Interdisciplinary Plant Group

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The 32nd Annual Interdisciplinary Plant Group Symposium “Plants Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Interface Between Abiotic and Biotic Stress Responses” was held May 27 - 29, 2015 in the Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences center on the University of Missouri campus in Columbia, MO. This year’s symposium brought together 204 attendees from across the globe to discuss abiotic and biotic stress responses, with an emphasis on the integration of stress responses by plants. The sessions featured 21 invited speakers as well as five invited poster talks. 

Christine Foyer from the University of Leeds opened the symposium with a presentation titled, “Effects of Abiotic Stress of Plant Responses to Aphid (Myzus persicae) Infestation”.

This year’s symposium also included an evening keynote, which was open to the public, featuring Dr. Julian Schroeder, a Chancellor’s Distinguished Visitor, from the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Schroeder presented “Calcium Specificity Signaling Mechanism in Abscisic Acid Signal Transduction in Arabidopsis Guard Cells”.

In addition to session talks, the symposium provided networking opportunities through a dinner with the speakers, exclusive for students and postdocs, and receptions and poster sessions on Wednesday and Thursday featuring 60 posters.   

The 33rd Annual Interdisciplinary Plant Group Symposium, “Heterosis – Working Toward A Genetic, Molecular, Developmental and Physiological Basis” will be held May 25 – 27, 2016.

More information on the 2015 Symposium can be found at www.ipg.missouri.edu/symposium

The IPG would like to thank the sponsors and exhibitors of the symposium who helped make the symposium a success.

• ABC Labs
• American Society of Plant Biologists
• Chancellor’s Distinguished Visitors Program at the University of Missouri
• College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri
• Cotton Inc.
• Journal of Experimental Botany
• LI-COR
• Metabolon
• Mizzou Advantage
• Monsanto Company
• National Science Foundation
• United State Department of Agriculture