Progress 09/01/09 to 08/31/10
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Plant Cell Walls was held at Bryant University, Smithfield, Rhode Island, August 2-7, 2009. A subtitle for the 2009 Plant Cell Walls GRC was "Plant Cell Wall Biosynthesis", indicating an emphasis on this topic. The organization of the 2009 Plant Cell Walls GRC required extensive interaction between the Chair (Debra Mohnen) and the GRC staff, and input of Co-Chair (Jocelyn Rose) and the plant cell wall research community to identify important issues at the frontiers of the field, and solicit suggestions for speakers and discussion leaders to participate in the conference. The Chair contacted prospective participants to invite them to talk and discuss the nature of their contributions. The Chair then communicated the topics and aims of the conference through web pages, contact with relevant international professional bodies, and email to members of the research community around the world to encourage applications for participation in the conference. The Chair was responsible for assessing and accepting the applications and fielding a host of questions both concerning the technical content and practical aspects of conference participation. The Plant Cell Walls GRC was preceded by the Plant Cell Walls Gordon-Kenan Research Seminar (GRS), held at Bryant University, Smithfield, Rhode Island August 1-2, 2009. The title of the GRS was "Unraveling the Wall from Plant Cell Wall Biosynthesis to Lignocellulosic Bioethanol Production". The goal of the GRS was to bring together young scientists in the plant cell wall field to present their research findings, to encourage scientific interactions, and to catalyze communication between young scientists and more senior mentors. The Plant Cell Wall GRS Chair (Zhangying Hao) identified the graduate students and postdoctoral researcher attendees at the GRS, as well as the senior cell wall researchers who attended the GRS. The goal of the 2009 Plant Cell Walls Gordon Research Conference was to summarize and critically evaluate current understanding of the structure, synthesis and function of the whole plant extracellular matrix, including the polysaccharides, proteins, lignin and waxes that comprise the wall, and the enzymes and regulatory proteins that drive wall synthesis and modification. A further goal was to emphasize innovative techniques to study how primary and secondary wall polymers are formed and modified throughout plant growth, including advances in the use of anti-wall antibodies and carbohydrate binding proteins, comparative and evolutionary wall genomics, and mutants and natural variants to understand and identify wall structure-function relationships. A final goal was to consider the described advances in basic understanding of plant cell wall (i.e. biomass) structure, synthesis and function to evaluate and improve strategies for using plants as renewable resources to meet future energy and industrial product needs. The 2009 Plant Cell Walls GRC was well-attended with 160 participants. The 2009 Plant Cells Walls GRS was also well-attended with more than 40 young scientists and 5 senior scientists. PARTICIPANTS: As described in the "Outcomes / Impacts" section, Gordon Research Conferences maintain a Web site which lists the conference title, date of conference, location of conference, and tentative program for the conference. It is an informational tool for scientists who wish to see past and up-coming schedules and to aid in determining which conferences they wish to apply to. Gordon Research Conferences does not permit publication of meeting proceedings. The formal schedule and speaker program for the Plant Cell Walls Gordon Research Conference (GRC) is available on the Gordon Research Conference website (http://www.grc.org/programs.aspxyear=2009&program=plantcell). The formal schedule and speaker program of the Plant Cell Walls Gordon-Kenan Research Seminar (GRS), held at Bryant University, Smithfield, Rhode Island August 1-2, 2009 and in conjunction with the Plant Cell Walls Gordon Research Conference is available on the Gordon Research Conference website (http://www.grc.org/programs.aspxyear=2009&program=grad_pcw). in TARGET AUDIENCES: The information shared and described at the 2009 Plant Cell Walls Gordon Research Conference (GRC) and the Plant Cell Walls Gordon-Kenan Research Seminar (GRS) is of interest to academic, government and industrial researchers, leaders and entrepreneurs interested in improving agricultural yield and the production of products based on plants and plant biomass. This includes engineers involved in using plants as renewable resources for production of biofuel and plant-based products including fiber, food, chemicals, fuels, medical products and pharmaceuticals. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Due to a last minute illness of the arranged speaker, the opening talk was given by Tony Bacic.
Impacts
The 160 attendees of the 2009 Plant Cell Walls GRC represented the spectrum of endeavor in this field coming from academia, industry, and government laboratories, both U.S. and foreign scientists, senior researchers, young investigators, and students. Of the 160 attendees, 54 voluntarily responded to a general inquiry regarding ethnicity which appears on the GRC registration forms. Of the 54 respondents, 17% were minorities, 2% Hispanic, 13% Asian & 2% African American. Approximately 34% of the participants at the 2009 meeting were women. In designing the formal speakers program, emphasis was placed on current unpublished research and discussion of the future target areas in this field. There was a conscious effort to stimulate lively discussion about the key current issues in the field today. Time for formal presentations was limited in the interest of group discussions. In order that more scientists could communicate their most recent results, poster presentation time was scheduled. In addition to these formal interactions, 'free time' was scheduled to allow informal discussions. Such discussions fostered new collaborations and joint efforts in the field. The 2009 Plant Cells Walls GRS was attended by more than 40 young scientists and 5 senior scientists. The Gordon Research Conferences provide a private forum for the free and open discussion of ideas at the frontiers of science and technology. Participants have the opportunity to discuss unpublished work and to explore new issues and ideas in the formative stage. The long-term agenda for research in an area is set based on these discussions and new interdisciplinary research areas often develop from the interactions and discussions at the meetings. In the interest of promoting the presentation of unpublished and frontier-breaking research, Gordon Research Conferences does not permit publication of meeting proceedings. Gordon Research Conferences maintain a Web site which lists the conference title, date of conference, location of conference, and tentative program for the conference. It is an informational tool for scientists to see past and up-coming schedules. The formal schedule and speaker program for the Plant Cell Walls Gordon Research Conference (GRC) held at Bryant University, Smithfield, Rhode Island August 2-7, 2009 is available on the Gordon Research Conference website (http://www.grc.org/programs.aspxyear=2009&program=plantcell). The formal schedule and speaker program of the Plant Cell Walls Gordon-Kenan Research Seminar (GRS), held in conjunction with the Plant Cell Walls Gordon Research Conference is available on the GRC website (http://www.grc.org/programs.aspxyear=2009&program=grad_pcw). Speakers, discussion leaders, poster presenters and attendees simultaneously contributed to and benefited from the collective skills and experience shared throughout the Plant Cell Wall GRC and GRS meetings. The funding provided by the Agricultural and Food Research Initiative USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture was invaluable to the success of the 2009 Plant Cell Walls GRC Conference and the research endeavors resulting therefrom.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
|