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May 28, 2008
The
Joint Annual
Meeting of the American
Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) and the Sociedad Mexicana
De Bioquimica Rama: Bioquimica y Biologia Molecular de Plantas
will be held June 22–25, 2008 in the Fiesta Americana Hotel in
Merida, Mexico.
A major theme of this year's annual meeting is the biology and
agriculture of plant species that originated in the America's.
Presentations will also focus on the international
collaborations to study and improve these crops – for example,
maize, tomato, potato, and tropical species. This year
represents an effort on the part of ASPB to reach out and engage
our Latin American members and colleagues, noted Dr. Danny
Schnell, Professor and Head, Department of Biochemistry and
Molecular Biology, University of Massachusetts. Schnell chairs
the ASPB Program Committee that has collaborated with scientists
in Mexico in planning this annual meeting.
Scientists will present their findings on leading research at
six major symposia, many mini-symposia and several workshops.
Following is information on the major symposia:
Symposium I: Opening
Symposium - 2007 Charles Albert Shull Awardee: Samuel C.
Zeeman, ETH Zurich, Switzerland – “What plants do in the
dark: the conversion of transitory starch into sucrose in
leaves.” 2007 Stephen Hales Prize Winner: Sarah Hake, Plant
Gene Expression Center – “A genetic approach to plant
morphology.”
Symposium II: Maize Biology Sponsored by Monsanto -
Organizers: Sarah Hake and Jean Phillipe Vielle Calzada.
John Jones – “The origins and early dispersal of Maize: The
Palynological and Archaeological Evidence.” Vicki Chandler –
“Epigenetic Silencing Across Generations.” Erik Vollbrecht –
“The maize inflorescence: development, domestication and
insights into grass evolution.” Jean Phillipe Vielle Calzada
– “The Codifying Genome of the Palomero Mexican landrace.”
Symposium III: Biology of Tomato & Solanaceous
Species - Organizers: Lukas Mueller and Lus (Stella)
Barrero. Roland Schafleitner, CIP, Peru – “A genomics
approach to identify drought resistance traits of potato.”
Fernando Carrari, Argentina or Magdalenda Rossi, Brasil
LAT-SOL, Argentina – “Development of rapid strategies for
testing of candidate Solanaceae QTLs .“ Luz Stella Barrero,
Corpioca, Colombia – “Application of genomics tools - case
study: tomato – Solanaceae.” Felipe Cruz, Mexico –“Synthesis
and transfer to the stigmatic surface of NaStEP, a vacuolar
Kunitz proteinase inhibitor homolog and its role in pollen
rejection in Nicotiana.” Esther Van Der Knaap, Ohio State
University, USA - “Underlying mechanisms of diversity in
tomato fruit morphology.”
Symposium IV: Martin Gibbs Medal Symposium -
Organizer: Richard A. Jorgensen. Sue Rhee – “Discovering new
enzymes by combining computational and metabolomic
approaches in Arabidopsis and translating metabolic network
knowledge from model to crop plants.” Rodrigo Gutierrez –
“VirtualPlant: A software platform to support Systems
Biology research in the post-genomic era.” Eric Kramer –
“Models of auxin transport and action: from Arabidopsis to
Populus.” Richard A. Jorgensen – “The iPlant Collaborative:
A Cyberinfrastructure-Centered Community for a New Plant
Biology.”
Symposium V: Tropical Agriculture - Organizer: Dr.
Richard Sayre & Dr. Miguel A. Gomez-Lim. Dr. Richard Sayre –
“Biofortification of cassava to alleviate malnutrition; the
biocassava plus program.” Dr. Miguel A. Gomez-Lim – “Genetic
transformation of tropical plant species.” Dr. Marcos
Buckeridge – “A novel alpha-galactosidase from coffee is
likely to control mannan fine structure in developing
seeds.”Justin Maresh – “Alkaloid biosynthesis in Madagascar
periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus)”
Symposium VI: President's Symposium - Organizer: C.
Robertson McClung, Dartmouth College. C. Robertson McClung –
“Timing is Everything.” Edgar Spalding – “Seedling
establishment seen through the eyes of a computer.” Scott
Poethig – “Turning over a new leaf: the regulation of
vegetative phase change in Arabidopsis.” Annie Schmitt –
“Arabidopsis in the real world: flowering time pathways in
natural environments across the species climatic range.”
Perspectives of Science Leaders
presenter will be Luis Herrera-Estrella, Center for Research and
Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute,
Department of Plant Genetic Engineering, Irapuato, Mexico. His
talk will be on “Transgenic plants in a center of plant
diversity, friends or enemies?” Dr. Estrella will receive the
ASPB 2008 Leadership in Science Public Service Award during the
program. The award recognizes his outstanding contributions to
science and society.
A minisymposium on education outreach will be chaired by Jane
Ellis. An education workshop on “Evaluation, assessment and
research in life science education: What, How and Why?” will be
coordinated by Erin Dolan.
To view the preliminary agenda or to register for the annual
meeting, please visit:
http://www.aspb.org/meetings/pb-2008/
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