The 27th Annual Meeting of the SSOEL-Japan

Second announcement

Tuesday March 13th to Thursday March 15th, 2002 Tsukuba, Japan

Organized by:

The Society for the Study of the Origin and Evolution of Life- Japan (SSOEL-Japan)

University of Tsukuba

Invitation

On behalf of the Society for the Study of the Origin and Evolution of Life - Japan (SSOEL-Japan) , it is a great pleasure to invite all SSOEL members, and colleagues from all over the world to attend the 27th Annual Meeting of SSOEL-Japan to be held at Tsukuba Science City, Japan from March 13 to 15, 2002.

Since the study of the origin and evolution of life is a multidisciplinary subject, the aim of the meeting is to integrate recent discoveries in the fields of exo/astrobiology, cosmic prebiotic chemistry, origins of life, microbial evolution, genomics, paleobiology, and astronomy. For over three decades, these series of meetings have been the principal forum for the exchange of scientific information on the problems related to the origin and evolution of life. The development of these meetings parallels the growth of this continuous expanding field. It started with the first publication of VIVA ORIGINO in 1969, followed by Research Seminar on Radiation and Evolution in Research Reactor Institute of Kyoto University in 1971, birth of SSOEL in 1975 in Osaka, and has continued up the 2001 26th SSOEL meeting in Osaka University. Your participation and contribution is very important. We sure you will enjoy your stay in Tsukuba city and we are confident that both the scientific programs will ensure a happy and productive academic exchange.

Outline of the Scientific Program:

The technical sessions will be grouped in oral presentations around specific topics. Oral communications will include both invited and contributed papers. There will be no oral parallel sessions. The following topics will be included:
Extraterrestrial organic compounds
Primitive Earth environments
Prebiotic chemistry
D-amino acids
RNA world and the origin of replication
Microbiological life and genomics
Early metabolism
Radiation
Molecular evolution
Precambrian paleontology
Astrobiology/Exobiology
Historical, philosophical, and educational aspects of the origin of life
Search for life in the Universe.

Abstracts

Abstracts will be due in January 31 2002. Provide full title, and authors(s) name(s), affiliation(s), present address, email address, and abstract of 250 ﾐ 350 words. Please write within the frame of 14.5 cm in width and 20.5 cm in length.

Venue

The 27th Annual Meeting of SSOEL-Japan will be held at University of Tsukuba, which is some 60 Km away northeast from Tokyo, in the heart of Tsukuba Science City.

Language

Japanese will be the official language for the meeting. However, English is also accepted if you donﾕt speak Japanese. No facilities for simultaneous translations will be available. Public conferences will be in Japanese.

Travel and Accommodations

A local travel agent ( 27th Annual Meeting Services of SSOEL-Japan, Email) will arrange the hotel reservations. The city neighborings offer a rich mixture of scientific architecture, sophisticated Japanese cuisine to be explored and enjoyed.

Travel Grants

SSOEL will provide a limit number of travel grants for students and young scientists. Those interested should contact shimada@ipe.tsukuba.ac.jp.

Participation and Registration Fees

The meeting will be open to all scientists interested in the origin of life and related fields. The registration fee^* will be

SSOEL-Japan members	4000 Yen
Non-members	5000 Yen
Students	2000 Yen
Accompanying persons	3000 Yen
mixing welcome party (only participants)	5000 Yen

^* The registration fee includes the conference attendance, the, the book of abstracts, coffee/tea breaks.

Last Announcement

The last announcement, to be sent in February 2002, will contain programs, maps of meeting places, and traffic facilities.

Correspondence address

27th Annual Meeting of SSOEL-Japan
Institute of Applied Biochemistry
University of Tsukuba
Ibaraki 305-8572,
Japan

Tel 0298-53-4367
Fax 0298-53-4605
e-mail: shimada@ipe.tsukuba.ac.jp