Plantae Presents – A New Global Plant Science Talk Series

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic many seminar series and conferences have been canceled or postponed. We wish to make sure plant scientists can continue to communicate their latest work to their peers during these difficult times and establish a platform on which scientists may connect year-round, regardless of where they are located. 

On April 1, The American Society of Plant Biologists will launch a virtual seminar series via our online community, Plantae. Speakers for each weekly session will be selected by members of our organizing committee, Benjamin Schwessinger, Jürgen Kleine-Vehn, Katie Rogers, and Mary Williams. Our goal is to pair one well-recognized researcher with another nearer the beginning of their career to deliver a broad range of scientific topics, facilitate interesting discussions, and provide unique networking opportunities.

These virtual events are free and open to all. Anyone is welcome to join the webinars, share questions and comments for the speakers, and volunteer to present their own research. Presentations will be 20 minutes each and will be followed by 10 minutes of live question and answer. 

We encourage participation from scientists at all career stages and from around the world. Each week we will alternate timezones so that we may better reach and serve a global audience. Recordings and discussions will be posted within a few days of the virtual event so those who are unable to participate live will still have a chance to listen in and engage. 

Our current line-up is as follows: 

• Wednesday April 1 | Ottoline Leyser, “A Long Distance Talk about Long Distance Signalling” (Sainsbury Lab, University of Cambridge) and Sarah Robinson “The Mechanics of Size” (Sainsbury Lab, University of Cambridge)
• Wednesday April 8th | Matt Gilliham, “GABA Signalling in Guard Cells Acts as a ‘Stress Memory’ to optimise plant water loss” (Waite Research Institute, University of Adelaide) and Dominique Bergmann (Stanford University)
• Wednesday April 15 – Detlef Weigel (Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tübingen) and Remco Stam (Technical University of Munich)
• Wednesday April 22 – Keiko Sugimoto, “Molecular mechanism of cellular reprogramming during plant regeneration” (RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science) and Hongtao Liu (Shanghai Institute for Plant Physiology and Ecology)

As more speakers confirm, our updated line-up and event recordings will be shared on this page. We will also announce speakers via ASPB’s weekly newsletter. For current information, please subscribe to The Signal or bookmark this link and check back often. 

We welcome all participants to work with us to make this virtual science platform a success. By collaborating, we hope to help you make connections and share your research. Please help us spread the word by forwarding this email to your colleagues. 

Want to present your research? Fill out this form and we will add you to our list of candidates. 

Sincerely, 

The Plantae Presents Organizing Committee 

Benjamin Schwessinger, Jürgen Kleine-Vehn, Katie Rogers, Mary Williams