The genomes of forest trees: new frontiers of forest biology
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.
*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's poster: ‘Microevolutionary patterns of a resistance mechanism in white spruce’ (Click here for larger image)
Barnabas Daru (University of Pretoria, South Africa)
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 Powerpoint slide (pptx)
For printed versions please contact us at np-symposia@lancaster.ac.uk.
Tree genome logo produced by APPS