (In Vitro Animal Cell Sciences Section), Jason Acker (Society for Cryobiology), Sylvia Mitchell (SIVB Education Committee Chair), Nichole Nole (SIVB Student Committee Co-Chair), and Marten Petersen (SIVB Student Program Co-Chair). These individuals and their respective committee members produced an outstanding program that blended plant, animal, cryobiology, and education topics in an effective and cohesive manner.
The program included four plenary symposia: “Climate Change, the Cryosphere, and Cryopreservation”, Stress Tolerance in a Changing Climate”, “Genome Editing/Gene Delivery/Targeted Mutagenesis”, and “The Omics Generation – Advances in Metabolomics, Proteomics, and Genomics”. An outstanding and very interesting keynote lecture entitled “Saving Species Through Cryobiology – Filling the Gap Between Technology and Ecology” was presented by Pierre Comizzoli of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.
The Plant Program included 11 symposia, 1 workshop, 3 interactive poster sessions, and 4 contributed paper sessions. The Animal Program included 7 symposia, 1 workshop and 1 joint workshop with the Plant Section, 1 interactive poster session, and two contributed paper sessions. The Cryobiology Program included 11 symposia and 4 contributed paper sessions. The Education Committee organized 1 symposium and 2 workshops. These sessions and workshops, along with over 80 posters made for a great event and ample knowledge sharing across the societies.
The Savannah venue was outstanding, with lots of options for dining, shopping, or just wandering through historic downtown Savannah or up and down River Street taking in the views and buzz of the crowd. The evening event at Fort Jackson provided a great location and opportunity to share time with colleagues and friends. All in all, the 2014 meeting was a great success and we look forward to seeing you in Tucson in 2015!
Michael Spencer
2014 World Forum on Biology Program Chair
