The 14th International Zebrafish Conference was held in Suzhou from June 12 to 16, 2019. The conference attracted more than 1,100 researchers from more than 30 countries and regions including the United States, Britain, Germany, Japan and South Korea. Over 40 researchers and students from Institute of Hydrobiology (IHB) of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) attended the conference.    

In order to strengthen the international cooperation in zebrafish research, especially to actively promote the development of zebrafish research in the Asia-Pacific region, the international zebrafish conference was held in the Asia-Pacific region for the first time.   

The keynote speakers were Prof. Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, a German developmental biologist and 1995 Nobel Prize-winner; Prof. MENG Anming from Tsinghua University (CAS academician); Prof. PU Muming (CAS academician), director of Institute of Neuroscience under Chinese Academy of Sciences; Prof. LI Peng (CAS academician), director of Department of Life Sciences, National Natural Science Foundation of China.    

The conference covered topics including the early development model, hematopoietic development, cardiovascular development, digestive tract development and its function, neurodevelopment, physiology and metabolism, reproductive biology, disease model, pharmaceutical chemistry, genome editing, imaging technology and evolutionary development biology.   

IHB Prof. SUN Yonghua, on behalf of the China Zebrafish Resources Center, organized the Resource and Husbandry Workshop, where leaders of the world's leading zebrafish resources center gathered together for the first time to discuss the current status and future trend of zebrafish resources.    

The International Zebrafish Conference, formerly known as International Conference on Zebrafish Development & Genetics, is the most influential and authoritative academic conference in zebrafish study. It is held every two years. Since 1994, it has been held for 13 consecutive times in the United States. The 14th International Zebrafish Conference came to China for the first time, indicating that Chinese zebrafish research community has become a major force in the international zebrafish study field. The 15th International Zebrafish Conference will be held in Montreal, Canada from June 16 to 20, 2021.