26th Annual IPG Symposium

Root Biology: May 27, 2009

Speakers and Organizers: Front row (L-R): Graeme Hammer, Priya Voothuluru, Maria Harrison, Sally Smith, Steve Tyerman, Bingru Huang, Phil Benfey. Second Row (L-R): Andrew J. Thompson, Louise Jackson, Joseph Dubrovsky, Won-Gyu Choi, Jonathan Lynch, Benjamin Peret, Len Wade. Third row (L-R): Florian Frugier, Chris Meyer, Eric Kramer. Fourth row (L-R): Walter Gassmann, Robert Sharp, Melissa Mitchum, Valerie Williamson, Michael Udvardi, Simon Gilroy. Last row (L-R): William Davies, Dale Blevins, Felix Fritschi

The 26th Annual Interdisciplinary Plant Group Symposium took place on May 27-29, 2009, on the Columbia campus of the University of Missouri in the Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center.

The focus of the 2009 symposium was on root biology. Root development and function are vitally important for plant adaptation to the environment. Understanding of root biology remains limited, however, and increased attention to this critical area is needed to facilitate improvement of crop performance, especially in the face of environmental constraints. This symposium brought together nineteen of the world's leading scientists to address recent advances in studies of root development and root interactions with the abiotic and biotic environment. (Schedule)

Organizing Committee

• Robert Sharp, Chair
• Walter Gassmann, Co-Chair
• Dale Blevins
• David Emerich
• Felix Fritschi
• Melissa Mitchum
• Henry Nguyen

Sponsors and Exhibitors

The Interdisciplinary Plant Group would like to thank the following sponsors and exhibitors, without whose generous support the 26th Annual IPG Symposium would have not been possible.

• National Science Foundation
• U.S. Department of Agriculture-AFRI Plant Biology: Environmental Stress program
• Syngenta
• Biochemical Journal
• Journal of Experimental Botany
• Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc.
• Monsanto
• Functional Plant Biology
• Phenotype Screening, Inc.
• National Center for Soybean Biotechnology
• Missouri Wine and Grape Board
• Conviron
• CID Bio-Science

2009 BJ Young Investigator Poster Award Winner

The winner of the Biochemical Journal's Young Investigator Poster Award at the 26th Annual University of Missouri Interdisciplinary Plant Group Symposium was Robert Kumpf, Department of Molecular Biosciences, IMBV, University of Oslo, Norway, for his poster, “Expression studies and overexpression phenotypes indicate a role in Arabidopsis root development for the IDA-LIKE peptides."