Conference: Plant DNA Repair and Recombination 2010; Pacific Grove, CA; March 2-5, 2010

University Of California-Davis, Davis CA

Investigators

Abstract

In recent years, plant scientists who have focused their research on DNA repair and recombination, together with individuals with previous training and experience in repair and recombination who have begun to employ plant models, have created a dynamic and productive new discipline. The literature now includes over 1,000 papers. Research by the more than 80 laboratories in this field continues to expand our understanding of how plants deal with environmental and endogenous threats to their growth, development, and genomic stability, and to advance dramatically the long-standing goals of in planta homologous gene targeting and site-directed mutagenesis. In addition, the viability of many Arabidopsis mutants that lack critical and highly conserved DNA-repair and DNA-damage-response proteins (deficiencies which are lethal in mammals) have been exploited to obtain insights, of broad biological applicability, into general mechanisms of repair and damage-response pathways. Nevertheless, international conferences dealing with DNA repair and recombination continue to focus on bacterial, yeast and animal model systems, and although large plant meetings or congresses sometimes include a DNA repair and recombin¬ation session, these fail to draw a critical mass of scientists from around the world. This meeting will bring together an international group of senior and junior investigators, postdoctorals, and graduate students working in or interested in this area. They will be exposed to cutting-edge science - both basic and applied - via talks from both established investigators and more junior scientists. Enrollment in the meeting by well-established investigators in the field is already excellent, and includes labs from the US, Canada, Europe, Israel, Japan, and Australia. By providing this critical mass of talented scientists with a broad range of interests in this field, we hope to promote lively and wide-ranging discussions that include all attendees, both in formal question periods and in more informal settings. The high quality of the participants, combined with the intimate scale of the meeting, ensures that all interactions will be productive ones, and that major scientists will be accessible to emerging investigators. The focus of this proposal- which specifically funds registration and lodging for undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral scientists, and Assistant Professors- is to promote and facilitate participation in this field by young US scientists, especially by those from traditionally underrepresented groups.