8th International Cassiopea Workshop
2025
June 6 – 8, 2025
Tutorials: June 3 – 5, 2025
Field Portion (Key Largo) : June 9 – 12, 2025
Costs:
Virtual: $50
Virtual participation will provide access to pre-recorded and live-streamed talks.
In-person:
Students:$200
Postdocs: $250
PIs:$300
This year, we are expanding the number of attendees to 50+.
Please see the Registration Page for deadlines.
Full refunds (minus processing fee) for registration fees will be provided up to April 1st. Partial refunds can be provided after this date. Please contact us at [email protected] regarding partial refunds.
Lodging: The marine laboratory will provide free dormitory lodging prioritized for students and postdocs, but spots are limited and provided on a first-come, first-served basis. Please go to the Travel Award page to apply. Airbnbs and hotels are available nearby, including blocked rooms at the Guy Harvey Hotel. More information can be found on the Location page.
What does the in-person registration fee include: The registration fee includes breakfast and lunch during the days of the tutorials and seminars (6/3 – 6/8), a dinner banquet on Saturday (food from a local restaurant), and access to recorded talks.
The International Cassiopea Workshop brings together researchers from around the world to share research and ideas related to the Cassiopea system.
The multidisciplinary meeting gathers scientists from diverse research backgrounds, with previous attendees having a wide array of expertise in symbiosis, behavior, fluid dynamics, ecology, genetics, etc. We encourage anyone to attend, even if they are new to the Cassiopea system, or are interested in utilizing Cassiopea for research.
This year, the workshop will be held at the University of Florida Whitney Laboratory for Marine Science. The state-of-the-art facilities at Whitney Labs will allow us to provide more in-depth tutorials. We are planning several full day and half day tutorials from June 6/3 – 6/5 that will span topics such as molecular techniques, physiology, and bioinformatics.
Plenary Speakers
Speaker 1: Dr. Elizabeth Stoner (Bentley University)
Title: Revisiting the Jellyfish Joyride: Over 15 years later– where do we stand, and how do benthic jellies fit into the picture?
Speaker 2: Dr. Arvind Santhanakrishnan (Oklahoma State University)
Title: Experimental studies of Cassiopea feeding and exchange currents
Speaker 3 (Early Career Plenary): Dr. Aki Ohdera (University of Arizona)
Title: Developmental symbiosis: Are microbes more than a puzzle piece?
Tutorials
We are excited to bring more in-depth and hands on tutorials for 2025, thanks to the access to state-of-the-art equipment at Whitney Laboratories. More details and the schedule will be available in the coming weeks.
The three days of tutorials will include half and full day sessions led by experts in the area. For each tutorial, participants will learn the concepts behind the methods, discuss how to effectively use the techniques in experiments, and receive hands-on training to apply the methods in their own work.
Cassiopea Husbandry (Victoria Sharp/Aki Ohdera) – 6/3
Participants will learn the fundamental aspects of Cassiopea husbandry, including embryo collection and handling, the design and management of appropriate aquaculture systems, and the specific considerations for rearing symbiotic versus aposymbiotic individuals. The tutorial will highlight reliable methodologies with broad applicability. We will also discuss the standardization of husbandry practices for the broad Cassiopea research community.
Effective Outreach (Vivian Li) – 6/3
RNAi Methods and Embryo Microinjections (Michael Abrams/Bailey Steinworth/Mark Q. Martindale) – 6/4
Attendees will learn the fundamentals of RNAi and microinjection including how to design dsRNA and RNA hairpins to knockdown gene expression and CRISPR design considerations. The tutorial will feature hands-on experience with Cassiopea embryo microinjection, as well as pellet feeding RNAi methods.
Schedule
Field sampling and Collection: 6/9 – 6/12
In previous years, attendees have taken advantage of the workshop location (Key Largo, FL) to conduct field sampling and experiments at the Key Largo Marine Research Laboratory (KLMRL). We will continue to provide this opportunity to attendees.
On the Monday after the seminar (6/9), we will organize a shuttle to drive interested participants to Key Largo. Attendees will have access to the KLMRL, as well as the equipment available, to conduct experiments. We will also assist in sample collection.
Attendees interested in staying at KLMRL should plan their return trip from Miami, FL or Ft. Lauderdale, FL. We will NOT be shuttling attendees back to St. Augustine. We advise everyone to plan accordingly.
Lodging at KLMRL is available at a first-come first-served basis.
Travel Award
Deadline: March 23 at 12:00 PST
Applicants will be informed shortly after application submission whether they will receive the registration waiver. Applicants will be informed by April 1st whether they are receiving travel funding / free lodging.
Travel awards are available to students and post-docs on a needs basis. Funds are limited and we encourage those interested to apply as early as possible.
Transportation funds:
Up to $500 can be awarded to students traveling domestically and $800 for international students. To ease the cost of attendance, subsidies will be guaranteed for all recipients of the travel award.
Lodging:
There are currently 8 dormitory spots available at no cost. These will be awarded on a needs basis. We are working to increase the number of spaces available and will announced on the Cassiopea list serve, as well as via email to those who have already submitted applications, if we are able to expand the number of available lodging slots.
Registration Waivers:
We will also be able to offer registration waivers for students and post-docs. The number of waivers provided will be limited based on funding, and we recommend registering early. Please note that waivers will be limited to two applicants per research lab.
If applicant’s attendance in contingent on receiving funding, and the April timeline will cause difficulties for booking travel, please contact us at [email protected].