About the author

Suzanne Kennedy

Suzanne is Director of R&D at Mo Bio Laboratories in California, and the author of their blog, The Culture Dish. She has a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from Virginia Commonwealth University.

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What better way to kick off 2009 than with an overview of some of the most popular scientific conferences for researchers from all over the world? The experience of attending a scientific conference is invaluable for learning how to communicate your research and for staying at the cutting edge of science. It is also a great time to network with other labs and form collaborations that will lead to faster discoveries and publications in top tier journals.

If you haven’t decided where you want to spend your travel money, below is a list of the key conferences taking place in the US. Take a look and send us your comments to include additional conferences you attend in Europe and Asia that you think are providing the latest and greatest information for your field of work.

January

Plant and Animal Genome (PAG)
January 10^th-14^th
Town and Country Hotel, San Diego CA

LabAutomation 2009
January 24-27th
Palm Springs, CA

February

American Academy of Forensic Sciences 61^st Annual Scientific Meeting
February 16-21^st
Colorado Convention Center, Denver, CO

Biophysical Society’s 53rd Annual Meeting  
February 28- March 4th
Boston Convention Center

March

American College of Medical Genetics Annual Meeting
March 25^th-29^th
Tampa Convention Center, Tampa, Florida

April

American Association for Cancer Research 100^th Annual Meeting
April 18 – 22
Colorado Convention Center, Denver, CO

Experimental Bio 2009 Annual Meeting
April 18 – 22
New Orleans, LA

May

American Society of Microbiology, 109^th Annual Meeting
May 17-21
Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia, PA

July

Plant Biology 2009
July 18-22
2009 Hawaii Convention Center, Honolulu, Hawaii

American Society of Virology 28th Annual Meeting
July 11-15
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

October

Society for Neuroscience
October 17-21
McCormick Place (North/South Buildings), Chicago, IL

American Society for Human Genetics
October 20-24
Hawaii Convention Center, Honolulu, HI

November

Association for Molecular Pathology 2009 Annual Meeting
November 19-22
Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center, Kissimmee, FL

December

American Society for Cell Biology 49th Annual Meeting
December 5-9
San Diego, CA

Of course there are many other conferences all over the world that may be a better use of your time and travel money, depending on your field.

If you are new to your field, ask your colleagues where they are going and do some research to see if you would benefit more from a smaller, intimate, specialized meeting or some of these large conferences that give a comprehensive overview of an entire field of science. Regardless of where you go, it will be an invigorating experience that should not be missed.

If you already have your meetings mapped out for this year, and they are not on this list, drop us a comment and let us know where you are going, and we’ll add them to make a more comprehensive list.

We’d love to hear from you!