Signaling in Plant Development and Defence: towards Systems Biology

a Summerschool of Graduate School Experimental Plant Sciences, Wageningen


Communication between individual plants, between cells and even within cells, form an important aspect of the physiology of a plant, both during development and in response to adverse external conditions. Signalling comprises the perception of a specific signal, its processing and integration with other signals, and the activation of an appropriate physiological response. Communication and signaling are therefore key processes in any biological system. Systems biology is an emerging field of scientific interest, although there is debate about the precise definition of the term. Will systems biology provide us insight in the processes addressed above? Will you as a young plant scientist start addressing such systems biology issues in the very near future? This course aims to update the participants about various aspects of signaling, both in plants and in other (model) organisms, and to challenge the participants to reflect on whether plant sciences are ready to enter the era of systems biology.

Programme:

Monday June 19

-Registration

- dr. Dennis Bray (Cambridge, UK) ‘Signaling complexes in prokaryotes‘

- dr. Bas van Steensel (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) ‘Chromatin structure and function in animal cells’

- dr. Barbara Bakker (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) ‘Yeast systems biology’

- Computer workshop yeast systems biology


Tuesday June 20

- prof. Ted Farmer (Lausanne, Switzerland) ‘Volatile signaling’
- dr. Paul Larsen (Riverside, USA) ‘Ethylene signaling‘
- dr. Ana Laxalt (Mar del Plata, Argentina) ‘Nitric oxide and lipid signaling’
- dr. Alan Jones (Chappel Hill, USA) ‘G-protein and glucose signaling’
- Workshops, group discussion on selected topics

Wednesday June 21

- prof. Thorsten Nürnberger (Tübingen, Germany) ‘Plant innate immunity’
- dr. Martin Crespi (Gif-sur Yvette, France) ‘Symbiosis and non-protein coding RNAs’
- prof. Dorus Gadella (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) ‘Imaging technology in signaling research’
- prof. Dirk Inzé (Gent, Belgium) ‘Systems biology of the plant cell cycle’
- Plenary forum discussion (dr. H. Franssen, Wageningen, the Netherlands)

Registration is now open by e-mail to: signaling@graduateschool-eps.info.

Registration must contain the following information:

Name and affiliation, indicate whether you are PhD student or post-doc.
Answers to the following three questions:
<kbd>1. What is your personal definition of the term “systems biology”?
</kbd>
<kbd>2. What do you anticipate to learn at this course?
</kbd>
<kbd>3. If you would be challenged to act as discussion leader in Tuesday’s workshop (small discussion groups), what topic would you propose?
</kbd>

Your registration e-mail MUST contain answers to these questions, otherwise your registration will NOT be accepted. The registration deadline is March 1st. The registration fee is €200 for participants from EPS member groups, €400 for participants from groups that do not participate in EPS. The registration fee covers all sessions, coursebook, tea/coffee, lunches, drinks (Monday afternoon), and barbecue (Tuesday evening). Participants must organise their own travel and accommodation.