SEB Bulletin October 2007
Travel Grants
Interested in applying for a travel grant? Visit www.sebiology.org
Deadlines for applications for the next two rounds are: 31st December 2007 and 31st March 2008
- Chavdar Slavov Max Planck Institute 14th International Congress of Photosynthesis 2007, Glasgow
- Matt Johnson University of Sheffield 14th International Congress of Photosynthesis 2007, Glasgow
- Iain McConnell The Australian National University 14th International Congress of Photosynthesis 2007, Glasgow
- Simon Patrick University of Manchester International Congress of Comparative Physiology & Biodiversity
- Kadmiel Maseyk Weizmann Institute of Science Land Surface-Atmosphere Interactions Summer School, Grindewald, Switzerland
- Rachael Yvonne Dudaniec Flinders University of South Australia Wildlife Disease Association annual conference, Colorado
- Asli Koca Hacettepe University Research visit to Kew Gardens
- Jennifer Cunniff University of Sheffield European Society for Evolutionary Biology Congress, Uppsala University in Sweden
- Michael Page University of Bath SFFR congress, Ghent
- Edmund Nash University of Cambridge European Congress of Protistology, St Petersberg, Russia
- Caroline Childs University of Southampton FASEB conference, Tuscon
- Rebecca van Gelderen University of Tasmania EAFP Conference, Grado, Italy
- Michael Barkoulas University of Oxford International Plant Growth Substance Assosciation conference, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
- Rodrigo Hamede University of Tasmania Wildlife Disease Association meeting, Colorado Olga Jovanovic
- Melike Bor Ege University 14th International Congress of Photosynthesis 2007, Glasgow
- Angharad Jones Bristol University 19th IPGSA Meeting, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
- Jason S. Goldstein University of New Hampshire 8th International Conference and Workshop on Lobster Biology and Management, Canada
- Joanne Singletary University of Leicester Physiological Society and the Federation of European Physiological Societies joint meeting
- Marianne Bolstad University of Kent Research visit to Albert Einstein College of Medicine, NY
- Jonathan Seaman University of Reading INRA conference, France
- Wiebke Schuett University of Exeter Research visit to Dr Simon Griffith, Macquarie University, Australia
- Fiona Elizabeth Mitchell University of Dundee Research visit to Dr T.S. Scanlan, Oregon Health and Science University
- Dr Amos Fatokun University of Glasgow Society for Neuroscience Conference, USA
- Natallia Pshybytko Belarus University 14th International Congress of Photosynthesis 2007, Glasgow
- Lyndal Horne La Trobe University 7th International Congress of Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry 2007
- Mason N. Dean University of California Irvine Research visit to Dr Dominique Adriaens, Universiteit Gent, Belgium
- Jonathan Stecyk University of Oslo Research visit to Dr Tobias Wang & Dr Matti Vornanen, Aarhus University
19th Meeting of the International Plant Growth Substance Association
Having received a Company of Biologists travel grant from the SEB I was able to attend the 19th Meeting of the International Plant Growth Substance Association, held in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The meeting was a truly international event, jointly organised by the American and Japanese Plant Growth Regulation Societies. Plenary sessions covered recent developments in hormone synthesis, transport, signalling and interaction, and a further 17 minisymposia and two poster sessions covered a wide range of specialist subjects. In addition the meeting provided opportunity to carry out our own research into local plant-based products such as tequila, tortillas and nopales - a great opportunity to build new collaborations and cement the old!
I am in the final year of my PhD study at the University of Bristol, where I have been studying the role of the plant hormone auxin in root-hair development. I have been using this model system to investigate several aspects of growth and differentiation. A number of sessions were therefore directly relevant to me, such as the root development and hormones and cellular growth, sessions. I very much enjoyed hearing about work in these fields at first hand, from some excellent speakers. However, it was also a great opportunity for me to increase my awareness of current work in other systems such as shoot development, and crop based research.
I presented a poster at the meeting covering some of my work, and was really pleased with the encouraging and helpful feedback that I got. It was rewarding to be able to contribute to the meeting, and I felt a real sense of achievement about what I have accomplished over the last three years. I also have a number of new contacts and promising ideas to follow up as I plan my last experiments and begin to think about the dreaded question “what next?”. I would therefore like to thank the SEB for their part in making it possible for me to attend this excellent meeting, as well as for other benefits I have enjoyed as a student member of the society.
Angharad Jones
University of Bristol
Research visit to ARC Centre of Excellence, Plant Energy Biology (ANU, Canberra and UWA, Perth)
The aims of my research visit to the ARC centre of excellence in Plant Energy Biology (CPEB) were to firstly conduct a series of drought experiments using drought tolerant Arabidopsis thaliana accessions against their relevant wild type backgrounds, and then to analyse the responses of the plants using both classical physiological observations and a metabolite fingerprinting approach, utilising specialist equipment and knowledge at the centre. I also aimed to establish links between my research and that going on at the centre, both in the ANU and the UWA nodes, and hope to maintain these links into the future.
My research visit was undertaken primarily under the supervision of Prof. Barry Pogson at the Australian National University (ANU) node of the centre in Canberra. There, I grew A.thaliana plants to maturity under well watered conditions and subjected them to a drought treatment (withholding of water until plants were deemed no longer viable) for a prolonged period. While plants were still well watered, I carried out a comprehensive morphological analysis using new skills and some learned in the first year of my PhD in Sheffield. I was able to share some of these techniques with other students and postdocs in the lab at ANU. I was trained how to use specialised equipment and was also given tours of the department and shown the various other areas of research being carried out there. My leaf samples were shipped over to the University of Western Australia (UWA) in Perth where I joined them, under the supervision of Prof. Steve Smith, to make use of the extensive metabolite profiling facility. I was taught how to prepare my samples for analysis and then how to use the GC-MS to analyse the samples and subsequently how to analyse the data gained. In Perth I was able to tour the centre's extensive facilities and participate in a variety of workshops, learning new skills that were both practical and communicative
My results are expected to contribute significantly to my doctoral thesis and will form a basis for the future work I will be carrying out in this area. I anticipate participating in further research in connection with CPEB and am keen to maintain my collaborative links with both the ANU and UWA nodes having had a very enjoyable and productive experience working with them. From this exchange I have gained many new and valuable skills relevant to my PhD studies through first-hand experience of using new techniques and equipment under specialised supervison. These are skills I will be able to share with others in the plant metabolomic group in Animal and Plant Sciences. I have also gained and improved upon existing transferable skills from working in an international environment, including communication (both written and spoken), working to deadlines and networking. As such, this research visit has proved to be an invaluable experience and would encourage other research students to carry out similar visits.
Katie Field,
University of Sheffield
Meeting report: ECP2007 - St Petersburg, Russian Federation, July 2007
The ECP2007 conference was a joint venture between the European Congress of Protistology, the European Meeting of Ciliate Biology and incorporated the Second International Workshop on Microsporidia. Protistology is a diverse, hard-to-define field which examines almost any aspect of protists (single celled eukaryotes that are not animals, plants or fungi) but with an emphasis on deriving evolutionary relationships between them. Although most biological study over the last century has concentrated on such apparently diverse model organisms as yeast, fruit flies and mice, these in fact all fall within a group called the Opisthokonta, which is just one of six eukaryotic kingdoms. Protistology attempts to redress this by examining organisms from all kingdoms. Some, like the hair-covered ciliates, have complex cellular structures and unusual genetic organizations. Many protists from several kingdoms are parasites of humans or other mammals, including the Microsporidia which can live inside the cells of immunocompromised individuals.
My talk summarised the work presented in a recent paper (Nash et al, Mol. Biol. Evol. April 2007) concerning the mitochondrial genome of Amphidinium, a dinoflagellate alga. Closely related to the apicomplexa, a group which includes the malarial parasite Plasmodium, dinoflagellates are ecologically important algae responsible for the 'red tides' that plague parts of the world. Our work has uncovered a highly complex and degenerate mitochondrial genome, containing just three genes but many gene copies and partial fragments. The genome possesses many unusual features such as a very low coding content, ubiquitous stem-loop structures and transcript editing. Other talks that particularly interested me concerned hydrogenosomes and mitosomes in various organisms. These two organelles are thought to be relict mitochondria which have lost the ability to use oxygen, but retain other processes such as the formation of iron/sulphur-containing proteins. Another talk concerned the mitochondrial genome of Oxyrrhis, an early-diverging dinoflagellate. This genome showed both similarities and differences to the genome of Amphidinium, thought to be a later-diverging species, and so was particularly useful to my study. There were also some interesting posters on display, including an analysis of metabolic processes in Giardia, another protist which has lost its mitochondria.
There were plenty of opportunities for informal discussion with others working in fields related to mine, both within the UK and abroad, which have further increased my insight into protistology. As a biochemist by training whose research tends towards zoology, I find such conferences highly informative. I am grateful to the Company of Biologists for contributing towards my travel expenses for this meeting.
Edmund Nash
3rd year PhD student
Department of Biochemistry
University of Cambridge
International Congress Prosimians 2007
The International Congress Prosimians 2007 took place from 15th July to 19th July 2007 in Ithala, South Africa. Prosimian primates include lemurs (endemic to Madagascar), lorises (South-eastern Asia) but also pottos and galagos (Africa). This group of primates is close to the ancestral primate condition. Ten years after the last congress on prosimians that was held in England, this congress was organised by Prof. Dr. Judith Masters, University of Fort Hare, South Africa. More than 120 researchers and students from all over the world participated in this meeting. The main topics of this congress were bioversity and evolution of prosimian primates, their management and conservation but also some aspects of their bioacoustics as well as communication and cognition.
I was invited by Dr. Björn Siemers, leader of the group sensorial ecology from the Max Planck Institute of Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany, to give a talk in the symposium “Sensory and cognitive ecology of foraging in prosimians”. I could thus present new results on a project that I led on cognitive abilities in lemurs under the title “Relocation of stationary food resources during foraging in mouse lemurs (Microcebus ssp.)”. In this symposium we mainly discussed which senses do prosimian primates use in order to perceive and locate their food resources, which are the processes involved and especially how far do cognitive processes play a role in the foraging activity of prosimians. Leading researchers from the USA and Europe presented new results of experimental studies they have led on the role of mechanoreception, colour perception, and audition during animal foraging. This knowledge is an essential prerequisite for a better understanding of the evolution of sensory and cognitive mechanisms in primates.
After the daily presentations that were hold between 8.30 am and 5.00 pm, often also until in the late evening, the possibility was offered to participate into game drives through the Reserve and thus to get an idea of its biodiversity and some difficulties concerning the management of this unique wildlife. Indeed, the reserve is spread on a 30.000 ha area and houses zebras, several antelope species but also four (rhinoceros, elephants, buffalos, leopards) of the so-called “Big five” (lions are not present in Ithala). Who had chance, could also meet, during the night near his bungalow, nocturnal primates like bushbabies or, during the day, diurnal monkeys like vervets or baboons. Hyraxes were also taking midday sunbaths on the big rocks of the camp.
This meeting allowed me to present and discuss the results of my research project to an international audience and to get information on the state of the art in this research area. Moreover, I had the opportunity to get in touch with some participants in order to elaborate future collaborations.
The conference delegates.
Photo credit: Noel Rowe
Lastly, I would like to thank the Society of Experimental Biology for the financial support that helps me to participate to this congress.
Marine Joly, University of Veterinary Medicine, Hannover
Biennial Conference of the Society for Tropical Veterinary Medicine
The 9th Biennial Conference of the Society for Tropical Veterinary Medicine held in Merida, Mexico for which I received funding from the Company of Biologists Travel Award through the Society for Experimental Biology, represented a wonderful experience for me as I expanded the experience of presenting scientific findings for an international audience. I had the opportunity to give a talk on the “Potential role of the poultry red mite Dermanyssus gallinae as a vector carrier of vector-borne diseases”.
I also had the opportunity to act as a member of the scientific panel that judged the poster presentations presented during the conference. The conference was full of interesting topics and I gained a lot of knowledge while in Merida. It also represented a unique opportunity to meet fellow scientists from different parts of the globe. I also enjoyed the networking opportunities that this represented. I enjoyed the time I spent with other young researchers, PhD students, and senior scientist during my time in Merida, Mexico. All social events were wonderful and we even had the opportunity to take part on a trip to the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza.
I thank the Company of Biologists and the Society for Experimental Biology for providing me with the travel grant that gave me funding that I could use towards paying some of the expenses that this trip represented. I thank them also for the opportunity that I had for attending the conference.
Carlos De Luna
Newcastle University
Plant Biology and Botany 2007 (Joint Congress)
The conference was the ideal opportunity for me to present my work to an audience of international stature and was of great benefit to me at this point in my career. I presented a poster outlining the main findings of my PhD in the oxidative stress session. Several international academics within this field were present and available during poster sessions to comment and question my data, helping to identify future questions, which need to be addressed in order to complete part of the research. I also attended lectures on cutting edge research and have gained personally from meeting post-docs in different fields of plant research.
Disseminating my data in the public domain has definitely given rise to a number of opportunities that were more limited in the UK. I have always expressed an interest in the chance to work or study abroad and attending this conference has provided a platform for networking and meeting future potential collaborators and employers.
From a personal viewpoint I certainly feel more confident in my ability to communicate my research and wish to thank the SEB Company of Biologists Travel Fund for financial support given to aid my travel to this conference, which is ultimately influencing the final parts of my PhD and my future career in science.
Krishna Morker
Lancaster University
Society for the Study of Reproduction Conference
In July 2007, I flew from a cold, wet Scotland to a hot and unusually wet San Antonio in Texas. I was attending and presenting posters at both the XVIth biannual Ovarian Workshop and the 40th annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Reproduction. As both meetings only coincide every second year it was a fantastic opportunity to maximise my first “conference experience” and for that I must thank the Society for Experimental Biologists and the Company of Biologists for the generous travel grant they awarded to me.
The Ovarian Workshop proved to be an excellent introduction to the business of attending a conference with an intimate atmosphere and a strong emphasis on trainee involvement. Focusing specifically on the ovary allowed a comprehensive range of ovarian research topics to be discussed: from the regulation of ovary formation and function to environmental effects on the ovary (neonatal exposure to synthetic estrogens and cancer treatments); ovarian biotechnology and cryopreservation; bioethics in reproductive medicine and the effect of fertility on the world population. The workshop was completed with a stimulating presentation by Professor Roger Gosden on the ovarian germ-line stem cell debate, which he dedicated to the late Dame Anne McLaren. The poster I presented at the Ovarian Workshop entitled “TrkB and basement membrane formation in early ovary development” was well received with positive feedback and many useful suggestions.
Upon commencement of the SSR meeting the scale of it immediately became apparent! It covered every aspect of reproductive research from ovary and testis formation and function through to fertilisation and embryo development to pregnancy and parturition. With over 600 talks and posters it was a much more intensive experience which really required you to focus on what you wanted to learn about but also meant that you could expand on topics you were not so familiar with. My second poster entitled “Immune-like response in the developing mouse ovary” had a positive reception with many people showing a genuine interest as to how I could progress with the research. The conference was rounded off with inspiring presentations by pioneers in reproductive biology: Professor John Eppig and Professor Ken McNatty.
San Antonio is the home of the Alamo and the Riverwalk (pictured) and is a bustling place with a great atmosphere. Unfortunately the weather followed me from Scotland and instead of the usual 1 inch of rain they had 15 inches over the weekend I was there! Fortunately, there were many social activities arranged around the SSR conference to keep us busy, these ranged from a trip to a Texan ranch (where memorably I managed to catch a firefly) to a very useful Trainee/Mentor lunch which allowed trainees to quiz a PI on his/her career. I never imagined so many contacts and future opportunities could be made over margaritas! As well as meeting many big names I also made a lot of friends and hopefully I will get to see them again at the next conference.
Tamsin Lannagan
Edinburgh University
The 16th International C. elegans Meeting
The International C. elegans Meeting, in Los Angeles, California was a four day conference which included 293 presentations, 7 workshops and almost a 1000 posters. The meeting was divided into several topics for both posters and presentations, including Aging and Stress, Cell Biology, Gene Expression, Pathogenesis, Cell death and Neurodegeneration and RNA interference, to name but a few!
The meeting started with a plenary session at the grand Royce hall on the UCLA campus. The opening evening session included talks from various consortiums producing mutant knockout libraries for the C. elegans genome through different methods as well as some general talks on the Wormbase database and updates available. The next day saw the start of the parallel sessions where the presentations were divided up into smaller groups and we had to choose between various topics. The first day I attended Cell Biology in the morning where most notably there was a talk by Christina Paulson who described a mutant, dal-1, that showed increased drug sensitivity. C. elegans is notorious for being insensitive to many drugs that normally effect mammals but with this mutant Christina showed that ineffective drugs became effective. She also showed that, apart from slightly altered gut morphology, the animals were essentially wildtype. After a great lunch at the DeNeve Plaza it was off to another plenary session with everyone from the meeting.
The poster sessions were held in the evenings, after dinner between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. I presented my poster, entitled “Calpain Proteolysis and Muscle Degeneration”, in the first session. Both presenting and going around and chatting to people about their work was extremely beneficial for me. I was able to meet the people who work on muscle degeneration in C. elegans, and discuss future directions for my project as well as gain a better understanding of the ways in which to study muscle in C. elegans. There was also the opportunity to set up collaborations with other labs who work on similar areas to me.
Over the next couple of days there were more parallel and plenary sessions. Of note there was another Cell Biology session which highlighted various muscle markers that can be used to analyse co-localisation of specific proteins with different muscle structures. At the end of every poster session there was a social so that we could continue to discuss and get to know different members of the C. elegans community.
At the end of the final day there was a barbecue followed with a worm comedy show which was very amusing and finished off the final full day well. In addition to all of the interesting presentations and poster sessions I managed to sight see a little bit and when down to Venice Beach to see the street performers which was very entertaining!
I thought the conference was a great success and the organisers did a fantastic job. I am very grateful to the Society of Experimental Biology and the Company of Biologists Travel Fund for awarding me with a travel grant so that I could attend and participate in the meeting.
Peter Joyce,
University of Bristol
Plant Biology and Botany Joint Congress 2007
The Society of Experimental Biology partly funded my trip to Chicago to attend the Plant Biology and Botany Joint Congress, 2007 which took place from 7th to 11th of July. It was the annual meeting of four scientific societies (American Fern Society, American Society of Plant Biologists, American Society of Plant Taxonomists and Botanical Society of America). The congress attracted almost 3000 delegates from around the world and included presentations on diverse aspects of plant science and various special workshops. The sessions were categorised in to several sections of plant biology and botany. This was a great opportunity for me to gain knowledge of the latest research activities in the field of plant biology and botany around the world.
I also had a chance to present my work during the poster session under plant-pathogen interaction. My work currently focuses on mapping of nematode resistance genes in rice. We have mapped QTLs for nematode resistance and now investigating the genes that might be responsible in rice. I got lots of feedback and appreciations for my work. As a final year PhD student, it gave a perfect opportunity for me to know the people within my research field and also discuss future possibilities of collaborations.
I believe this experience has broadened my knowledge of science and improved my skills to share ideas. I am very grateful to the Society of Experimental Biology for the travel grant, which made this fruitful trip possible.
Roshi Shrestha
University of Aberdeen
FASEB Summer Research Conference Nutritional Immunology: Its Role in Health and Disease
Receiving the Company of Biologists Travel Fund enabled me to attend this conference which was highly relevant to my current PhD studies which use a rat model to investigate the effect of dietary fatty acids upon the fetal immune system.
At this conference I presented a poster on my recent work and attended sessions covering the following topics:
Impact of Nutritional Status on Gene Expression of Cells of the Immune System
Obesity Induced Immune Dysfunction
Modulation of Inflammatory Responses by Nutrient Receptors
Changes in Inflammation, T-cell function, and Disease States by Dietary PUFA
Immunosenescence
Novel Nutritional Intervention in Immune and Inflammatory Processes and Related Diseases
Nutrient Modulation of Gut Associated Immunity
Changes in Tumoricidal Activity by Nutrients
This conference involved approximately 80 delegates (20 posters) and therefore allowed excellent opportunities to meet with other researchers and industry representatives to discuss current findings and interests in detail. Attending this conference gave me a useful insight into other work currently occurring in the field of nutrition and immunology, particularly in the US.
Of particular interest to me was a poster relating to the fat-1 transgenic mouse which has been genetically manipulated to enable endogenous conversion of n-6 into n-3 fatty acids (a process which does not usually occur in mammals) which found that this was associated with reductions in colon inflammation. I also enjoyed a fascinating talk upon the effect that host nutritional status (both nutrient deficiencies and obesity) has upon the rates of mutation in viral infection.
This FASEB summer research conference provided a focused and in-depth coverage of a specific research area, with excellent conference organisation and accommodation facilities.
Caroline Childs
University of Southampton
18th International Conference on Arabidopsis Research, Beijing
I attended the 18th International Conference on Arabidopsis Research (ICAR), Beijing, 20th- 23rd June, 2007 and presented a poster titled ‘The Arabidopsis MYB26/MALE STERILITY35 (MS35) gene controls anther dehiscence by regulating secondary thickening in the anther endothecium’. It was a great opportunity to present our research to the worldwide Arabidopsis community, and was also a valuable addition to my CV. My travel was jointly funded by Plant Sciences Division, Graduate School Travel Prize, from the University of Nottingham, and external funding from Society for Experimental Biology (SEB) Travel Grant.
The conference was very intense and extremely informative. There were 83 invited speakers and more than seven hundred posters, covering most aspects of Arabidopsis research, including developmental mechanisms, methylation, genomics and genetics, plant responses to the environment, metabolism, signal transduction, etc. Some were of particular interest to me, such as pollen biology, cellulose synthesis and secondary wall structure. I also went to evening workshops, such as Web Services for Arabidopsis Data Integration and Bioinformatics tools for Arabidopsis Microarray Databases, and Chemical Genetics.
Together with my supervisor Dr. Zoe Wilson and my colleague Dr. Caiyun Yang, we met people we are collaborating with and people interested in collaboration. On the first day we met Dr. Wensuo Jia from China Agriculture University and two postgraduate students from his lab, Miss Huibo Ren and Miss Zhihui Gao. They are working on characterising some early flowering mutants. Later we met Dr. Dabing Zhang and his group, from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. They are working on male sterility on rice. In 2006-2007 a postdoc researcher Dr. Zheng Yuan visited our lab, funded by the Royal Society. Hopefully there will be more opportunities for visiting researchers and students. On the last two days we met Dr. Mitsuda from Japan. He is working on transcription factors NST1, NST2 and NST3, which are the putative targets of MYB26/MS35. We talked about our recent research and intentions for developing collaboration. I found the poster sessions also a very good opportunity for communication. Many researchers stopped by my poster. They gave comments on our work and advice on further investigation of the role which MYB26/MS35 plays during pollen development.
Jie Song
University of Nottingham
Experimental Biology Conference 2007
The Society for Experimental Biology and Company of Biologists kindly supported my attendance and poster presentation at the Experimental Biology annual meeting from the 28th of April to 2nd of May 2007. This year's meeting was held in the magnificent city of Washington DC. The imposing Washington convention centre housed seminar sessions, lectures, poster sessions, a careers advice centre, exhibitions and society socials. Daily oral and poster sessions were divided into subject areas covering pathology, biochemistry and molecular biology, nutrition, physiology and pharmacology. Poster sessions which I found particularly interesting were those in the physiology section entitled medullary and supramedullary control of autonomic function and sympathetic nerve system and vasomotor function. There was also a Carl Ludwig distinguished lectureship in the neural control and autonomic regulation section which gave an insight into how an area of research progresses. A point vs. counterpoint session on the role of ATP in respiratory responses was original and controversial and created a lot of discussion. There were also very interesting sessions on functional imaging of autonomic circuits, neural plasticity of the hypoxic reflex and stem cells in physiology.
My poster was included in the sympathetic nerve system and vasomotor function session. I had great feedback and also had the opportunity to meet leading researchers in this area, in particular those with interest in spinal sympathetic interneurones.
In addition to daily poster and oral sessions, evening mixer events were held in the convention centre and in hotels close to the convention centre. These provided a great opportunity to listen to short talks and for networking. One such session I attended, 'hot topics in respiratory control' consisted of short talks, some of which were to advertise a poster at the conference whilst others gave a brief overview of fascinating data. A young scientists networking evening in the Grand Hyatt hotel also provided an opportunity for young postdocs and postgrads to interact and was an excellent opportunity to meet with likeminded scientists. Careers sessions were also available in a dedicated careers area where there was help and advice on preparation of your CV and how to make your interview count as well as tips on how to network effectively.
Overall I found this conference extremely valuable and took away a lot of interesting ideas and information. The city of Washington was magnificent and it was fantastic to have a little spare time to explore, visiting the natural history museum, the space museum, the white house, Lincoln memorial, war memorials and the reflecting pool. I would like to thank the Society for Experimental biology and the company of biologists for the very generous travel grant to support my attendance at this conference.
Sarah Poole,
University of Leeds
14th International Congress of Photosynthesis at Glasgow Scotland
I am very grateful to the Society for Experimental Biology and Company of Biologists Travel Fund for providing me with the travel grant to attend the 14th International Congress of Photosynthesis in Glasgow (22.-27. July 2007).
The Photosynthesis Congress was the largest scientific event I have ever attended. It brought together researchers from all over the world and covered a vast range of topics from electron transport to global climate change. I learned about current problems in rice research and biofuels as well as difficulties in measuring cyclic electron flow. The Photosynthesis Congress gave a unique overview of various aspects of current research and how these integrate.
I was presenting a poster entitled "Light acclimation of leaf chlorophyll content", which was describing the light acclimation of photosynthetic apparatus to natural light gradient in herbaceous and woody canopy.
As I will soon defend my PhD thesis, the opportunity to build up contacts with leading scientists in the field was invaluable for my future career.
Lea Hallik
University of Tartu, Estonia
The 14th International Congress of Photosynthesis was held in the delightful city of Glasgow and opened under what may be considered equally delightful weather. The first plenary lecture set the scene for what would become a focal point for the following days discussions. Prof. Daniel Nocera from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology highlighted the necessity for a new, abundant, carbon neutral energy source to support the growing needs of the growing world population. Harnessing the power of the sun, by mimicking photosynthesis, is clearly an attractive and many would consider feasible notion. Of course solving this challenge will necessarily require continued photosynthetic research with cooperation and collaboration between the various research areas in the photosynthetic community. What better place to facilitate information sharing and idea stimulation than such a major international conference? A huge range of topics were discussed during the week, from the fine molecular details of reaction centre and the water oxidizing enzyme to light harvesting complex structure and function, membrane dynamics, photosynthetic stress and regulation, biogenesis, evolution, artificial photosynthesis, global climate change and agriculture. Stimulating presentations followed by a, at times heated, discussion period ensured presentation of the latest cutting edge research and at the same time putting into perspective the current consensus and debate on the important questions facing photosynthesis research.
Two fantastic poster sessions and an enjoyable evening dancing to the groove of Bill Rutherford's band (yes, it appears that even the greats have a life outside the lab) provided a relaxed opportunity for one-on-one discussion. Personally I found this conference a wonderful opportunity to meet people with similar and related research goals, put faces to the big names of photosynthetic research which dominate the literature and of course to expand my knowledge of photosynthesis beyond the specific projects in which I am engaged. I also found it encouraging to see that the photosynthetic community realizes that the research they carry out is not only for the attainment of knowledge for knowledge sake but has actual and immediate, far reaching ramifications for the general society.
Alison McGregor
Israel Institute of Technology
Being a PhD student on Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, I can still feel the enthusiasm with which I attended the 14th International Congress of Photosynthesis (PS07), held at Glasgow last July! This city and the SECC provided a good venue for the conference, which was probably favoured by the nice weather that we were lucky to be presented with in Scotland! I am grateful to the SEB and the COB for their award that contributed to support my attendance to the meeting. I greatly enjoyed the conference and took good advantage of this great chance to learn new and exciting things and discuss science with people that have been working in the field of Photosynthesis for many years and with students and young people that are still in the initial slope of the learning curve, like me! Conferences make every little bit of the process worthwhile and confirm that I really love working on Photosynthesis research! Somehow it was a long and exhausting week, mostly due to the constant buzz in the transfer of knowledge, but also very contagious in positive energy, which makes one feel more keen to achieve new exciting targets and to keep this passion alive!
Elizabete Carmo-Silva
Rothamsted Research
Between 22nd and 27th July 2007 I attended the 14th International Congress of Photosynthesis (PS07) in Glasgow. PS07 covered all aspects of photosynthesis, giving me the opportunity to hear talks on subject matter that I was less familiar with. In addition, the various sessions that related directly to my work, metabolism and C4 photosynthesis, contained recent key experimental work as well as valuable discussion on areas that still need expanding.
Throughout the conference, emphasis was placed on the rising commercial and environmental importance of photosynthesis research. The session on biofuels was particularly well attended. This session was opened by Dr Stephen Long (University of Illinois), and the talks served as a good general overview of a rapidly growing area. The need to understand the role of photosynthesis in crop production and global CO2 cycles was also a recurring theme during the week, with plenary lectures from Dr John Sheehy (International Rice Research Institute) and Prof Joe Berry (Stanford University).
This conference also gave me the opportunity to present a three minute summary of my PhD work in the session 'the C3 cycle: limitation and regulation', accompanied by a poster. This provoked some useful feedback on my work, as well as a potential avenue for collaboration. Networking events during the week included a very enjoyable welcome evening in the 'Glasgow Science Centre', as well as a wine trail and the conference dinner. The Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC) was an excellent venue with good facilities, situated near central Glasgow. The city itself had a lot to offer, including the Kelvingrove museum and historic university buildings. In summary, I found PS07 a productive week that has expanded my knowledge of a growing research field.
Sophie Janacek
University of Cambridge
I am very grateful for your financial support for my attendance at the 14th International Congress of Photosynthesis at Glasgow, Scotland.
This triennial conference is a big event for the photosynthesis research community. This was my first time to attend this kind of conference. I met many scientists of the highest merit and had the opportunity to have a talk with some of them. I attended all the plenary lectures and a selection of discussion sessions. I looked through the posters close to my research interests and have taken notes for future references. Attending this conference has been very helpful for my PhD study. Particularly I met some scientists who did pioneering work in my research area and I received valuable advice from them
Zhen-Ling Sun
University of Sheffield
The International Congress of Photosynthesis is a major event in the field of my research subject. It is a great opportunity for direct contact and exchange of ideas with the leading scientists in the area. During the Congress I presented a poster in the section “Structure and Function of Light Harvesting Complexes” with the following title: Kinetic Analysis of Energy and Electron Transfer Processes in PS I Particles from Arabidopsis thaliana. Based on this poster presentation I submitted also a short article for the Congress Proceedings. In addition, there are several other contributions where I am involved (check the abstract book of the Congress).
Throughout the meeting I had the chance to discuss my results with a highly diverse audience, which resulted in a number of constructive suggestions. Furthermore, some of the new contacts that I have made will probably turn into future productive collaborations. An important part of my participation in the meeting was the attendance of the lectures during the scientific sessions. These lectures covered a very broad area of current photosynthesis research and, together with the fruitful discussion at the end of each session, formed the future 'hot' topics in the field.
In conclusion, I would like to thank to the Society of Experimental Biologist for giving me the opportunity to attend the Photosynthesis Congress. My work has profited tremendously from this meeting and I believe the direct results will come up in the nearest future.
Chavdar Slavov
Max-Planck-Institut für Bioanorganische Chemie
I am writing this report after visiting XIV International Congress on Photosynthesis in Glasgow 2007. I am very grateful to the Society for Experimental Biology and the Company of Biologists Travel Fund that provided me with travel grant and helped me to attend this conference.
It was very big and well-organized congress and first of all it was important for me because it was great opportunity to get acquainted with the leading scientists in different areas of photosynthesis, the people, whose names I knew before only from the articles. I presented for the session P13 “Interactions between Electron Transport and Stromal Reactions” the poster entitled “Several carbonic anhydrases in higher plants thylakoids”. That is why it was important for me to have a chance to discuss the results of my work with people who study the role of different carbonic anhydrases in photosynthesis. I attended a few sessions and the most important for my future work were: CO2 Diffusion, Gas Exchange and the Role of Stomata; CO2-Concentrating Mechanisms; Membrane Dynamic and Organization. I am also very grateful for the opportunity of visiting the workshop. These kinds of lectures are very important for scientists like me in the earlier stages of their scientific careers.
I was very impressed with Glasgow, its gothic churches and towers. Its style is very British and differs very much from the Russian style of architecture.
Natalia Rudenko
Russian Academy of Sciences
