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Hello ASPS members,

Just a reminder that ASPS student travel grant applications close this Friday June 10th.

The 2nd Global Summit on Plant Science has been added to the ASPS events page.

A new employment opportunity in Canberra has just been posted the ASPS site. Click here for further details.

Global Plant Council E-Bulletin May 2016 Forward to a Friend |  | View web version (also click here to translate to other languages!)

Email Us GPC Website GPC Blog @GlobalPlantGPC @GPC_EnEspanol Facebook Donate E-Bulletin /  May 2016 Welcome to the May edition of your Global Plant Council e-bulletin, which contains a round-up of highlights from the plant science community around the world in the last month. We are excited to say that the Spanish Society for Plant Physiology (Sociedad Española de Fisiología Vegetal; SEFV) has recently joined the GPC as a Member Society, so ¡hola! to all our new members! As well as Society Members, we now also accept ‘Affiliate’ research institutions and organizations to join the Global Plant Council. We are delighted to welcome The Center for Plant Aging Research at the Institute for Basic Science in South Korea, and the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology in Golm, Germany, as our first two Affiliate Members. If you would like to know more about becoming a Society Member or an Affiliate Member of the GPC, please get in touch with us!

Latest News /  View more… If you have news you would like us to share on our website, please contact lisa@globalplantcouncil.org  This month 62 new breaking news stories were posted on the GPC website including… From New Phytologist: The 37th New Phytologist Symposium: Plant developmental evolution Sarah Lennon, New Phytologist’s Managing Editor, provides an overview of this recent plant ‘evo-devo’ symposium, held in Beijing, China, 15–19th May 2016. In Nature Plants: Mechanism discovered for plants to regulate their flowering in a warming world Researchers from Australia’s Monash University have discovered a new mechanism that enables plants to regulate their flowering in response to raised temperatures. From Journal of Experimental Botany: Latest thinking on photorespiration for crop improvement The Journal of Experimental Botany delves deep into “the photorespiration problem” with a new Special Issue featuring in depth reviews, opinion pieces and original research.  From the GPC Community… Strengthening the cooperation between Argentinian and German plant science for phenotyping and bioeconomy Roland Pieruschka provides an update on links between the Latin-American Plant Phenotyping Network and its European counterparts. Events / View more… If you have a conference, meeting, workshop, training course or other event coming up, we can include it in our Events calendar! Please email lisa@globalplantcouncil.org Scandinavian Plant Physiology Society PhD Student Conference 21–23 June 2016. Oslo, Norway.  EPSO/FESPB Plant Biology Europe 2016 26–30 June 2016. Prague, Czech Republic.  International Conference on Arabidopsis Research 2016 29 June–3 July 2016. Gyeongju, Korea.  Society for Experimental Biology Annual Main Meeting 4–7 July 2016. Brighton, UK.  ASPB Plant Biology 2016 9–13 July 2016. Austin, Texas, USA Reports / Lots of new reports, and an archive of useful documents from the last few years, are available on our website. Head to the Resources page and click ‘Reports’. Lots of new reports were published this month – here are a few but don’t forget to check out the Reports section of our Resources page for more! Growing Food for Growing Cities: Transforming Food Systems in an Urbanizing World This report by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs highlights the problems of feeding a growing – and increasingly urbanized – human population, and makes recommendations for strategies that could help.  More… The State of the World’s Plants The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew (London, UK) has released the first ever global assessment of current knowledge on the diversity of plants on earth, the threats these plants face, and the effectiveness of policies to deal with these threats. More… Genetically Engineered Crops: Experiences and Prospects A detailed and extensive study carried out by the US National Academy of Sciences reports that GM crops are safe to eat, and that new technologies in genetic engineering and conventional plant breeding are blurring the once clear distinctions between these two crop improvement approaches. More… Funding Opportunities / Spotted a funding opportunity we’ve missed? Please tell us about it by emailing lisa@globalplantcouncil.org Calls for several funding opportunities have been made in the past few weeks – this article on our website gives you a bit of information about some of these: Global Challenges Research Fund, Newton Fund Agri-Food Competition, Agri-Innovation Den, Validation of diagnostic tools for animal and plant health (Horizon 2020), BBSRC LINK funding and Industrial Partnership Awards, Hello Tomorrow Challenge, and African Union Research Grants. More… Read this article to find out more about the Innovation Challenge for Cassava. More… There is no monetary prize for this one, but the FAO’s World Food Day Poster and Video Contest looks like a fantastic opportunity to engage children and young people on the subjects of climate change and sustainable agriculture and food production! Finally, congratulations to the 15 recipients of an ASPB Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) to support them during a 10-week plant science summer project – a fantastic opportunity for the next generation of plant scientists! On the blog /  View more… Would you like to contribute an article to the GPC’s blog? Please get in touch! Email lisa@globalplantcouncil.org Choosing your growth media for plant science In light of a new paper from the University of Bristol, Sarah Jose reports on the effects that growth media can have on Arabidopsis.  More… Underutilized crops and insects replace fishmeal in aquaculture feed In a guest post from scientists with the FishPLUS project, Crops for the Future discuss efforts to improve the sustainability of fish farming using fishmeal made from insect larvae that are fed on underutilized crops.  More… Round-up of Fascination of Plants Day 2016 May 22nd was International Fascination of Plants Day – Sarah Jose provides a social media-round-up in case you missed it!  More… The flower breeders who sold X-ray lilies and atomic marigolds This repost from The Conversation magazine discusses the science behind some of the more unusual flowers you might find on display at this year’s Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show.  More… Members /  Click here for details of the GPC Member Societies and Affiliates and their representatives.  Please contact Ruth Bastow (ruth@globalplantcouncil.org) to find out how your organization can join the Global Plant Council.  The GPC is a coalition of plant and crop science societies and affiliates from across the globe. The GPC seeks to bring plant scientists together to work synergistically toward solving the pressing problems we face. Please click here to make a donation via PayPal to help support the GPC.

PhD Candidate, Centre for Carbon Water and Food, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment

The University of Sydney

As an ASPS travel grant recipient I was able to attend ComBio 2015 to present research from a collaborative project between the University of Sydney and Forschungszentrum Jülich. The mobile nuclear magnetic resonance sensor (mNMR) recently developed at the Bio- and Geosciences Research Institute (IBG-2) at Forschungszentrum Jülich in Germany allows the non-invasive, real-time measurement of water status and dry matter accumulation during seed development. My PhD research focuses on the impact of drought and nutrient deficiency on photosynthetic capacity in common bean and the conversion of this energy into yield, particularly the nutritional quality of yield. Plant phenotyping technologies have an important role to play in this area and are evolving quickly to provide real time information about plant growth and development. It is an exciting field and it was great to share my research with the scientific community at ComBio.

The conference helped me improve my confidence and communication skills through having interesting discussions with other researchers about the future applications of the mNMR sensor technology. I am now determined to write up a manuscript sooner rather than later! Being exposed to a broad scope of research presented at COMBIO that is beyond what I would normally explore has made me excited about the possibilities awaiting me as a young member of the Australian plant science community. I am very grateful to the Australian Society of Plant Scientists for providing an opportunity to travel to ComBio in 2015.

R.N. Robertson Travelling Fellowship Report by Nicole Dakin

(School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Western Australia)

At first, you wouldn’t think there was much connection between a snow-covered forest in Germany, and a sunny salt lake in Australia. My PhD project investigates C₄ photosynthesis in Tecticornia, a genus of succulents native to Australian salt lakes (Photo 1). Through the support of the R.N. Robertson Travelling Fellowship, I travelled to Mainz, Germany to complete part of my research, supervised by Dr. Gudrun Kadereit at the Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz.

Photo 1: Tecticornia indica subsp. bidens, a C4 species. An example of a vegetative article is shown.

Tecticornia is a genus in the family Chenopodiaceae. These plants are halophytes, and the majority of species are endemic to Western Australia. Tecticornia species have highly reduced features, an adaptation to the harsh conditions in which they live. Their stems and leaves are fused into cylindrical structures called vegetative articles (see photograph included). Their flowers are embedded in these vegetative articles, with only the stamens visible. This leaves few morphological features to identify species, and discerning between species can be challenging. In addition, hybridisation and variation in ploidy levels are common. Previous phylogenetic studies have found low genetic diversity between species. The phylogeny of the genus remains unresolved, and the relationships among the species are not clear.

Tecticornia currently includes two C₄ species and 39 C₃ species. These C₄ species among a large number of C₃ species make it an interesting genus for studying the steps in the evolution of C₄ photosynthesis. The evolution of C₄ photosynthesis involves changes in anatomy, protein localisation, and expression, and my PhD project sets out to study these steps in Tecticornia. However, before these studies can be completed, the C₃ species most closely related to the C₄ species must be identified.

My aim during my time in Germany was to use the external transcribed spacer (ETS) region as a nuclear marker to construct a phylogeny of the genus. Previous studies have used chloroplast markers and the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) marker, and information from the ETS marker would further contribute to resolving the phylogeny of the genus.

A question I was asked a lot was “Why would a Western Australian student, studying a Western Australian genus, come to Germany?” Members of the Kadereit lab (Photo 2) are experts in the family Chenopodiaceae, conducting studies into the phylogenetics, biogeography, anatomy, and taxonomy of a wide range of species in this family. Members of the lab have completed studies into particular genera, and broader-scale studies of the family, and have integrated these studies with their extensive knowledge of the biology of the plants.

Photo 2: Ice-skating with Gudrun, and other students from the Kadereit lab.

I learnt how to extract total DNA from dried herbarium tissue, amplify the ETS fragment, and determine sequences from over 70 samples. These sequences were aligned, and I was taught how to use various programs to construct phylogenetic trees. The phylogenetic reconstruction was a lot more challenging than first expected. The amplification of paralogous sequences caused unusual branch lengths in the first trees constructed, and conflict between trees using different markers. Some samples had to be repeated with different primer pairs to obtain the orthologous sequences. The amplification of paralogues is an unusual problem, and is thought to be due to recent hybridisation between species.

The ETS phylogeny, combined with the ITS marker, had greater resolution compared to previous studies. A number of well-supported clades could be seen, dividing the genus into groups. The position of the C₄ species indicates they form a separate clade. The phylogeny revealed that the Tecticornia are a very young C₄ lineage. A rapid diversification and hybridisation, as seen from the paralogous sequences, make it a challenging genus to fully resolve. The information from this phylogeny will help choose further markers to fully resolve the species relationships in the genus.

Photo 3. A snow-covered scene in the Lennebergwald forest, Mainz.

I was also able to connect my findings with other studies. For example I was able to fit my phylogeny into a larger ETS phylogeny of a subfamily of Chenopodiaceae. My study, as well as increasing knowledge of Tecticornia, will also be valuable in resolving relationships across the whole family. I also picked up skills in hydrating dry herbarium material, and sectioning it to look at the anatomy; a difficult task for succulent tissue.

I used my free time to explore the city of Mainz. There was a beautiful forest close to where I was staying (Photo 3), and many museums and historical sites (Photo 4). Mainz, located on the Rhine River, has a rich history, and is the birthplace of Johannes Gutenberg, inventor of the first printing press.

Photo 4. Exploring the markets in the centre of Mainz.

Thank you to Gudrun Kadereit for her mentorship and teaching, and thank you to my other supervisors: Martha Ludwig from the University of Western Australia, and Kelly Shepherd, and Terry MacFarlane from the Western Australian Herbarium. Thank you to Silvia Wienken and Max Lauterbach, and the members of the Kadereit lab who gave me advice and help during my stay: Michael Pirie, Uschi Martine, Katherina Bohley, and Denise Schmidt. And thank you to the ASPS for the honour of receiving the R.N. Robertson Travelling Fellowship, and allowing me to undertake this research.

Email: nicole.dakin@research.uwa.edu.au

by Wending Li

ASPS Travel Awards Recipients for ComBio2015

PhD candidate, Centre for Carbon, Water and Food, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Sydney

My research focuses on understanding ammonium transport in maize. In agricultural plant production, nitrogen fertilisers are used widely where ~10¹¹ kg of nitrogen fertilizers are used annualy (Glass, 2003). The cultivation of cereals (wheat, maize, barley, rice) requires a significant amount of nitrogen fertiliser. Unfortunately, cereal N fertiliser use is poor, where only 30-50% of the total N applied is actually used for the production of the final grain yield (Raun and Johnson, 1999; Tilman et al., 2002). Low nitrogen use efficiencies can result in the loss of nitrogen into the environment, which causes water and soil pollution as well as greenhouse gas production (Masclaux-Daubresse et al., 2010). In addition, the waste of nitrogen fertilizers also gives rise to financial losses to the farmers, a significant cost in the production cycle. Therefore, improving plant nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is an important strategy to overcome many of these constraints. One direction in enhancing NUE in plants is to increase the efficiency of root N transport processes. This includes, the proteins involved in the uptake of nitrogen from the soil as well as the internal storage and redistribution of nitrogen required to support growth and final seed yield and quality (Garnett et al., 2009).

Ammonium is a major form of nitrogen absorbed by plants and can be redistributed through high and low affinity pathways. The physiological and molecular activities of high-affinity ammonium transporters have been examined in numerous plant species, which belong to the AMT/MEP/Rhesus superfamily. Conversely, molecular information about low-affinity ammonium transport systems remains limited. Recently, our lab has discovered a new family of low affinity ammonium transport proteins called AMF1 (ammonium facilitator 1) (Chiasson et al., 2014). Through sequence homology, we found two AMF1 homologs in maize, which are ZmAMF1;1 and ZmAMF1;2. I have been investigating the function of these two genes in maize as well as using heterologous expression systems (yeast and Xenopus laevis oocytes) to define their functional relevance in nitrogen transport and overall plant growth. In maize, I’ve observed ZmAMF1 is induced by nitrogen starvation in roots, while both ZmAMF1 and ZmAMF2 are preferentially expressed in the shoots. The cellular location of both genes is currently being identified using a native promoter::GUS fusion construct transformed into the dwarf maize inbred line Gaspe. I have undertaken a reverse genetics approach in maize using a collection of Mu transposon insertion lines within exon and promoter loci of either ZmAMF1 or ZmAMF2 (provided by B. Meeley, DuPont Pioneer). We have progressed the transposon lines through a series of backcrosses to B73 and Gaspe using a diagnostic PCR screening assay. Mutant plants containing perturbations in ammonium transport in maize are undergoing characterisation. This project will contribute to a better understanding of the role AMF1 proteins in plant N transport and metabolism, including their role as low-affinity ammonium transporters. Our research will improve our understanding of nitrogen uptake and redistribution in plants, whiles also establishing new strategies to improve nitrogen use efficiency, plant growth and development.

Reference:

Chiasson DM, Loughlin PC, Mazurkiewicz D, Mohammadidehcheshmeh M, Fedorova EE, Okamoto M, McLean E, Glass AD, Smith SE, Bisseling T (2014) Soybean SAT1 (Symbiotic Ammonium Transporter 1) encodes a bHLH transcription factor involved in nodule growth and NH4+ transport. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111: 4814-4819

Garnett T, Conn V, Kaiser BN (2009) Root based approaches to improving nitrogen use efficiency in plants. Plant, cell & environment 32: 1272-1283

Glass AD (2003) Nitrogen use efficiency of crop plants: physiological constraints upon nitrogen absorption. Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences 22: 453-470

Masclaux-Daubresse C, Daniel-Vedele F, Dechorgnat J, Chardon F, Gaufichon L, Suzuki A (2010) Nitrogen uptake, assimilation and remobilization in plants: challenges for sustainable and productive agriculture. Annals of Botany 105: 1141-1157

Raun WR, Johnson GV (1999) Improving nitrogen use efficiency for cereal production. Agronomy Journal 91: 357-363

Tilman D, Cassman KG, Matson PA, Naylor R, Polasky S (2002) Agricultural sustainability and intensive production practices. Nature 418: 671-677

By Dr. Zhengyu (Allen) Wen

ComBio 2015 was well above my expectation. As a plant physiologist interesting in ion transporter research, I had previosuly attended conferences relevant to my area of expertise and found myself comfortable enjoying the science. ComBio is a combined conference covering multiple fields of science and I had some minor trouble submitting my abstract to the relevant plenary that best aligned with my research topic, which did make me wonder about the scope of science that was to follow. But as the conference began, I realized that the 2015 ComBio was going to provide a big and pleasant experience. Professor Martin Caffrey’s lecture discussed new insights into protein structural biology and how it can effect protein function, which was very interesting from a structural biology perspective. I learn’t that there were new ways to crystallise a protein. Given the current difficulties in crystallizing ion transporters, this new method could potentially be used to solve the structure of ion transporters relevant to my research program. I also learn’t a lot from the epigenetics talks, which could pave new ways for crop biofortification and modification. Overall, ComBio2015 truly broadened my view in science, pushing me to think big.

by Dr. Matthew Tucker

ARC Future Fellow at The University of Adelaide

It’s been a busy start to the year in terms of conferences and workshops relevant to plant research. The bi-annual Plant Reproduction meeting was held from the 18^th to 23^rd of March at the University of Arizona in Tucson. The conference brings together experts from diverse fields stretching all the way from meristem development through to sporogenesis, pollen tube attraction, fertilisation, embryogenesis, endosperm development and fruit growth. The ultimate aim of the conference is to describe fundamental research from model species, such as the discovery of genes, mechanisms and biochemical pathways, which might be used to address current and future challenges in crop reproduction and yield. The conference was well attended with approximately 220 attendees, and the quality of data presented was amazing. Australian attendees included researchers from CSIRO Agriculture, The University of Adelaide and the ACPFG. The highlights were talks from Minako Ueda from the University of Nagoya, who showed stunning videos of fluorescently-tagged Arabidopsis egg cells developing into zygotes, Noni Franklin-Tong from the University of Birmingham, who described her work on transferring the self-incompatibility system from poppy into Arabidopsis, and Li Yuan from UC Davis who won an award for his talk on a histidine kinases that controls central cell development in the Arabidopsis female gametophyte. The discovery of genes controlling or inducing apomixis in maize, Taraxacum and Pennisetum was also a major breakthrough. It was clear from the talks that CRISPR/Cas9 and ChipSeq are now standard techniques in the field, while the capacity to isolate, profile and study previously inaccessible cell types through fluorescence assisted cell sorting (FACS) and microdissection is also rapidly progressing. The next plant Reproduction meeting will be held in Japan in 2018, and I would strongly recommend attending what always proves to be a collaborative, interactive and socially enjoyable meeting.

Photos of the Tucson desert moon, the famed Dr Minako Ueda with the author, the packed conference and Tetsuya Higashiyama introducing the next Plant Reproduction meeting.

Another excellent CSIRO workshop was recently held from the 19^th-21^st April in Kiama on the NSW south coast. The workshop, also sponsored by the ASPS, brought together Australian and International researchers from the field of Crop Developmental Genetics to discuss old and new strategies for the improvement of crop yield. Cereal crops such as wheat, barley and sorghum were discussed in addition to research on lupins, canola, tomato and legumes. Talks from international speakers including Jorge Dubcovsky from UC Davis, Junko Kyozuka from Tohoku University, Thorsten Schnurrbusch from IPK Gatersleben and Yuval Eshed from the Weizmann Institute were highlights, while students from CSIRO, ANU, the Universities of Adelaide, Queensland and Monash confirmed that the future of plant developmental genetics in Australia is in good hands. The intention was to use this workshop as a springboard for further collaborative research and meetings; plant developmental genetics is a relatively small field that provides so much promise for translating fundamental discoveries directly into breeding outcomes. As part of this I plan to update the ASPS Plant Development page to include information about the field and the research being undertaken in Australia, hopefully this will act as a useful resource for both students and researchers.

• ASPS will make up to 5 awards for research presented as a poster by students at ComBio2016, depending on the number of posters. Each award will consist of recognition at the end of the conference and a prize of $200.
• Student members of ASPS may also apply in advance for a travel award to attend ComBio2016, if presenting their research as either a poster or talk. Applications are due June 10^th to the Hon. Treasurer of ASPS: brent.kaiser@sydney.edu.au
• The Peter Goldacre Award is the ASPS award for excellence in early career research. The award ($2000, a medal and invited lecture at ComBio) is sponsored by Functional Plant Biology.
• Award for best paper (2016) by an early career plant scientist published in Functional Plant Biology (certificate, $250 book voucher from CSIRO publishing). Selected from papers published in 2015 in Functional Plant Biology and nominated during the submission process.
• The ASPS Teaching Award may also be presented (certificate and prize) at ComBio2016.
• The R.N. Robertson Lecture will take place at ComBio2016. (The R.N. Robertson Lecture alternates each year with the J.G. Wood Memorial Lecture).
• For more information, http://www.asps.org.au/awards

Article by Florence Danila: Recipient of the ComBio 2015 ASPS Student Poster Prize

A large majority of the human population depends on rice (Oryza sativa) for survival. Rice production needs to increase by 50% to support a higher demand for food forecasted over the next 35 years due to an increasing human population. Traditional breeding can only increase rice yield by 1% per annum. Switching the less efficient C₃ photosynthetic system of rice to use a more efficient C₄ photosynthesis, would theoretically increase productivity by 50%. The aim of the C₄ Rice Consortium is to add features of C₄ photosynthesis to the C₃ plant, rice. Therefore, it is essential to know whether rice can support the expected increase in metabolite flux between the leaf mesophyll (M) and bundle sheath (BS) cells after all the C₄ biochemistry has been installed. The main pathway for metabolite flux is symplastic, i.e. via the plasmodesmata (PD) connecting M and BS cells. Comparison of the symplastic transport mechanisms between the C₃ monocot crop, rice, and the C₄ plant, Setaria viridis was done by looking at the PD density and pit field distribution between the M and BS cells. Electron microscopy and 3D immunolocalisation showed that Setaria (C₄) has higher PD density and higher pit field area coverage on M/BS cell interface than rice (C₃). Establishing the numerical difference in terms of PD connections between C₃ and C₄ plants is not only relevant for the C₄ Rice Project but also in plant transport and modelling studies.

Acknowledgements:

ARC Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis (Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia). International Rice Research Institute (Laguna, Philippines). CSIRO Agriculture (Canberra, Australia).

References:

Payne, J. A., Bleackley, M. R., Lee, T. H., Shafee, T. M., Poon, I. K., Hulett, M. D., . . . Anderson, M. A. (2016). The plant defensin NaD1 introduces membrane disorder through a specific interaction with the lipid, phosphatidylinositol 4,5 bisphosphate. Biochim Biophys Acta, 1858(6), 1099-1109. doi:10.1016/j.bbamem.2016.02.016

Poon, I. K., Baxter, A. A., Lay, F. T., Mills, G. D., Adda, C. G., Payne, J. A., … Hulett, M. D. (2014). Phosphoinositide-mediated oligomerization of a defensin induces cell lysis. eLife, 3, e01808. http://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.01808

For more information email: ja2payne@students.latrobe.edu.au (La Trobe University, Melbourne Victoria Australia)

On behalf of Australian Society of Plant Scientists, I joined Science Meets Parliament (SMP) on the 1^st and 2^nd of March, 2016 in Canberra. The SMP aims to provide scientists unique opportunities to build mutual understanding and connections between scientists and parliamentarians and to better understand the policy making process connecting science and innovation that underpins Australia’s economic, social and environmental wellbeing.

Day 1 of the SMP started with an opening address given by Professor Brian Schmidt (AC, Nobel Laureate and Vice Chancellor of ANU) at the Hotel Realm. Prof Schmidt analysed a broad aspects of Australian Science and offered a few ‘tips’ on how to talk to politicians. This was followed by a vivid discussion and debate on ‘How to turn your science into news’, presented by Kylie Walker (Australian Academy of Science), Paul Bongiorno (Network Ten) and Alison Carabine (ABC radio). The meeting continued with an ‘Interactive session’ on rehearsing for parliamentary meetings and concluded with a Gala dinner at the Great Hall in Parliament House where key note speakers, the Hon Christopher Pyne MP, (Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science) and the Hon Bill Shorten MP (Leader of the Opposition) addressed the audience outlining their policies and visions for the future of Australian science.

Day 2 featured face-to-face group meetings in Parliament House with Ministers, Parliamentary Members and Senators. Their were concurrent sessions on Science and Politics delivered by past and present Federal Chief Scientists, Professors Ian Chubb and Alan Finkel, respectively, as well as Aidan Byrne (ARC CEO Professor) and Senator Kim Carr (Shadow Minister for Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Industry).

The two-day event proved to be a very rewarding experience. It helped to better understand and appreciate the process of formulating science-related policies and decisions developed at the government level. It provided a unique opportunity to network with politicians, journalists and fellow scientists while advocating plant science to the broader community. To the latter, I attached here a photo with the Science Minister Chris Pyne at the Gala diner following his keynote speech and our informal discussion.

Email: yong-ling.ruan@newcastle.edu.au