MEETING REVIEW Wind River Conference on Prokaryotic Biology—2002

formation Meeting in 1957, was renamed the Wind River Con-ference on Genetic Exchange and ultimately became the Wind River Conference on Prokaryotic Biology to expand the range of areas of discussion and presentation (3). Initially, the dis-cussion centered on bacterial transformation, and many of the seminal findings in that field were reported at this meeting, but recently the conferences have covered a wide range of subject areas from genetics to physiology of many diverse genera of bacteria. In that aspect this meeting is unique, because stu-dents and experts working on many different microbial systems can find a common ground for discussion and expansion of ideas. The Wind River Conferences also encourage students to present and even lead sessions. This has provided an excellent introduction to scientific presentation and discussion for a number of scientists across the country, many of whom regu-larly attend the Wind River Conferences and bring their stu-dents here. Since the meeting is held at a relatively remote site, there is ample opportunity to relax together with speakers and informally discuss anything that is of further interest and to develop contacts and friendships. This year’s meeting was the 46th in the series. The site for the meeting has varied over the years but mostly has been in the Estes Park area of Colorado and was fixed in this location several years ago. The 46th Win