The 2019 Gordon Conference on Chloroplast Biotechnology

Gordon Research Conferences, East Greenwich RI

Investigators

Abstract

This award supports partial funding of the third Gordon Research Conference on Chloroplast Biotechnology. This conference would bring together an international group to discuss scientific areas pertinent to chloroplast genetic engineering, biotechnology and synthetic biology. The meeting is focused on investigations and applications of plastid transformation and has four focal areas associated with plastid engineering as follows: (1) expression of recombinant proteins for industrial and pharmaceutical applications; (2) engineering the plastid genome to improve photosynthetic efficiency and plant productivity; (3) engineering novel pathways and structures into chloroplasts; (4) engineering novel agronomic traits into chloroplasts with transgene containment. Th conference accommodates a diverse group of graduate students, postdoctoral scientists, new investigators and a high quality of experts from the US and abroad. This conference has a reputation for attracting a good mix of young investigators and senior scientists and there is a good record of attendance by graduate students and postdoctoral scientists. The GRC on Chloroplast Biotechnology will be held in January 2019 at Ventura Beach Marriott, Ventura, CA, USA. The Gordon Research Conference on Chloroplast Biotechnology is particularly timely in bringing together a growing community of scientists combining fundamental studies on chloroplast molecular biology with applications in agriculture, industrial biotechnology and healthcare. GRC fosters an open spirit of sharing and actively promotes the dissemination of new information. All speakers convey unpublished and cutting-edge information to their colleagues with the objective that this disclosure will stimulate extensive discussion among all attendees and progressively advance the field. This conference is co-funded by the Systems and Synthetic Biology cluster in the Division of Molecular and Cellular Bioscience and the Plant Genome Research Program in the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.