S1. Endocrine disruption: Impacts on wildlife
Co-chairs: Mary Ann Ottinger, University of Maryland, USA; Peter Thomas, University of Texas, Austin, USA
Invited Speakers
Mary Ann Ottinger, University of Maryland, USA Neuroendocrine measures of endocrine disruptor chemical impact in birds.
Caren Helbing, University of Victoria, Canada Determining endocrine disruptive potential of environmental contaminants in frogs.
Reynaldo Patino, Texas Tech University, USA Indices of endocrine disruption and reproductive dysfunction in fish populations from the Lower Colorado River.

S2. Insulin/IGF signaling in longevity regulation: New insights from animal models
Co-chairs: Cunming Duan, University of Michigan, USA; Patrick Hu, University of Michigan, USA
Invited Speakers
Patrick Hu, University of Michigan, USA Novel regulators of FoxO transcription factors.
Andrzej Bartke, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, USA Somatotropic signaling, adipose tissue and longevity.
Richard Miller, University of Michigan, USA Stress resistance in mutant mice and long-lived species: clues to evolutionary mechanism?

S3. Tick, tock, setting the clock: Hormones and biological rhythms
Co-chairs: Teresa Lee, University of Michigan, USA; Orie Shafer, University of Michigan, USA
Invited Speakers
Horatio De la Iglesia, Univesity of Washington, USA The master clock and its timing of hormonal release.
Michael T. Sellix, University of Virginia, USA The ovulation clock: How the hands of the circadian oscillator time reproduction.
Jae Park, University of Tennessee, USA Neuroendocrinology and biological rhythms in Drosophila

S4. Endocrine-immune system interactions
Co-chairs: Gregory Demas, Indiana University, USA; Susannah French, Utah State University, USA
Invited Speakers
Sabra Klein, Johns Hopkins University Hormonal mechanisms of hantavirus transmission, persistence, and disease in rodent reservoir and human populations.
Susannah French, Utah State University Side-blotched lizards, stress and immunity across an urban gradient.
Noah Ashley, Ohio State College of Medicine Testosterone-induced immunosuppression in songbirds: trouble or triumph?

S5. Evolution of polypeptide hormones and their receptors
Co-chairs: Willam Bendena, Queens University, Canada; David Lovejoy, University of Toronto, Canada
Invited Speakers
Nancy Sherwood, University of Victoria, Canada GnRH and its receptors.
Dan Larhammar, Uppsala University, Sweden Unexpected complexity in the evolution of vertebrate somatostatin and urotensin II receptors.
William Bendena, Queens University, Canada Allatostatin-like receptors influence behaviour in Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabiditis elegans.

S6. Endocrine control of growth, body size and allometric scaling
Co-chairs: Alexander Shingleton, Michigan State University, USA; Russell Borski, North Carolina State University, USA
Invited Speakers
Christen Mirth, Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Portugal Ecdysone regulates size-dependent development.
Alexander Shingleton, Michigan State University, USA Keeping things in proportion: The coordination of organ growth in Drosophila.
Russell Borski, North Carolina State University, USA Endocrinology of compensatory growth in fish.

S7. Sex determination and differentiation
Co-chairs: Lou Guillette, Medical University of South Carolina, USA; Taisen Iguchi, Okazaki National Research Institutes, Japan
Invited Speakers
Yoshi Nagahama, National Institute for Basic Biology, Japan Sex determination /differentiation and sexual plasticity in fish.
Satomi Kohno, Medical University of South Carolina, USA Hormones, genes and environmental sex determination in the American alligator.
Michihiko Ito, Kitasato University, Japan Opposite roles of DMRT1 and its W-linked paralogue, DM-W, in the ZZ/ZW-type sex determination in Xenopus laevis.

S8. Hormone action in neural development and plasticity
Co-chairs: Steve Harvey, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada; Susan Fahrbach, Wake Forest University, USA
Invited Speakers
Susan Fahrbach, Wake Forest University, USA Does the molting hormone shape the adult bee brain?
Olivier Kah, University of Rennes, France Radial glia progenitors as source and target of neurosteroids: Role in fish neurodevelopment and plasticity
Steve Harvey, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada Growth hormone and retinal neurogenesis during chick embryo development.

S9. Extreme endocrinology: physiological and behavioral adaptation to extreme environments
Co-chairs: John Wingfield, University of California, Davis, USA; Brian Barnes, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, USA
Invited Speakers
David Denlinger, Ohio State University, USA Shutting down for the winter: a role for insulin signaling in insect diapauses.
Peter Thomas, University of Texas at Austin, USA Widespread reproductive disruption, masculinization and endocrine imbalance in croaker exposed to environmental hypoxia.
John Wingfield, University of California at Davis, USA What are extreme conditions?

S10. Iodothyronine actions throughout the life cycle
Co-chairs: Andreas Heyland, University of Guelph, Canada; Carlos Valverde Rodríguez, UNAM, Mexico
Invited Speakers
Yun-Bo Shi, National Institutes of Health, USA Molecular and genetic studies of histone-modifying complexes in thyroid hormone action during Xenopus development.
Theo Visser, Erasmus University Medical School, Belgium Regulation of thyroid hormone bioactivity by deiodinases; from prevertebrates to humans.
Andreas Heyland, University of Guelph, Canada Iodine uptake and metabolism in sea urchins.

S11. Nuclear hormone receptors: evolution and roles in development and physiology
Co-chairs: Penny Hopkins, University of Oklahoma, USA; Yun-Bo Shi, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH, USA
Invited Speakers
Penny Hopkins, University of Oklahoma, USA Ecdysteroids and their receptors in the crustacean, Uca pugilator.
Lynn Riddiford, Janelia Farm Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, USA Role of juvenile hormone and its receptor in Drosophila metamorphosis and reproduction.
Laurent Sachs, Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France Whole genome mapping of thyroid hormone receptor in Xenopus tropicalis.

S12. Neuroendocrine control of reproduction
Co-chairs: Pei-San Tsai, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA; Stacia Sower, University of New Hampshire, USA
Invited Speakers
Alexander (Sasha) Kauffman, University of California at San Diego, USA Development and hormonal regulation of reproductive neural circuits in rodents.
Pei-San Tsai, University of Colorado at Boulder, USA Aplysia GnRH: A role in reproduction?
Nerine Joseph, University of Guelph, Canada Agnatha and Avian: Evolutionary Recruitment of GnRH systems.

S13. Ion and water balance
Co-chairs: Ian Orchard, University of Toronto, Mississauga, Canada; Steve McCormick, USGS and University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA
Invited Speakers
Jean-Paul Paluzzi, McMaster University, Canada Neuroendocrine regulation of diuresis and anti-diuresis in the Chagas' disease vector, Rhodnius prolixus.
Shigeyasu Tanaka, Shizuoka University, Japan The water balance of anuran amphibians by aquaporins.
E. Gordon Grau, University of Hawaii, USA Osmoreception and endocrine responses in teleost fish.

S14. Coping with environmental change: adaptive roles for neuroendocrine stress pathways
Co-chairs: L. Michael Romero, Tufts University, USA; Matt Vijayan, University of Waterloo, Canada
Invited Speakers
Tracy Langkilde, Pennsylvania State University, USA Stress and Invasion: the role of corticosterone in facilitating a behavioral response to introduced predators.
L. Michael Romero, Tufts University, USA Using Reactive Scope to understand physiological responses during stress.
Matt Vijayan, University of Waterloo, Canada Stress adaptation and the role of cortisol in fishes.

S15. Ectohormones, environmental chemicals and their perception
Co-chairs: Jeremy McNeil, University of Western Ontario, Canada; Nicholas Johnson, US Geological Survey, USA; Weiming Li, Michigan State University, USA Invited Speakers
Jeremy McNeil, University of Western Ontario, Canada Pheromone mediated mating in migratory moths.
Nicholas Johnson, US Geological Survey, USA Identification and characterization of sea lamprey mating pheromones.
Robert Mason, Oregon State University, USA Perireceptor role of the Harderian gland mediates pheromonal communication in garter snakes.

S16. Advances in comparative neuroendocrinology
Co-chairs: Angela Lange, University of Toronto, Mississuaga, Canada; Vance Trudeau, University of Ottawa, Canada
Invited Speakers
Michael Adams, University of California-Riverside, USA Peptidergic signaling cascades in the regulation of insect ecdysis.
David Lovejoy, University of Toronto, Canada Teneurin C-terminal Associated Peptides (TCAP): New peptides involved in the neural regulation of corticotropin-releasing factor.
Chris Martyniuk, University of New Brunswick - St. John, Canada Neuroproteomics and gene-protein relationships in fish: Insights and challenges for neuroendocrine and neurotoxicology research.

S17. Hormones and behavior
Co-chairs: Rosemary Knapp, University of Oklahoma, USA; Juli Wade, Michigan State University, USA
Invited Speakers
Gregory F. Ball, Johns Hopkins University Hormone-induced adult neuroplasticity and the activation of behavior in birds
Brian C. Trainor, University of California at Davis Effects of the environment on estrogen-dependent mechanisms of aggressive behavior
Rosemary Knapp, University of Oklahoma Cross-talk between endocrine stress and reproductive axes in a livebearing fish

S18. Feeding and metabolism
Co-chairs: Suraj Unniappan, York University, Canada; J. Sook Chung, University of Maryland, USA
Invited Speakers
Mark R. Brown, University of Georgia, USA Prime roles for insulin-like peptides in mosquito.
Helene Volkoff, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada Comparative aspects of the endocrine regulation of feeding in fish models.
Mark Sheridan, North Dakota State University, USA Resolving the growth-promoting and lipid catabolic actions of growth hormone.

S19. Regulatory pathways controlling gonadal development and gamete maturation
Co-chairs: Alex Raikhel, University of California, Riverside, USA; Glen Van Der Kraak, University of Guelph, Canada
Invited Speakers
Wei Ge, University of Hong Kong, China Intrafollicular communication network in the fish ovary – what have we learnt from the zebrafish model.
Alex Raikhel, Alex Raikhel, University of California, Riverside, USA Regulatory pathways controlling mosquito reproduction.
Humphrey H Yao, University of Illinois, USA Sex, survival, and hedgehog: a story of how mammalian embryos make their gonads and adrenals.

S20. Special symposium: General and Comparative Endocrinology 50th Anniversary Symposium
Co-chairs: Robert Dores and Ian Henderson (GCE Editors-in-Chief)
Invited Speakers
Hamid Habibi, University of Calgary Thyroid hormone and control of reproduction in goldfish.
Vance Trudeau, University of Ottawa Peptide Identity Crisis: Is secretoneurin a new hormone?
Pierre Deviche, Arizona State University Androgen secretion in free-ranging birds: Evolving views on temporal dynamics, control mechanisms, and significance.