Welcome!

The 60th annual meeting of the International Society of Protistologists will be held jointly with the British Society of Protist Biology on the campus of the University of Kent, Canterbury. The city of Canterbury is located in the coastal countryside about 1.5 hour southeast of London and is readily accessible by rail (see link for things to see and do in and around canterbury). For campus information, see "self guided tour."

Assistance for students and young investigators.

The ISOP and BSPB are committed to fostering student and postdoc participation at the meeting. Those in need of travel assistance are encouraged to apply for an ISOP Travel Award. Reduced registration fees are provided for student members of ISOP and BSPB. To become a member of ISOP, go to Wiley-Blackwell, Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology-Membership. To join BSPB, go to http://www.protist.org.uk/join.html.

Featured program elements.

In the spirit of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, the meeting organizers are developing an informative and contemporary program that assembles a wide range of participants: students, young investigators, and established scientist from diverse backgrounds. In that effort, ISOP and BSPB are sponsoring one full symposium, several mini-symposia, and special lectures:

ISOP Symposium: Alternative Nutritional Strategies. Chair: Bob Sanders, Temple University.
Bob Sanders, Temple University, Alternative nutritional strategies in freshwater protists: a short review
Diane Stoecker, University of Maryland, Acquired phototrophy in ciliates
Ruben Sommaruga, University of Innsbruck, A photobiological perspective of mixotrophy in ciliates
Per Juel Hansen, University of Copenhagen, Role of food uptake and photosynthesis in free-living marine dinoflagellates
Hae Jin Jeong, Seoul National University, Mixotrophy in the raphidophytes

Mini-symposium: Dynamics of Genomes and Life Cycles. Chairs: Laura Katz and Laura Parfrey, Smith College.
Plenary speaker: Susan Goldstein, University of Georgia.

Mini-symposium: Bioinformatics as a Tool to Understanding the Biology and Biochemistry of Parasitic and Free-living Protists. Chairs: Burt Goldberg, New York University and Tim Paget, Universities of Kent and Greenwich at Medway.
Plenary speaker: David Lloyd, University Wales, Cardiff, TBA
Plenary speaker: Martin Embley, Newcastle University, TBA

Mini-symposium: Species Concepts in Protists, Cryptic Species, Parasites and Non-parasites. Chair: Tom Cavalier-Smith, University of Oxford.
Plenary speaker: TBA

Mini-symposium: New Insights into Free-living Flagellates. Chairs: David Bass, Natural History Museum, London and Edvard Glücksman, University of Oxford.
Plenary speaker: TBA

Mini-symposium: Pushing the Boundaries: Protist Diversity Never Ending. Chair: Jan Keithly, Wadsworth Center.
Plenary speaker: Ross Waller, University of Melbourne, TBA

Mini-symposium: From Gause to Gaia: Using Protists to Model Ecological Processes. Chairs: David Montagnes, University of Liverpool and Steve Wickham, University of Salzburg.
Plenary speaker: Owen Petchey, Sheffield University, Extinctions, warming, and food webs linked using microbial microcosm experiments
For more information, see session description.

ISOP Hutner Lecture: Laura Katz, Smith College, TBA.

ISOP Past President Address: Jan Keithly, Wadsworth Center, Cryptosporidium: the Renegade Coccidium.

ISOP Vice-President Address: David Montagnes, University of Liverpool, TBA.