About the series
Deadline for receipt of completed applications: 1 August 2009
"Integrative Biology and Adaptation of Antarctic Marine Organisms" McMurdo Station, Antarctica January 2010
The National Science Foundation (NSF) announces a special month-long course on advanced biology, "Integrative Biology and Adaptation of Antarctic Marine Organisms." The course will be held in Antarctica at McMurdo Station for one month, starting in January 2010. This is an international course, open to all nationalities.
Applications are invited from graduate students currently enrolled in a PhD program, postdoctoral fellows, and early-career faculty who are interested in the study of extreme environments and the biology of antarctic organisms. Full scholarships are available for each participant accepted into the course to cover the cost of travel from their home institution to McMurdo Station and room and board while in Antarctica.
The emphasis of this advanced course is on integrative biology, with laboratory- and field-based projects focused on biological adaptations in an extreme environment, and an emphasis on rapid climate change in the polar regions. A diverse teaching faculty will offer students the opportunity to study a wide range of Antarctic organisms (bacteria/archaea, algae, invertebrates, and fish), as well as to study several different levels of biological analysis (molecular biology, biomechanics, physiological ecology, species diversity, and evolution).
The following faculty will participate:
- Dr. Donal Manahan, Course Director, University of Southern California -- Invertebrate development and molecular physiology
- Dr. Mark Denny, Stanford University -- Biomechanics and environmental physics
- Dr. Deneb Karentz, University of San Francisco -- Photobiology and phytoplankton ecology
- Dr. Alison Murray, University of Nevada -- Microbial ecology and genomics
- Dr. George Somero, Stanford University -- Biochemical adaptation
The deadline for receipt of completed applications is Saturday, 1 August 2009. For more information, including application details, please go to: http://antarctica.usc.edu.
