Count down to 60 years of ASPS

Dear ASPS members,

with about 6 weeks until ComBio 2018, make sure you check the website for a new post to Phytogen each Monday. This beginning post has been emailed to start you off and will be on our website after that (https://www.asps.org.au/)

The posts will be :

Tuesday 14th August — The beginning

Monday 20th August — Thoughts from some of our leaders

Monday 27th August — Rewarding excellence

Monday 3rd September — Growing up within ASPS

Monday 10th September — Plants in Action

Monday 17th September — Why we need more women

we hope you will enjoy reading, hint: after this coming Monday’s post, you will be able to like on our Societies facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/ASPSozplants) post a pebble if you like and that will feed through to twitter also, Kind Regards, the ASPS Website & Communications Sub-Committee (WSCS).

ASPP/ASPS  —  The beginning

We are in the process of writing a history of the Society planned for publication in 2019. This blog is a taste of the Society’s beginnings, but we are aware of gaps in our narrative.  Should anyone have other relevant information that you would be willing to share, we would be most appreciative.

Tina Offler and John Patrick, University of Newcastle

The mid-1940s onward witnessed a burgeoning growth in plant physiology research spread across CSIRO, State Departments of Agriculture and Universities. It was within this environment that Bob Robertson (to become Sir Rutherford Roberson and affectionately referred to as Sir Bob), in 1957, proposed the formation of ASPP to a group of leading national-based plant physiologists (Neales 1994). The group agreed to convene a one-day meeting linked with the programmed Adelaide Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS) conference. The one-day event was held on August 19, 1958 at which 12 papers were presented by GA Atkins, Peter Brownell, Martin Canny, Jack Dainty, Alex Hope, Ned Krefford, Nick Marinos, JD McLean, John Pate, Dugald Paton, Bob Williams and Harold Woolhouse. At the inaugural General Meeting held that afternoon, chaired by Sir Bob, the ASPP Constitution was approved along with the election of Lance May (Adelaide) as Honorary Secretary, Les Paleg (Adelaide) as Honorary Treasurer and Joseph Garnett Wood (Adelaide) as the first President. There seems to be some disparity in reports of the number of delegates attending the meeting with 64 and 69 reported and the original record of attendees having 66 signatures. However, what is not in dispute is that many of the signatures on these fading sheets of paper are of those you will recognise for their significant contributions to Australian Plant Science and to our society. To name but a few: Bob Robertson, John Pate, Alan Walker, Lloyd Evans, Peter Brownell, Hal Hatch, Harold Woolhouse, Martin Canny and so it goes on and on…… 

The CSIRO/Botany School Unit, headed by Bob Robertson, and housed in the Sydney University Botany Department was the core from which ASPP grew and expanded. Bob Robertson’s group comprised a dozen or so young plant physiologists who were to make major advances in our science, including Hal Hatch, Alex Hope, Jack Dainty (from Edinburg, UK), John Pate, Carrick Chambers, Don and Heather Adamson, John (F) and Donella Turner. Bob brought 14 of its members to Adelaide for the Inaugural Meeting, and it wasn’t easy to get there!!  In his “recollections” written for the 50^th anniversary of the society, Martin Canny recounts that Hal Hatch said to me (Martin),

“Tell them how different it was, how difficult to get from Sydney to Adelaide.”

Apparently, in order to attend the Adelaide meeting he (Hal) had taken two days in trains, overnight from Sydney to Melbourne, with a midnight change at Albury to accommodate a shift in rail gauge from 4 feet 8 1/2 inches (New South Wales) to the Victorian line gauge of 5 feet 3 inches, then another overnight trip to Adelaide, with yet another change in railway gauge down to 3 feet 6 inches at the Victorian/South Australian boarder. And, there are other similar stories.

In the following year, the plant physiology community was saddened by the untimely death of JG  (Joe) Wood (1900 -1959) just prior to the second meeting of ASPP convened in Sydney across three days. Sir Bob was elected as the second ASPP President, a position he served in until 1962.  ASPP/ASPS has honoured these two foundation presidents for many years through the JG Wood and Robertson Lectures, presented by invitation biennially at ASPP/ComBio meetings in alternate years.  Also, amongst the attendees at the inaugural meeting in Adelaide was a talented young plant scientist, Dr Peter Goldacre who tragically died in 1960 before being able to fulfil his full research potential. It is in his honour that the prestigious Peter Goldacre Award has been awarded to an outstanding early career plant scientist each year since 1965.

Neales Tom (1994). Our Society; An Historical Perspective. An early history of the Australian Society of Plant Physiologists. ASPP Membership Directory and reproduced (with permission) in Phytogen 11(2), 11-18.

ASPS dinner at ComBio2018

Dear ASPS member,

We hope to see you at the coming ComBio2018 in our spectacular city of Sydney.

If so, you might be interested to attend a dinner where you can discuss collaborative research and networking sitting with fellow scientists while enjoying magnificent Darling Harbour views with delicious food at a very affordable price!

We are organising this year’s ASPS dinner which will be held on Tuesday, 25^th September at Zaaffran Restaurant. (https://www.zaaffran.com/). You can sit and enjoy this harbourside restaurant where you will be amused by a marvellous Darling Harbour night view. It just a three minute harbour side walk from the ComBio2018 conference centre.   It is well worth a visit, so come along to refresh your mind after a long day full of scientific sessions and enjoy some good food and company.

This year the menu will be a three course Indian dinner with open bar with juice, soft drinks, red and white wine. We are offering you a high standard dinner at a very reasonable price, thanks to ASPS for the subsidy. The cost per ticket will be:

• Students: $30
• Academics and guests: $60

You can book your spot by emailing Kamal (kamal.uddin@sydney.edu.au) who will reply to you shortly, with the payment details and confirm your reservation after payment. Don’t forget to mention any dietary requirement in your email during booking.

For catering purposes we need to know the numbers in advance. So, if you really want to attend the ASPS dinner, please reserve your place and make your payment before Friday, 14^th September.

We only have a limited number of tickets, so please don’t wait for the last moment to book your spot.

We looking forward to see you all at ComBio2018.

Warm regards,

ASPS Dinner Organising Committee

Hello ASPS members,

Today is the last day you can register for ComBio2018 and receive the early bird discount. http://www.combio.org.au/combio2018/

If you need to renew your ASPS membership you can use the e-mail address this newsletter was sent to as you login to reset your password then simply renew to get the discounted ASPS member rate. https://www.asps.org.au/renewal 

It will be the ASPS 60th anniversary at ComBio2018 so come and be part of our history.

Hello ASPS members,

ComBio2018 will mark the 60th anniversary of our society and is a great opportunity for the next generation of plant scientists to share their research and passion for plants with our community. As a society we provide travel grants to support our student members to attend ComBio.  If you are a student attending ComBio or the supervisor of a student attending ComBio this year apply for a travel grant by COB June 15th 2018.

Further details can be found at the ASPS ComBio travel grant web page.

ComBio2018: 23 – 26 September 2018, International Convention Centre Sydney, Darling Harbour
Early Registration & Abstract Deadline: Friday, 22 June 2018

We are pleased to advise that the Program Timetable and the Provisional Symposium Schedule can be downloaded from:
http://www.combio.org.au/combio2018/program.html
The Provisional Symposium Schedule includes the Stream Co-ordinators, the titles of each of the 73 sessions and the Chairs of each of the sessions.

Online registration and abstract submission will be available towards the end of April 2018 and we will send a further email when these pages are live. The early registration and abstract submission deadline is 22 June 2018.

ComBio2018 is a combination of six societies holding their annual meetings with the International Society of Differentiation partnering with the Australia and New Zealand Society of Cell and Developmental Biology, and the New Zealand Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the New Zealand Society of Plant Biologists joining in with the Australian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the Australian Society of Plant Scientists.

The ASBMB Grimwade Keynote Plenary Lecturer is Randy Wayne Schekman. Professor Schekman is a Nobel Prize-winning American professor of molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley whose research in vesicular trafficking is highly relevant across both plant and animal systems. The ASPS is pleased to support two plenary lectures, including the R.N. Robertson Award & Lecture, which will be given by Dr Michael Udvardi (Noble Research Institute) and the ASPS Jan Anderson Award & Lecture (speaker TBC). The ASPS in conjunction the Annals of Botany and Functional Plant Biology will deliver the Annals of Botany Lecture to be given by Professor Keiko Torii (University of Washington) and the ASPS Peter Goldacre Award Dr Caitlin Byrt. The names and institutions of all confirmed international plenary speakers can be seen at: http://www.combio.org.au/combio2018/plenary.html

Hello ASPS members past and present,

COMBIO 2019, (23th-26th September) in Sydney, will be the venue of our annual meeting held in our 60th Anniversary year of ASPS.

As well as the science sessions at COMBIO we will have 2 events for ASPS, the ASPS dinner which will be held on the Tuesday night – you will be hearing about this event very soon – and the AGM which will be held on the Wednesday lunch.

We hope you can all attend and make this a special COMBIO in our anniversary year.

Furthermore, we are looking for volunteers to help us to continue in our role in assisting and shaping the future of the Australian Plant Science community? If you have ideas of how to build and strengthen our community, please consider joining the ASPS exec.

We are looking to fill 3 vacancies this year:

Honorary Secretary

Honorary Treasurer

Plant-Microbe Interactions rep

If you are keen on taking on one of these roles please fill out the attached form.

We look forward to your involvement.

Many thanks,

Matt

_________________

Professor Matthew Gilliham

Honorary Secretary, Aust Soc Plant Scientists

Dear ASPS Past and Present Members

We are pleased to advise that the photographs from ComBio2017 can now be viewed at: http://www.combio.org.au/combio2017/

ComBio2018: 23 – 26 September 2018, International Convention Centre Sydney, Darling Harbour
Early Registration & Abstract Deadline: Friday, 22 June 2018

We are pleased to advise that the Program Timetable and the Provisional Symposium Schedule can be downloaded from:
http://www.combio.org.au/combio2018/program.html
The Provisional Symposium Schedule includes the Stream Co-ordinators, the titles of each of the 73 sessions and the Chairs of each of the sessions.

Online registration and abstract submission will be available towards the end of April 2018 and we will send a further email when these pages are live. The early registration and abstract submission deadline is 22 June 2018.

ComBio2018 is a combination of six societies holding their annual meetings with the International Society of Differentiation partnering with the Australia and New Zealand Society of Cell and Developmental Biology, and the New Zealand Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the New Zealand Society of Plant Biologists joining in with the Australian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the Australian Society of Plant Scientists.

The ASBMB Grimwade Keynote Plenary Lecturer is Randy Wayne Schekman. Professor Schekman is a Nobel Prize-winning American professor of molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley whose research in vesicular trafficking is highly relevant across both plant and animal systems. The ASPS is pleased to support two plenary lectures, including the R.N. Robertson Award & Lecture, which will be given by Dr Michael Udvardi (Noble Research Institute) and the ASPS Jan Anderson Award & Lecture (speaker TBC). The ASPS in conjunction the Annals of Botany and Functional Plant Biology will deliver the Annals of Botany Lecture to be given by Professor Keiko Torii (University of Washington) and the ASPS Peter Goldacre Award (speaker TBC). The names and institutions of all confirmed international plenary speakers can be seen at: http://www.combio.org.au/combio2018/plenary.html

Kind regards
Sally

Sally Jay
ASBMB National Office
ComBio2018 Secretariat

AgEd Symposium brings together the academic community in agriculture and related disciplines at Australian tertiary and VET institutions.

Themes include developing curriculum to meet industry needs, work integrated learning, entrepreneurship skills, inquiry-oriented approaches for interdisciplinary learning, online & flipped learning.

Ag Ed A4 flyer

Keynote speakers include:

Professor Beverley Oliver (Deakin, Assuring Graduate Outcomes)

Professor Morgan Miles (CSU, Developing Entrepreneurship Skills)

Dr Peter Sale (LTU, Flipping First Year)

To register and submit abstracts please visit:

https://agwine.adelaide.edu.au/ag-ed-symposium/registration/

One week to get discounted registration for Science meets Parliament

It is with great pleasure that ASPS can announce that Dr Beth Loveys has been awarded the ASPS Teaching Award 2018 for her development, implementation and evaluation of innovative teaching practices in plant sciences.

Beth gained her PhD in plant ecophysiology under the supervision of Professor Steve Tyerman in 1998 from Flinders University in South Australia. During her first post-doctoral position at the University of York with Professor Owen Atkin, Beth began broadening her interest in plant physiology to examine the effects of climate change on plant growth, specifically temperature effects. This theme continued with her second post-doctoral position at the Australian National University where her work, with Professor Marilyn Ball as part of the CRC for Greenhouse Accounting, focused on impacts of elevated CO2. In her current position as an Education Specialist at The University of Adelaide Beth is able to inspire the next generation of plant scientists teaching into Bachelor of Agricultural Science, Bachelor of Viticulture and Oenology and Applied Biology. Improving student engagement in all areas of plant science has been Beth’s motivation in recent years by the use of blended and active learning pedagogy. Beth’s success in implementing innovative teaching methodologies has been recognised by an Office of Learning and Teaching Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning in 2015.

Beth will give an award lecture at COMBIO 2018, to be held in Sydney 23-26th September 2018, detailing her many innovations in plant science teaching.

Many congratulations from ASPS.

_________________

Professor Matthew Gilliham

ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology

Deputy Head of School (Research)

School of Agriculture, Food and Wine

University of Adelaide

Ph: +61 8 8313 8145 | Twitter: @IonPlants

Lab website: Plant Transport and Signalling Lab

Honorary Secretary, Aust Soc Plant Scientists

THE FULL PROGRAM AND FREE REGISTRATION ARE NOW OPEN for:

ACT Mass Spectrometry Symposium 2017, Tuesday November 28, 2017.

Get in QUICKLY because seats a strictly limited!

Description

The ACT Mass Spectrometry Symposium is intended as an interactive forum for experts and novices to discuss the application of mass spectrometry to solving problems and to allow the dissemination of current and future trends in the technology. The speakers represent academic and commercial backgrounds and will cover a wide range of applications as can be seen in the programme below.

Programme

8:55 am WELCOME

9:05 am Clayton Ross (Shimadzu):

Shimadzu GCMS TQ-8050 – Speed Without Compromise (Simultaneous MRM, SIM and SCAN)

9:30 am David DeSouza (Metabolomics Australia, VIC):

Comprehensive Metabolite Profiling by GC-QQQ: A Change in Approach

9:55 am Chris Fouracre (Agilent Technologies):

Revealing the New Ultivo Triple Quadrupole LC/MS

10:20 am David Beale (CSIRO Land & Water, QLD):

Expanding Characterization of Environmental Pollution and Ecosystem Health Using Metabolomic Approaches

10:45 am MORNING TEA BREAK

11:15 am Steve Binos (Thermo Fisher):

Orbitrap DIA; Beyond ID’s for your Proteomic Needs.

11:40 am Rikard Hedman (ANU Research School of Chemistry, ACT):

Detection of Sulfate Conjugated Compounds by Untargeted Mass Spectrometry

12:05 pm Nicole Pendini (Peak Scientific):

Gas Generators: the Safe Onsite Alternative to Cylinders and Dewars

12:30 pm LUNCH BREAK

1:30 pm Chris Hodgkins (AB Sciex):

SelexION®+; Improving Triple-Quadrupole Selectivity with Differential Mobility Spectrometry (DMS) to Reach Lower Limits of Quantitation.

1:55 pm Steve Van Sluyter (Macquarie University, NSW):

Absolute Quantification of Leaf Proteins on a Continental Scale Using SWATH

2:20 pm Heather Patsiouras (Waters):

Ion Mobility MS: Extending the Capability and Selectivity of MS

2:45 pm AFTERNOON TEA BREAK

3:00 pm Udo Rupprecht (Lasersan):

On-line Automated Sample Preparation for GC/MS and LC/MS

3:25pm John Foster (ANU Research School of Earth Sciences, ACT):

Development of Shrimp Ion Microprobe

3:50 pm Alex Donald (University of NSW School of Chemistry, NSW):

Highly Charged Protein Ions: The Strongest Acids to Date

4:15 pm Awards and Announcements

4:30-7:30 pm POST-SYMPOSIUM DRINKS and NIBBLES

 For More Information contact Adam Carroll