The genomes of forest trees: new frontiers of forest biology

35th New Phytologist Symposium logo. Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA

16 – 17 June 2015

 

 

Thank you!

Thanks to all of our symposium organisers, speakers and delegates who helped to make the 35th NPS such a great success. We will continue to update this site with meeting outputs and related information as they become available, however if you have any questions please contact us by e-mail: New Phytologist Symposia, on Twitter @NewPhyt (symposium hashtag is #35NPS) or on Facebook

 

35th NPS Group Photo

 

 

*Abstract book*

The abstract book for the 35th NPS can be downloaded by clicking here. 

 

Keynote lecture: Peter Crane - 'Ginkgo: An evolutionary and cultural biography'.

 

 

Meeting report

Click here to read the meeting report for the 35th NPS by Andrew Groover in New Phytologist, Volume 208, Issue 2.

 

Poster prize winners

Congratulations to the joint winners of the New Phytologist poster prize:

 

Geneviève Parent (Université Laval, Canada) 

Geneviève Parent, poster prize winner

 

Geneviève's poster: ‘Microevolutionary patterns of a resistance mechanism in white spruce’ (Click here for larger image)

 

Barnabas Daru (University of Pretoria, South Africa)

Barnabas Daru, poster prize winner

 

Barnabus' poster: ‘A molecular phylogenetic analysis of tree diversity hotspots in southern Africa’ (Click here for larger image)

 

Grant awardees

The following students and early career post-docs were awarded New Phytologist Symposium grants:

 

Amanda De La Torre, Umeå Plant Science Centre, Sweden

Dejuan Euring, Büsgen-Institut, Germany

Karl Fetter, University of Vermont, USA

Elisabeth Fitzek, The Morton Arboretum, USA

Brandon Lind, Virginia Commonwealth University, USA

Ian MacLachlan, University of British Columbia, Canada

Geneviève Parent, Université Laval, Canada

Ben Potter, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Julia Quintana Gonzalez, Helsinki University, Finland

Alison Dawn Scott, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

Megan Supple, Australian National University, Australia

Elizabeth Trippe, University of Georgia, USA

 

Symposium scope

New genomic technologies are bringing previously intractable but fascinating aspects of forest tree biology to the forefront of plant biology. Completed and ongoing sequencing projects are providing extensive expressed gene and even full genome sequence resources available for tree species from diverse taxa. At the same time, creative applications of genomic and sequencing technologies are producing tools capable of probing the fundamental processes responsible for woody growth and other unique biological processes in trees. Among the most promising but largely unexplored areas of research is the use of comparative evolutionary genomics approaches that can simultaneously illuminate key regulatory processes and how they have evolved over macro- and micro-evolutionary history. For example, the evolutionary innovations leading to the vast array of woody growth forms in extant plants are almost entirely unknown at the genetic level, but could soon be elucidated using comparative genomics approaches.

 

We will bring together researchers who are exploring the frontiers of tree evolution, ecology, and development using next generation sequencing, genomics, and systems biology approaches. Together, we hope to inspire new ideas for collaborative research that will bring together currently disjoint research communities, and usher in a new era of genome-based forest biology. Ultimately, the approaches and insights from genome-based forest biology will inform us how to address problems ranging from forest conservation during climate change to tailoring of tree-based biofuels feedstocks.

 

Symposium format

The symposium took place over two days at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA. There was dedicated time for discussions, posters, selected poster talks, a conference dinner and a tour of the Arboretum’s collections.

 

Promotion

Please feel free to download, use, print, and/or distribute the official 35th New Phytologist Symposium promotional material:

35th NPS flyer

35th NPS poster

35th NPS Powerpoint slide (pptx)

For printed versions please contact us at np-symposia@lancaster.ac.uk.

Tree genome logo produced by APPS