Source: Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology submitted to NRP
FASEB CONFERENCE ON MECHANISMS IN PLANT DEVELOPMENT
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
NRI COMPETITIVE GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0200729
Grant No.
2004-35304-14941
Cumulative Award Amt.
(N/A)
Proposal No.
2004-03451
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Aug 1, 2004
Project End Date
Jul 30, 2005
Grant Year
2004
Program Code
[53.0]- (N/A)
Recipient Organization
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
9650 ROCKVILLE PIKE
BETHESDA,MD 20814-3998
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
We currently have only a rudimentary understanding of the molecular mechanisms that plants use to grow and develop properly. This research conference is devoted to disseminating and discussing the recent research findings from the leading investigators in the field of plant developmental biology.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
100%
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
20624991050100%
Knowledge Area
206 - Basic Plant Biology;

Subject Of Investigation
2499 - Plant research, general;

Field Of Science
1050 - Developmental biology;
Goals / Objectives
This conference aims to bring together researchers engaged in studying a broad range of developmental problems and using different methodologies. This is expected to provide the participants with an up-to-date view of the field, to enhance their research productivity by generating new directions for future research, and to stimulate collaborations between investigators with complementary interests.
Project Methods
This conference will include the leading investigators in the field of plant developmental biology. They will focus on comparing diverse approaches and experimental systems to help uncover the common molecular mechanisms employed by plants to accomplish their developmental programs. To foster this, the sessions are organized by developmental topic, rather than by the experimental organism or approach used.

Progress 08/01/04 to 07/30/05

Outputs
The 2004 meeting on 'Mechanisms in Plant Development' continued a successful series of meetings on this important topic. The field has undergone dramatic changes and new challenges lie in the understanding processes at the cellular and biochemical level and in the context of evolution. For this reason one of the goals of this meeting was to bring together scientist that traditionally do not come together very often. This turned out to be a very successful strategy and many attendees specifically emphasized that this mixture was very stimulating. Twenty seven invited speakers from the US, Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, and Switzerland presented talks covering traditional topics of developmental biology such as patterning, differentiation and signal transduction as well as developmental biology from the angle of cell biology, evolution, epigenetics, and natural variation. In addition to the invited speakers, 13 young researchers were selected for short talks based on their abstracts. This not only added new upcoming topics to the meeting but was also an excellent opportunity for these speakers to receive external recognition. There was a general consensus that the talks predominantly included unpublished material and the lively discussions after the talks documented the general stimulating atmosphere. At the business meeting, the attendees enthusiastically voted in favor of another meeting in the summer of 2006, and Uli Grossniklaus (Zurich) and Laurie Smith (San Diego) were elected to organize the next meeting. The attendees selected Saxton's River, Vermont as the first choice for the proposed meeting in 2006. Martin Huelskamp John Schiefelbein

Impacts
This meeting is expected to enhance the participants' ability to conceive and conduct their experimental research on plant growth and development. New approaches and areas of investigation were identified at this conference, and these are expected to be emphasized in the future research directions. An article that summarizes the conference findings (listed in the publication section of this report) is also expected to have an impact on the future research in the field of plant development.

Publications

  • Dolan, L., Langdale, J.A. (2004) New insights into plant development in New England. Development 131:5215-5220.