Sunday
4:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Arrival and Check-in
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Dinner
7:30 pm - 7:40 pm
Introductory Comments by GRC Site Staff / Welcome from the GRC Chair
7:40 pm - 9:30 pm
Keynote Session: Metabolic Engineering in Plants
Discussion Leader: Cathie Martin (John Innes Centre, United Kingdom)
7:40 pm - 7:55 pm
Opening Remarks
7:55 pm - 8:10 pm
Introduction by Discussion Leader
8:10 pm - 8:50 pm
Tobias Erb (Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Germany)
"Understanding and Building Metabolism for Increased Photosynthetic Productivity"
8:50 pm - 9:10 pm
Discussion
9:10 pm - 9:30 pm
General Discussion: Engineering of Metabolites from Plants: Is This Best Done in Microbes or in Plants Themselves?
Monday
7:30 am - 8:30 am
Breakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pm
Emerging Strategies for Engineering Biofuels
Discussion Leader: Katrina Cornish (The Ohio State University, USA)
9:00 am - 9:30 am
Federica Brandizzi (Michigan State University, USA)
"Plant Cell Wall Engineering for Biofuel Crop Improvement"
9:30 am - 9:45 am
Discussion
9:45 am - 10:15 am
Joe Chappell (University of Kentucky, USA)
"Engineering Isoprenoid Metabolism for Biofuels"
10:15 am - 10:30 am
Discussion
10:30 am - 11:00 am
Coffee Break
11:00 am - 11:30 am
Nicholas Carpita (Purdue University, USA)
"Redesigning the Plant Cell Wall for Fuels, Chemicals and Materials"
11:30 am - 11:45 am
Discussion
11:45 am - 12:00 pm
Thomas Vanhercke (CSIRO, Australia)
"Increasing the Lipid Content in Vegetative Tissues via Iterative Combinatorial Metabolic Engineering"
12:00 pm - 12:05 pm
Discussion
12:05 pm - 12:20 pm
Benjamin Pouvreau (CSIRO, Australia)
"Versatile High Throughput In Planta Genetic Screening"
12:20 pm - 12:25 pm
Discussion
12:25 pm - 12:30 pm
General Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Free Time
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
The GRC Power Hour™
The GRC Power Hour™ is designed to address challenges women face in science and issues of diversity and inclusion. The program supports the professional growth of all members of our communities by providing an open forum for discussion and mentoring.
Organizers: Leena Tripathi (International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Kenya) and Tessa Moses (University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom)
4:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Poster Session
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Engineering Improved Fiber
Discussion Leader: Clint Chapple (Purdue University, USA)
6:00 pm - 6:30 pm
Brittany Hazard (Quadram Institute, United Kingdom)
"Improving the Health Impact of Wheat Starch"
6:30 pm - 6:45 pm
Discussion
6:45 pm - 7:15 pm
Wilfred Vermerris (University of Florida, USA)
"Plant Metabolic Engineering for Renewable Materials and Chemicals"
7:15 pm - 7:30 pm
Discussion
7:30 pm - 7:50 pm
Quentin Dudley (Earlham Institute / John Innes Centre, United Kingdom)
"Improving Nicotiana benthamiana as a Bioproduction System for Proteins and Small Molecules"
7:50 pm - 8:00 pm
Discussion
8:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Dinner
Tuesday
7:30 am - 8:30 am
Breakfast
8:30 am - 9:00 am
Group Photo
9:00 am - 12:30 pm
Strategies and Technologies for Plant-Derived Pharmaceuticals
Discussion Leader: Prema Karunanithi (University of California, Davis, USA)
9:00 am - 9:30 am
Gary Loake (University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom)
"Sustainable Production Platforms for Industrially Relevant Chemicals"
9:30 am - 9:45 am
Discussion
9:45 am - 10:15 am
Susan Roberts (Worcester Polytechnic Institute, USA)
"Engineering Cultures for Improved Paclitaxel Synthesis and Transport"
10:15 am - 10:30 am
Discussion
10:30 am - 11:00 am
Coffee Break
11:00 am - 11:30 am
Thu Thuy Dang (The University of British Columbia, Canada)
"Exploring and Harnessing Alkaloid Biosynthesis in the Omics Era: From Opium Poppy to Indian Snakeroot and Beyond"
11:30 am - 11:45 am
Discussion
11:45 am - 12:00 pm
Sharmila Chattopadhyay (CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, India)
"Podophyllum hexandrum : An Endangered High-Altitude Plant of Immense Therapeutic Importance"
12:00 pm - 12:05 pm
Discussion
12:05 pm - 12:20 pm
Evangelos Tatsis (Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, CAS, China)
"Exploring the Metabolism of Terpenoids in Skullcaps"
12:20 pm - 12:25 pm
Discussion
12:25 pm - 12:30 pm
General Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Free Time
4:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Poster Session
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Engineering Improved Feed
Discussion Leader: Andreas Weber (Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf, Germany)
6:00 pm - 6:30 pm
David Holding (University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA)
"Engineering Food and Feed Quality in Maize and Sorghum"
6:30 pm - 6:45 pm
Discussion
6:45 pm - 7:15 pm
Johnathan Napier (Rothamsted Research, United Kingdom)
"Metabolic Engineering of Omega-3 Long Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Transgenic Camelina: From Iteration to Prediction"
7:15 pm - 7:30 pm
Discussion
7:30 pm - 7:50 pm
Karen Frick (University of Copenhagen, Denmark)
"Towards Removal of Toxic Alkaloids from Lupin Grain via Transport Engineering"
7:50 pm - 8:00 pm
Discussion
8:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Dinner
Wednesday
7:30 am - 8:30 am
Breakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pm
Plant Metabolic Engineering of Fragrance
Discussion Leader: Antonio Granell (Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas (IBMCP), CSIC-UPV, Spain)
9:00 am - 9:30 am
Natalia Doudareva (Purdue University, USA)
"Plant Fragrances: New Targets for Bioengineering"
9:30 am - 9:45 am
Discussion
9:45 am - 10:15 am
Alain Tissier (Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Germany)
"Engineering Fragrances Through Modulating Terpene Metabolism"
10:15 am - 10:30 am
Discussion
10:30 am - 11:00 am
Coffee Break
11:00 am - 11:30 am
Tessa Moses (University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom)
"Engineering Triterpenoid Saponin Metabolism"
11:30 am - 11:45 am
Discussion
11:45 am - 12:00 pm
Elton Goncalves (Trait Biosciences, USA)
"High Level In Vivo Biosynthesis and Isolation of Water-Soluble Cannabinoids in Plant Systems"
12:00 pm - 12:05 pm
Discussion
12:05 pm - 12:20 pm
Edwige Souleyre (The New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Limited, New Zealand)
"Alpha-Farnesene Is Linked with Pathogenesis of Three Major Postharvest Pathogens in Ripe Apple Fruit"
12:20 pm - 12:25 pm
Discussion
12:25 pm - 12:30 pm
General Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Free Time
4:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Poster Session
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Emerging Strategies for Production of Flavors
Discussion Leader: Maureen McCann (Purdue University, USA)
6:00 pm - 6:30 pm
Brian Dilkes (Purdue University, USA)
"Improving the Flavor of Crops"
6:30 pm - 6:45 pm
Discussion
6:45 pm - 7:15 pm
Carol Wagstaff (University of Reading, United Kingdom)
"Improving the Appeal of Nutritious Food with Improved Flavor"
7:15 pm - 7:30 pm
Discussion
7:30 pm - 7:50 pm
Yang Zhang (Sichuan University, China)
"Identification of the Biosynthetic Pathway for Bioactive Ingredients in Echinacea purpurea L. Moench"
7:50 pm - 8:00 pm
Discussion
8:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Dinner
Thursday
7:30 am - 8:30 am
Breakfast
8:30 am - 9:00 am
Business Meeting
Nominations for the Next Vice Chair; Fill in Conference Evaluation Forms; Discuss Future Site and Scheduling Preferences; Election of the Next Vice Chair
9:00 am - 12:30 pm
Biofortification and Nutritional Improvement of Food
Discussion Leader: Roger Hellens (Queensland University of Technology, Australia)
9:00 am - 9:30 am
Leena Tripathi (International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Kenya)
"Application of Modern Biotechnology for Crop Improvement: Case Study from Banana"
9:30 am - 9:45 am
Discussion
9:45 am - 10:15 am
Chiara Tonelli (University of Milan, Italy)
"A Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life?"
10:15 am - 10:30 am
Discussion
10:30 am - 11:00 am
Coffee Break
11:00 am - 11:30 am
Dominique Van Der Straeten (Ghent University, Belgium)
"Towards Zero Hunger: Biofortification as a Means to Alleviate Micronutrient Deficiencies"
11:30 am - 11:45 am
Discussion
11:45 am - 12:00 pm
Peter Emmrich (John Innes Centre, United Kingdom)
"A Draft Genome of Grass Pea (Lathyrus sativus ) Gives Insight into the Biosynthesis of β-L-ODAP and BAHD-Acyltransferase Evolution"
12:00 pm - 12:05 pm
Discussion
12:05 pm - 12:20 pm
Alexander Johnson (The University of Melbourne, Australia)
"Iron Biofortification of Bread Wheat Through Increased Metal Chelator Biosynthesis"
12:20 pm - 12:25 pm
Discussion
12:25 pm - 12:30 pm
General Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Free Time
4:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Poster Session
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Future Technologies to Improve Design and Applications of Plant Metabolic Engineering Projects
Discussion Leader: Joseph Jez (Washington University in St. Louis, USA)
6:00 pm - 6:30 pm
Jie Luo (Huazhong Agricultural University, China)
"The Power of Combining Metabolomics with Genomics for Plant Metabolic Engineering"
6:30 pm - 6:45 pm
Discussion
6:45 pm - 7:15 pm
Joyce Van Eck (Boyce Thompson Institute, USA)
"Application of Gene Editing to Tailor Modifications"
7:15 pm - 7:30 pm
Discussion
7:30 pm - 7:50 pm
Maria Ermakova (Australian National University, Australia)
"Introducing the C4 Metabolic Pathway into Rice"
7:50 pm - 8:00 pm
Discussion
8:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Dinner
Friday
7:30 am - 8:30 am
Breakfast
9:00 am
Departure