The Thirteenth International Congress on Invertebrate Reproduction and Development was held in Wayne State University, Detroit, USA from 14^th July to 20^th July, 2013. Professor Fuhua Li and Dr Shihao Li attended the conference.

Professor Fuhua Li was invited by Professor Amir Sagi from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the present president of the International Society for Invertebrate Reproduction and Development, to give a lecture on the “Progress in molecular mechanism study on reproduction and sex development in penaeid shrimp”. The lecture mainly described research findings on molecular mechanisms of shrimp reproduction and sex development acquired by our lab in recent years, which aroused others’ interests and intention of cooperating with our institute. Dr Shihao Li communicated the topic on “Identification of two spliced variants of insulin-like androgenic gland hormone gene in the Chinese shrimp, Fenneropenaeus chinensis”. Professor Fuhua Li was voted as the new vice president of the International Society for Invertebrate Reproduction and Development during the meeting.