September/October 2001 - The Newsletter of the American Society

Vo lume 28, Num b er 5
Sep tember/ Oct ober 2001
Inside This Issue
Vicki Chandler Assumes ASPB
Presidency October 1
Dan Bush Elected to Lead
2002-03
Roger Han gart er to Se rve
a s Secre tar y; Ad rienne
Clarke Elected t o
Exec utive Comm ittee
Plant Biology 2001
High lig hts
Dr. Vicki Chandler is cu r-
lab or at or y has investi gat ed th e mech an isms o f t is-
rently p ro fesso r in th e
sue-specific gene reg ulation in plants. Currently both
Department of Plant Sci-
genetic an d bioch emical ap pro ache s are being used
ences , University o f Ari-
to det ermine how the regulatory gen es o f th e pa th-
zon a . She w as raised in
way, which encode transcription fact ors that act ivate
California and earned her
the biosynthetic genes, are themselves regulated by
bach elor 's degree in bio-
tissue-specific and enviro nme nta l signa ls. Mutant
chemistry at th e Unive r-
screens have identified at least one pr eviously unknow n regul ato r of th e pathway and ide ntified pu-
sity of Ca lifornia a t Berkele y in 1978 . She re-
tative ca ndida te genes that regulate th e kno wn tran-
ceived her Ph.D . in bioch emistry in 1983 from the
script ion factors. An other maj or ongoing effort is to
Univ ersity of Ca liforn ia, San Franc isco. From 1983
use both forward a nd reverse genetic a pp roa ches to
to 1985 she wa s a N ati on al Science Foundation Plant
identify genes involved in chrom atin-level gen e regu-
postdoctoral fellow in th e la bora tory of Virginia
lation and determ ine how th ey modulat e transposon
Walb ot in the Department o f Biological Sciences at
activity and gene silencing. Using a genetic screen,
Stanfor d Uni versity. From 1985 to 1997 she mo ved
Vicki's lab oratory h as isolated mutation s in seve ra l
through the professorial ranks in th e Department of
genes th at affect multiple epigenetic ph enomena, such
Biolo gy and th e Institute o f Molecul ar Biolog y a t
as pararnutati on and transposon and tr ansgen e si-
the Un iversit y of O rego n in Eugen e. In 1997, she
lencing. Current exp eriments are to clon e th ese gen es
moved to the Dep artment o f Plant Sciences at the
an d determine how th ey are involved in chromatinlevel gen e co nt ro l.
University o f Arizona in Tuc son , w here she is a full
professor. She is also a memb er of th e Interdiscipli-
At the University of Oregon , Vicki tau ght intro-
nary Pro gram in Genetics and has a joint ap point-
du ctory geneti cs and biochem istry lectu re and la b
ment in th e M olecul ar Cell Biology Department at
co urs es to biology major s, as well as adva nced-level
U-AZ.
und ergraduat e courses in gen etics and m olecular genet ics. At th e Univ ersity of Arizona, sh e has been
Vicki 's research focuses on gen e reg ula tio n in
plants, using th e a nt hocya nin biosynth etic pathway
teach ing a gra d ua te-level course in genet ics for th e
in mai ze as a mod el system . In addition, she uses the
M olecular Cell Biolo gy Department and an advanced
easily assayed ph enotypes o f the anthocyanin genes
genetics course for plan t sciences grad ua te stude nts.
to study regul ati on of transposabl e element s and gene
She ha s served on nu merous comp etitive gr ant pan-
silencing mech an isms in plan ts. Vicki 's early work
els, includ ing the NSF Plant Biology Postdoctoral
Fellowshi p Panel; th e DOE Adv isor y Pan el Member
on th e ep igenetic co ntro l of Mutato r transposa ble
elem ents dem on st rated a stro ng co rre la tio n w ith
transp oson silencing and DNA methylation. Her
c ontinued on pag e 3
CONTENTS
Cha nd ler Assumes Presid ency
President' s Letter
New Officers
History o f Agricul tu re Film Debuts
Plant Biolog y 2001
Researc hers Ma ke Key Plant Geno me
Public on the Internet
President
Vicki L Chandler
Presid ent- Ele ct
Dan iel R. Bush
217-333-6109
Im m e diate Past Pre sid ent
Dan iel J. Cosgrove
814-863-3892
Sec ret ary
Roger Hangarter
812-855-5456
Tre asure r
Ma rk R. Brodl
210-999-7246
C ha ir, Board o fT ruste es
Ken Keegstra
517-353-7874
C ha ir, Publication s Com m ittee
Krishna K. Niyogi
510-643-6602
Cha ir, Women in Plan t Bio lo g y Com m ittee
Elizabeth Hood
979-690-8537
Minority AffairsCom mittee
Robert Vellanoweth
323-343-2148
Ed uc aton Com mitt e e
Eric Davies
9 19-515-2727
Ele cted Members
Rebecca S. Boston
Joe Chappell
Adrienne E. Clarke
G M Cro ps & Food s Wo rksho p on
Vid eo
Bio ethic s
Grad Student Perspec tives
Perspectives From Ind ustry
Tol o s
July Exec utive Co mmittee Meeting
New Sta ff
Bio chemistry & M olec ular Biolog y o f
Sec tio na l Rep re sentative s
Mid w e stern
No rtheaste rn
South e rn
Washington , DC
Western
Steven Rode rmel
Carol Reiss
Joyce G. Foster
Janet P. Slavin
Dina Mandoli
Exec utive director
Exec utive assistant
Direc tor of fina nc e and administratio n
John Lisack, Jr., ext. 115
Ac c o unta nt
Network administra to r
Webmaste r
Sondra A. Giancoll, ext . 140
Burton Nicodemus, ext. 146
Donna Gordon, ext, 131
Susan K. Chambers, ext. 111
Plants: One Year Lat e r
Membership and ma rketing ma na ge r
Subsc riptio n an d fulfillment assista nt
Wendy Salhi, ext. 123
Kelley Noone, ext, 142
Mary Bush, ext, 141
Pub lic Affairs
Ac counts receiva ble specia list
Accounts pa ya b le specialist
Ad ministrat ive assistant
Stephanie Liu-Kuan, ext. 143
Stefanie Shamer, ext . 144
Carolyn Freed, ext , 122
Direc tor o f p ub lic a ffa irs
Edu c ati on Fou nd ati on direc to r
Fo und a tion assista nt
Brian M. Hyps, ext. 114
Robin Lempert, ext. 110
Educ a tion Forum
Gath e ring s
Jobs
Paula Brooks, ext. 11 6
Nancy A. Winchester , ext. 117
Director of p ub lic a tions
Publicatio ns assista nt
Deadline for January/February 2002
ASPB News: December 10, 2001
520-676-8725
Managing editor. Pla nt Ph ysiology
Scie nc e writer, Plant Ph ysioiogy
Produ ction man a ger, Pia nt Physiolog y
Manuscript coordina tor. Pia nt Physiology
Manuscript coord ina to r, Pla nt Physiology
Ma na gin g ed itor, The Plo nt Ce ll
News a nd reviews edit or. The Pla nt Cell
Production ma nager, The Pian t Ce ll
senior man uscript coord ina tor, The Plan t Cell
He a d q uart ers O ffice
15501 M o nona Drive
Roc kville, MD 20855-2768 USA
Pho ne: 301-251-0560
Fa x: 301-279-2996
919-515-2727
606-257-4624
+61-38-344-5043
515-294-8890
40 1-863-3075
304-256-2809
301-504-5629
206-543-4335
jlisack@asp b ,org
d g ordon@aspb ,org
c ha [email protected]
gia [email protected]
b urton@a spb.org
we [email protected]
knoo ne@aspb .org
rno rvbusheso sp b .oro
sliu@asp b .o rg
shamer@aspb ,org
cfreed @asp b .o rg
bh yps@a sp b ,o rg
rlem p ert@aspb .org
paula @aspb .org
nan c yw @asp b .org
sbrax to [email protected] rg
mjunior@asp b .o rg
Sylvia Braxton Lee, ext. 133
Melissa Junior, ext. 118
Peter Minorsky, 914-437-7438
pe [email protected] rg
Lauren A. Ransome, ext, 130
Leslie Malone, ext. 124
Leslie Csikos, ext. 125
lronsorneesosp b .o rq
leslie@asp b ,org
ic [email protected]
Beth Staehle, ext. 121
Nancy Eckardt , 970-495-9918
Jennifer Fleet, ext. 119
Annette Kessler, ext. 120
be ths@asp b.o rg
neckardt @a spb .org
jftee t@aspb .org
a kessler@aspb,org
A SPB Ne ws is d istrib ute d t o a ll ASPB me m b e rs an d is p ub lished six
tim e s a nn ua lly, in odd-num b e re d m on ths, It is edite d a nd p repare d
by ASPB staff from mate ria l p rovided b y ASPB me m b e rs and o the r
Int ere sted parties.
Cop y d eadline is th e 10th day o f th e preceding even-nu mbered
m on th (for example, De c e mbe r 10 fo r January/ February publication).
Subm it copy by e-ma il wheneve r p ossible; su b m it a ll other copy b y
m ail. not by fax.
Contact : Nancy A. Winc he ste r, Ed it o r, ASPB News, 15501 Mo non a
Drive, Ro c kville, MD 20855-2768 USA; e -m a il nancyw @a sp b .o rg: teleph o ne 30 1·251-0560, ext , 117,
continued from page 1
President's Letter
Biological Energ y Research Program; NSF Eukaryotic Gen etics Panel Membe r; NIH Spe-
Old and New Challenges
cial Reviewer Genetics Stud y Section and
M ol ecular Cy to logy Stud y Sections, NIH
Stud y Section Gen etic Training Grants; NSF
N ati onal Youn g Investigat or Panel; USDA
Plant Genetic M echanisms panel ; and the NSF
Wat erman Award Committee . Vicki wa s a ppointed this year to the NSF Biologica l Direct orate Ad visory Com mittee. She is currently serving on the editorial boa rds of Plant
Physiology and Ge netics. She has been activ e
in several societ ies a nd wa s elected to ser ve
on the Gen etic s Society board of dir ect ors
from 1995 to 1997. She is currently on the
boa rd of dir ecto rs for the Intern ati onal Society of Plant M olecul ar Biolo gy. In 1994, Vick i
chaire d the Plan t Molecul ar Biology Go rd on
Co nfer ence and co -founded and co-chaired
the Epigenetics Go rdon Conference in 1995 .
She is o n the boa rd of tru stees for the Gordon Research Co nferences (1997-2003) and
is curre nt ly chai r of the board. H er awa rd s
include 198 3- 85, NSF Pl ant Biology
Postdoctora l Fellows hip; 1985-90, Presidential Youn g In vest igator Awa rd Recipient;
1988-91, Searl e Schola r Awa r d Recipient;
and 1991-96, N SF Faculty Award for Wom en
Scient ists and Enginee rs.
Vicki's vision for 2002 ? "One of the most
important rol es for our Society is to mak e an
impact on human resources by pro moting education, mentori ng, and diversit y. A second area
in whi ch o ur or gani zati on really makes a di ffere nce is throu gh p ub lic outreach. My goal is
to continue exp anding our programs in these
\'~
areas during the co ming year."
Corrections
Inthe article ''Three ASPB Members Elected to National Academy of Sciences" intheJuly/August 2001
issue of the ASPB News, we mistakenly nicknamed
Clark Lagarias "Chuck" Lagarias. We apologize for
the error.
In ''The Bioethics Imperative II" (July/August 2001,
page 12), the author didnot intend toimply that The
Greens were an ecoterrorist group. The sentence
shouldhave read".. .our interactionswith thepublic,
especially The Greens and ecoterroristgroups."
T his is my last letter as ASPB president, so I'll
take some mo men ts to review the pas t yea r
and consider future challenges for the Society. ASPB's miss ion is to foster the grow th
app ear to be furth er eco terro rist vandalism
an d arson of plant biology lab orat ories. As
far as I know, no iJl effects of Sta rlink corn
ha ve been reported (other tha n economic),
and development o f plant biology, and th is
has trad ition ally been don e via its pub lications and ann ual meeti ng. These continu e to
be maj or, successful act ivities of the Society,
but we are a lso ex pa ndi ng in va rious o ther
wa ys to serve the gro wing comm unity of plant
biologists. Th ese new effor ts include spon sor-
and the sca re a bo ut Bt co rn wi ping o ut th e
M onarch butterfly was diminished by new
ship of undergraduate research opportun ities
and a new meeting on plant gene tics, increased
outr eac h to the publi c via ASPB Edu cat ion
Foundatio n activities (including an ho ur-lon g
film on agriculture and genetic engi neering),
a new pa rtn ershi p w ith a co mmer cia l pu blish er for future plant biology textbooks and
monograph s (th e details are just now being
finalized), an d more acti ve engagement of the
Society wi th Congress and fundi ng agencies
to help shape publ ic policy and prom ot e plant
biology research. We have negotiated membership discounts for elect ronic access to T he
Plant Jou rnal. Our web site has been grea tly
enha nced, thanks to new staff memb er Wendy
Sahli, and we hope to bring you enhanced
services th rou gh the we b site. Electronic balloti ng was implemented th is year, and we've
mad e grea t use o f the we b to have publ ic discuss ions of important issu es, such as th e
change of the name of the Society. As I w rite ,
we are plan n ing to ope n pub lic discu ssion on
an issue that N at asha Raih kel, the edi tor-inchief of Plant Physiology, has brought to the
fore, namely th e name of this key journal. Thi s
issue is one in which the voices of th e membership , who ult imat ely own the journal, need
to be heard , and full opportunities to hear all
sides will be possible via a web discu ssion
page. A me mbership d rive is curr ently und er
way, and I ask you to help us increase our
memb ership so we ca n more effectively serve
the plant biolog y community.
The public debate on genetically modifi ed
p lants cont inu ed thi s year, fue led by t he
Starlin k corn debacle and agg rav ated by wh at
studies. Still, fears a bout this technology continue to ru n high in som e sectors of o ur nation as well as ab roa d. In a moving speech at
the ASPB annu al meeting, In go Potrykus
spoke a bout his ex periences deali ng with anti GM O gro ups and em phasized the need for
scientis ts to tak e an ac t ive a nd in formed
stance on th is issue. It is also pru dent tha t we
keep a watchful eye fo r unanticipat ed conseque nces o f depl oying th is tech nology. Th e
ASPB Pu blic Affairs Co mmittee has been extremely ac tive in worki ng to present a science-based view of th e GM O issue, as well
as in keep ing a watch ful eye on funding for
plant bio logy.
Earlier this year I challenged yo u to think
about th e greatest succes ses and grea test future cha Jlenges fo r ou r field of study. In the
end I rece ived a bo ut a d oz en repli es. N ot
grea t, in a memb ership of nearly 6,000 . In
case you are inte reste d, some of th e nominatio ns for great (past ) successes include the
mech an ism of ph ot osynth esis; the disco veries o f ph yt o ch r o me , h orm o n es, and
ph ot ot ropi n; and the identity (T-DNA) of the
tum or-inducing principle of crown ga ll. Most
respon dents focused on the (future) unsol ved
p robl ems, and there was rath er little consensus on wh at the se arc . Some of th e nominations included mech ani sms of cell differentia tion , de d ifferent ia tion, a nd totipot enc y
(this area go t the largest number of nom inatio ns, wh ich perhaps says som eth ing a bo ut
futur e d irections of resea rch by mem bers); the
roles of secondary meta bolites; the regulation
of cellulose asse mbly and secre tion of o ther
extrac ellular biop olymers; late ral gene tr ansfer; plant tolerance to envir onmenta l stresses
(especially co ld and freezing); the evo lutioncontinued on page 4
ASPS News. Vol. 28. NO.5· 3
Plant Biology 2001 . Crossing Borders with Knowledge
More than 1,400 att endees congrega ted at the
customiza tio n of a persona l meeti ng agenda.
Featured Luncheons and Speakers
Rhode Isla nd Co nvent io n Ce nter in Provi-
T hose who traveled to Providence received a
Th e con fe r e n ce al so fea t ur ed two w ell -
dence for Pla nt Biology 2001. This even t wa s
complete abstrac t s upplement and printed
received lunch eon pro grams. On Sunday, the
the q ua d rennia l jo int a nnua l meetings o f th e
progra m .
Co mmi ttee o n Minority Affairs sponsored a
lu nch eon featu r in g Dr. C. S. Prak ash of
America n Society o f Plant Biologists a nd th e
Tu skegee University. D r. Pra kas h's topic was
merou s scientific a nd soc ial events. Here a re
Exclusive Afternoon and Evening Poster
and Exhibit Sessions
The for mat for Pla nt Biology 20 01 was mo deled af ter the mo re dy na mic meeting sched -
a few o f th e highlight s!
ule th at de buted tw o yea rs ago and featured
cheo n o n M onda y th at fea ture d Dr. N an cy
18 mi nisyrnposi a. These minisym posia were
H o pkins of M IT. Dr. Ho pkins's p resen tat io n
Ca nadian Socie ty of Plant Physi o logists. At tendees enj o yed N ew Engla nd 's cha rm and
warm , sunny weather and part icipated in nu -
Six Major Symposia Are Cornerstone of
Meeting
" Bridging the Geneti c Divide : How Can Biotechn ology Serve th e Poor ?" The Wo men in
Pla nt Bio logy Co mm ittee spo nso re d a lu n-
se lec ted by th e Progra m Committee fro m
w as title d "A Repo rt on the Status of Wo men
among the su bmi tted a bstracts, sugges tions
Fac ulty a t MIT Lead s to N ew Initiatives for
Sure ly a major hig hlight of Plant Biology 2001
fro m th e membersh ip , a nd hot to pics. In ad-
Faculty Diversity."
were th e six symposia focusing o n suc h d i-
di tio n, more th an 1,000 ASPB a nd CS PP
vers e ar eas as Me taboli te Signali ng a nd Gen e
pos ters we re on display in th e ex hibi t hall
Regulatio n (ch aired by Jen Sheen), Intracellu-
fo r four full d a ys. An exclusive fo ur -ho ur
Earlier Time and Spotlight for Awards
Symposium and Ceremony
la r Comm un ic ati on (c haired by Dann y
pos ter and ex hibi t sessio n featuri ng free beer
T he ASPB Awards Symposium and Ceremony
Schne ll), Pla nt Phsy iology 75 11> Ann iversa ry
an d snac ks was held o n Sunday af ternoon
w a s h ig h li g h te d a s t he openin g even t
Sym pos ium-2000 a nd Beyon d : Breaking th e
Mold (cha ired by Na tasha Raik he l), Strat e-
an d aga in M onda y even ing
Sa t ur day a fte rnoon . ASPB Pr esid ent Da n
gies and M ech anisms for th e Develo pment of
Variety of Workshops
ners, an d CSPP President Grego ry Taylor
Pa tte rn (ch aired by Kath y Barton) , Signal
Plant Biology 2001 featured wo rk shops in
spo tl ighted the CSPP winners. T he ASPB
Tra nsd uc tio n M echa n isms in Pla nt Defense
seve ra l stra tegic areas . The Commi ttee on
H al es Pr ize Symp osium , "Envi ro n m ental
Ac tiv a tio ns (c hai re d by Andrew Ben t a nd
Pub lic Affairs sponso red o ne o n Saturday en-
Con tro l o f Plan t Growth as M ed ia ted by
Mic hele H eat h), a nd Ge ne Silencing (chai red
titled "P erspect ives of Science Leaders. " This
Hormo nes, " was given by Dr. Jan Zeevaart
by Dan Cosgro ve).
sess io n was very well attended a nd featured
of M ichi gan Stat e Univers ity.
Education Foundation Documentary
Film Premiere
lead ing research on gol den rice offers the
Plant Biology 2001 att endees were a mo ng the
for m illi on s in deve lo p ing n at ion s. Dr.
very first to see ASPB's new documentary film
Po try k us was also awa rded th e 2001 ASPB
Cosgrove a nno unced th e 20 0 1 a ward wi n-
the distinguish ed Dr. Ingo Potryku s, whose
pro m ise of pr eventing blindness a nd dea ths
Plant Biology 2001 Undergraduate
Networking Pre-Mixer/Poster Session
This event wa s spo nso red by the ASPB M em -
on the his to ry of ag r iculture . T his film w as
Lea dership in Science Public Service Award.
bership Comm ittee an d was free for a ll un-
sponso red by the ASPB Educa tion Fo un da-
Two specia l careers w orks ho ps targeted to
dergrad uat e attendees. M any of th e parti ci-
tion. Foundat ion chai r Bob Go ldberg elabo-
pants bro ught th eir pos ters and were ab le to
rated o n th e film's co nce pt, productio n, and
pos tdoctora l associa tes an d gra d ua te stude nts
took place Mo nday eve n ing . T hese work-
network informall y with each o the r to get a
pur pose. See the Jan uarylFe bruary 2001 (pa ge
sho ps were organized by th e Wom en in Plant
broad or ienta tio n o n how to get th e most o ut
4 ), the Ma rch/A pril 2001 (page 3), and th e
Biology Committee. The participants chose
of Plant Biology 2001 . T his is the seco nd year
c urrent issu e (page 5) of the newsletter fo r
betwee n "Where Are the Jobs ?" an d "Surviva l Skills." Bot h works ho ps wer e very we ll
fo r this event , wh ich has proved to be very
more ab out th e film .
wort hw hile for new atten dees.
attende d .
Online Abstracts, Schedule, and Program
T h e electro nic s ubm issio n of abs tracts once
aga in m ad e it poss ible for th e abs tra cts and
progra m schedu le to be avai lable in a full y
searcha ble a nd print a ble PDF fo rmat accessi ble through ASPB's web page seve ra l mo nths
before the mee ting . Many atten dees used thi s
fea t u r e , w h ic h a ll o w s th e crea t io n and
6 • ASPB New s, Vol . 28, NO. 5
T he Educat ion Workshop w as also held
Exhibits and Internet Cafe
Mond ay evening. Spo nso red by the ASPB
Educa tio n Commi ttee, it wa s led by Bob
An excellent selectio n of ex hibito rs presented
Beckma nn, Bota ny De pa rtme nt, North Caro-
th eir prod ucts and services to all atten dees in
lina Sta te Uni versity, w hose prese nta tio n
th e exhibi t hall fo r three da ys. Attend ees and
focuse d on th e cons truction of a Teach ing
ex hibitors continued to enjoy the format th at
Portfolio (see page 24 of this issu e).
fea ture d a n exclu sive af tern oon and even ing
of exhibits and posters. An Internet Ca fe was
Plant Biology 2002
also available in the exhibit hall for attend-
T his stimulat ing and enjoyable meeting is now
ee s to chec k their e-mail thr ough out the
behind us, and the Program Co mmittee is a l-
meeting.
ready immersed in planning Plant Biol ogy
Special Functions
at th e Adams M ark Hotel in Denver, Colo-
2002, which will be held August 3-7, 2002,
Other functi on s at the meeting included the
rad o. We look forward to an interesting week
Small Colleges/Pr imarily Undergradu ate In-
of science and other diversion s at the ga te-
stitutions Break fast, whi ch enjoyed a success-
way to the Ro cky Mountains! Mark your cal-
ful turnout and discussion early on Sunday
enda rs and wat ch the ASPB News and the
Society 's web site for furth er details!
\(~
morning; th e Plant Runne rs Stampede 5k and
10k Fun Run on Tuesday morning; and the
New En gland Clamba ke Tuesday even ing
Dan Bush
with live mu sic and plent y of good food and
ASPB Secretary and Program Ch air
libation s. Att endees dan ced the night away!
Susan Chambers Rosenberry
ASPB Program Co mmitt e e Sta ff Liaison
Ma chi Dilworth and Govind C . Sharma at NSF-USDA-DOE exhibit
booth,
ASPS Leadership in
Science Public Service
Award recipient Ingo
Potrvkus,
ASPS president Dan Cosg rove .
CSPP p reside nt Gregory Taylor ,
ASPS sta ff members Kelley Noone an d Donn a Gord on a t
th e regi stration b ooth,
(m ore pictures o n pages 8 a nd 9)
ASPS News, Vol. 28, No. 5· 7
Plant Biology 2001 !
Jan Zeevaart p resenting the Hales
Prize Sympos ium .
Bran d on Stilb, Ro bert Grebenok, Da vid Koetje, and Gary Kuleck
a t the ASPB Education Booth.
Pamela Weat hers (left) a nd Karen Hic ks (cente r) with
incoming presiden t Vic ki Chandler.
ASPB sta ff me mbers Lauren Ransome, Melissa Junior,
Jennifer Fleet. a nd Beth Staehle at the Publications Booth.
A busy ASPB Pub lica tions Booth.
Kristen M. Briggs, Am y Butler. Amy Helms, and Jill
Mon tgomery with the ir poster "Undergraduate Experienc e
w ith the Scientific Method ."
Researchers Make Key Plant Genome Public on the Internet
The follow ing is a press release from th e University of Washingt on.
Resear chers a t the University o f Washin gton
School of Medicine, DuP ont, and the University of Ca mpinas in Brazi l, with partial funding from th e N at ional Science Foundation,
have seque nced the geno me o f an important
organism, Agro bac teri um, and made it freely
availabl e on the Internet. This informatio n is
ava ila ble a t http://www.agrobacterium.org.
Agrobacterium has the unique property o f
inse rting sma ll pieces o f gene tic mat erial int o
a plant , an im al, or fun gal cell th at it co lonizes. Th e bacterium ha s had great util ity in
mo lecular studies of bota ny, and has enabled
scientists to study the effects of plant genes
on vario us pro pe rt ies of plants such as gro wth
ra te, matu ration, flower co lor, and yield. The
orga nism a lso serves as a useful too l to st udy
a n um ber of infectio us human dise ases in
w hich the incitin g o rgan ism injects mat erial
into a cell. O n a practic al side, Agrob act eri um
is a basic tool for genetic engineeri ng of food stuffs to produce crops that are mor e nutritiou s; less allergenic; and disease-, insect-, sa lt,
and co ld-res istant, and Ith at display1a wh ole
host of ot her pro mising traits.
The seq uencing of the bacterial geno me will
provide insights into the uniqu e propert ies of
this organism, w h ich ena ble it to undertake
the gene tic engineer ing of its host ce lls. Th is
work is th e culmination o f alm ost two decades of wor k at th e University o f Washi ngton by a gro up of micr ob iologists includ ing
D r. Eugene Nester, Dr. Milt on Go rdon, and
Dr. M ar y-Dell C h ilto n. Th e scale o f th e
project was so large that the tea m included
Dr. Mayn ard O lson, prof essor o f medi cine
and genetics, and his researchers at the University of Was hington Ge no me Ce nte r; resea rchers fro m Du Pon t and its su bsidiar y,
Pioneer, w ho hav e a lar ge seq uencing fac ility; and the Brazil gro up, w ho had pre viously
determined the sequence o f another org anism impo rta nt to agr iculture . Th e geno me of
Agrobacterium is com plex, containing a total of mo re than 5.67 mill ion base pairs.
The UW re sea rchers sa y th at fro m a
broader perspective, this work is part of an
ongoi ng seco nd Green Revolution in agric ultu re. They say thi s revolutio n hold s the promise of meet ing the needs of an increasing world
population-at a time w hen water, agri cultu ral land, and fo rests ar e becoming increas~~
ingly scarce.
More Pictures from Plant Biology 2001 !
Henri Ba toko : Best Pape r Aw ard
Winner. The Pla nt Cell
Thom as Girke: Best Paper
Award Winne r, Pla nt
Physiology
...~
....._ --1- \
Sue Keegstra an d Na nc y Winc heste r, ASPB d irec to r of
publications, show off the Society's smashing
Po llen Nation tee-shirt,
For more pictures of Ploni' Bio logy 2001. visit
Dan cin g up a sto rm at Tuesd ay night's c lambake.
http ://w ww ,ospb ,org /meetings/pb-2001/ pic tures.ctrn .
ASPB News, Vol. 28, No, 5 • 9
Genetically Modified Crops & Foods Workshop Now on Video
With support from the ASPB Ed ucation Foundation, M aarten Chrisp eels, of the University
of Ca liforn ia San Diego (UCSD), Division of
Biology, condu cted an "outreac h wo rks ho p "
th at w as recorded as pa rt of UCSD-TV's
" Frontier s of Knowledge" ser ies. The goa l of
the workshop, held Februa ry 2, 200 1, was to
explain where aca demic scient ists st and on
the issues surro unding genet ica lly modified
(GM ) foods. Th e workshop was first air ed
on local ca ble television in San Diego on July
4, 20 01, in a two -hour-l on g format.
T he res ul ti ng film from th is w or ksh op,
"Genetica lly Modified Crops & Foods," is
an excellent reso urce for underst an din g the
cu rrent issues invol ving GM foods. Th e experts expla in, in simp le ter ms an d with clear
exam ples, the h ist o ry and p rogression of
mod ified foo ds . Presenters incl ude Peggy
Lema ux, fro m the Unive rsity of Ca lifornia at
Berkeley, Department of Plan t and Microbial
Biology, and chair of the ASPB Co mmittee
on Publi c Affair s; Carl Wint er, director, University of C a liforni a Foodsa fe Progr am;
abl e in eith er vi d e ocas set t e o r C D
(Rea IMe dia) fo rm at to ASPB memb ers (one
free cop y per member; ex tra cop ies or no nASPB mem bers, $10 eac h). You may e-ma il
J oanne Chory, Salk Inst itut e for Biologica l
Studies; M artin Yanofsky, Univer sity of Californ ia San Diego, Division o f Bio logy; and
Maarten Chrispee ls, director, San Diego Ce nter for Mo lecula r Agriculture at UCSD.
T his film is aime d at the no n-scient ists who
your re q ues t t o Paul a Brooks a t
paul a@aspb .o rg or wri te to Pa ula Brook s,
ASPB, 15 501 Mono na Drive, Rockville, M D
20855-2768 USA (allow tw o to th ree wee ks
for shipping). Please specify the form at you
prefer. Th e CD for ma t co mes on one disk for
individualiz ed viewing on a com puter (in condensed form). You can view a segmen t of th is
wants to know the basics of GM foo ds: their
histor y, their ap plication to the U.S. farming
ind ustr y, co ns umers' attit udes to ward consumption, imp act on malnutrition in developing nation s, and so me o f the mor al and
environmen tal issues cur rently under deb at e.
It is a lso helpful for those ASPB mem bers wh o
wo uld like to plan a simila r works hop .
A limit ed nu m ber of single cop ies of " Genetically M odified Crops & Foo ds" is avail-
fil m by visi ti ng th e ASPB we b site a t
www.aspb. org.
For mor e informati on a bo ut setti ng up the
workshop, see the ar ticle" ASPP M em bers
Organi ze Worksho p fo r Pr ess, Legi slative
Aides o n GM Cro ps" in the M arch/April
200 ] issue of the ASPP New s (vol. 28, no . 2,
p. 7).
~~
A Special Collection of Articles from The Plant Cell
September 1999-January 2001
Plant Genomics:
Etnerging Tools
A
s we enter the new millennium,
the age of genomics is in full swing.
Much more than the study of individual
genes and their functions, genomics
implies the study of the interacting networks of genes, proteins, and metabolites
that make up a whole organi sm. Largescale genom e sequ encing projects form
the base of all genomics studi es, but radiating out from this base is a host of other
tools that allow us to figure out the biology that is governed by DNA sequence.
Between September 1999 and January
2001, The Plant Cell publish ed a serie s of
articles on genomics technologies and
10· ASPB New s. Vo l. 28, No , 5
approaches specially written for the plant
science community. Th ese articl es, together with a numb er of research paper s on
plant genomics published during this period, have been bound into a volume called
Plant Genomics: Emerging Tools. This compilation provides read ers interested in the
applications of genomic s to plant science
with a single resource covering the most
recent developments in this emerging field.
Plant Genomics: Emerging Tools
ISBN 0-943088-42-9. Item 30044. Price $25.00
For ordering information go to
www.a spb.org
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r I etc
~~~-----------The Bioethics Imperative III
Scenario : You meet a woman in a gro -
tions in her food sou rces, possible mutations
"So, you seen Ellen, thes e are no t simple
cery store holding a new baby. You ad-
in her own body an d in that of her child ?! I
mire th e bab y. You cha t a while a nd
stood there lo okin g at the co rn in her bask et,
choices, even for me" I wound up sa ying.
"Oh we ll, I trust yo u," she sm iled . " You
she as ks what yo u do. She th en co n-
thi n k ing th at over h al f th is geno me a re
chose for me."
fides that she is wo rried about the ef-
transposons, virus es th at can cau se mutations
fects of genetically modifi ed or ga nisms
and ca ncer !
Inwardly, I groaned . The clerk wa s wai ting for me to choose what thi s wo man and
on her child 's health. She as ks yo u, as
I tal ked to myself. "Okay, Din a , think out
ch ild are going to eat. In th e end, the mother
a scientist, to remove a II th e food from
th e o ptions." O pt ion 1: I initiate a long con -
and bab y left happy, and I scooted home w ith
a sigh of relief.
her basket that h as been gen etically
vers ation that mu st not turn into a lecture
m odi fied. Oh, and please take out any-
lest I be dismissed as a sno b and lose my au-
Later on, I reflected on the co re of the prob-
thin g tha t contains a muta tio n, too.
dience . O ption 2: I trivialize th e pro cess and
lem : Societal evol ution ha s not kep t pace with
Unfo rtu nat ely, this scenario happened to
say, "Trrrr ust me, H y'm a scientist." Wh ere
tec hno logical cha nge. These things hav e been
me....
the perils of the for mer are evid ent, th e ethics
"rnokita " for too long . The result? We have
of th e latter are dub iou s.
a long way to go before student s in clas s no
My mind raced as I broke into a sq uirmy
tur y did mank ind begin to modify food ? Do I
tion abo ut foo d a nd ge nes a nd mu tati on s
lo nger ask, " If I ea t corn w it h all th os e
tran sp osons in it, will I get cancer?"
subject th is hapless woman to a long diat ribe
good -and-e vil, it daw ned on me th at th e real
Next issue: Ethics in D at a M an agement.
about the Fert ile Crescent or the breeding of
danger is that this co uld quickly become per-
maize in pre-Incan civilizat ion? Wh ere do I
sona l. Far from being remote and esoteric, as
myself draw the line between "genetically modi-
I o nce th ou ght ethi cal iss ues were, issues such
fied " a la the Greens and tra ditional breeding?
as this one tou ch our lives everyday if we th ink
sweat, and I thought to myself: In which cen-
And oh boy, what do I tell her about muta-
As I wove my way th rough th e conv ersa-
lr~
Dina Mandoli
University of Washingto n, Seattle
[email protected]. e d u
ab out them.
The Perspective of a Foreign Student:
What Are the Take-Home Messages from Science in a Developed Country?
ak a y, I rea lize th e
Firs t of a ll, let 's talk abo ut the financia l sup-
must mak e every effo rt to secure increased
topic is very bro ad and
port ded icated to science . Vastly more m oney
funding; oth erw ise it will be difficult to develop
cente rs of research excellence in our own coun -
I co uld writ e a book
is spe nt on research in developed co un tries.
a bo ut it (well, maybe
Since more funding mean s mor e an d bett er
tr ies. Let's face it, w ithout money we can't do
I could n't , but o thers
eq uipme nt, mo re rapid access to chem icals
mu ch , even with the best of intenti on s.
could for sure). And I
and techn ologies, and, perhaps, more quali-
know that space is limited, so I w ill wri te just
a bo ut the most strik- C lntia Coelho
fied peo p le, there is a dir ect and posi tive cor-
nu mber of people trained and employed in
rel ati on betw een the amo unt of mon ey ta r-
science in developed versus developing cou n-
geted to science and th e qu alit y of th at sci-
tries. In develop ing co untries only a sma ll
ing differences I have observed between sci-
ence. T herefore, my first tak e-home message
percentage o f th e total pop u latio n ha s th e
ence in develop ed countries an d scienc e in developing nat ions.
is th at the money given to scienc e in develop-
opportu n ity to a tt end a uni versity, and of
ing co un tries mu st increase. We, as scientists,
th ese people, relatively few comp lete th eir
12· ASPB News, Vol. 28. NO.5
T he secon d diffe rence th at stri kes me is th e
un dergraduate ed ucation and even fewer pur-
ward in the righ t directi on an d at a ra pid pace.
couragin g individ uals to pur sue careers in
sue a mas ter 's or Ph.D. degree. I believe that
As an ex am ple of wha t I mean, let's take the
science and provi ding th em with th e fu nds to
with mo re people wo rki ng in science, there
study of maize in Brazil (my area of resea rch
wi lJ be a high er pro ba bility of ha ving o ut-
a nd my cou nt ry of ori gin , st uff that I believe
com pl ete th eir trainin g an d carry out their
resea rch.
\(~
standing individu als m ak ing a sign ificant
I know so meth ing ab out). In the 1970s, the
impact. So here is my second tak e-ho me mes-
Brazi lian gove rn me nt began to invest mo ney
sage : We mu st incre ase the nu mber of people
in the creation o f a center to study maize and,
who have th e op port unity to attend uni ver-
im mediately folJowing and as a dir ect result,
sity for tr aining in science at alJ levels (quan-
ma ize research adva nced sign ifican tly. Al-
tity may lead direc tly to good qu alityl ).
Cintia Marques Coelho
University of A rizona-Tucson
Department of Plant Sc iences
coe lho@ag. arizona.edu
th ou gh we ca nno t do a nything ab out the late
Fina lJy, th e last difference co ncern s the need
start, we in developing co untries ca n loo k to
for th e visio n req uired to move science for-
th e future and concentra te o ur efforts on en-
A Postdoc's Experience at TMRI
Early this year, I moved fro m Dr. Da niel
institutes, whereas others come from other in-
tute have th e legal resp onsibility to not make
Cosgrove's lab o ratory at Pen n State Univer-
du st ry lab orat ories. Second, the inst itute ha s
sc ien t ific d isco veri es pu bli c pr io r to the
sity to the Plant H ealth group o f th e Torr ey
a very good semi na r ser ies that brings in lead-
co mpletion of pa tent app lications. Indu strial
Mesa Resea rch Institute (TMRI) in San Di-
ing sc ien t is ts in t h e areas re la ted to the
la bs often project a sense of proj ect insta bil-
ego to continue my postdoctoral tra inin g. I
institute's resear ch. TMRI a lso foster s co llabo-
ity, since th e needs of th e co mp any may shift
qu ickly in respo nse to dem and s of th e busi-
would like to share wh at I have learn ed at
ra tion with academic scien tists. T hese colJa bo-
TMRI with th ose of yo u wh o are int erested
ra tio ns genera te new ideas an d make full use
ness. TMRI is not imm une to this typ e of p res-
in doing postdoct oral wo rk in industry in the
o f th e resou rces in the company.
sure , but the ma nagement of the institute at-
future.
One of the concerns I had before I joined
te mp ts to crea te a wo rki ng enviro nm ent
TMRI was for merly the N ova rt is Agric ul-
TMRI was th e freedom to choose resea rch
w here lon g-t erm pr oj ect s a imed a t und er-
ture Disc overy Institute, Inc. (NADII), wh ich
top ics and to pu blish. I had been told many
stan d ing basic biological mecha nisms can
was esta blishe d in 1998 and now is a part of
Syngenta. T he resear ch of th e Plant H ealth
times that indu stry lab orat ories ha ve lower
flou rish.
priorities for pu blishing relati ve to aca demic
So far, several postdocs at TMRI have had the
gro up a t TMRI is focused on gene discovery
la bs. Surprisingly, TMRI encourages scientists
good fortun e of getting jobs in industry, in some
and esta blishing leads for Syngent a's ag ricul-
to p u blish th eir work. Th is is extremely im-
cases with less than a fulJ year's training atTM RI.
tural ap plica tions .
portant for postdocs, beca use o ur futu re ca-
Weexpect that current and future TM RI postdocs
M y first impression of TMRI was tha t it
reers depend o n p ublications. In terms of re-
will be able to compete effectively for academic
a nd
search freedom, it is not a big issue at TM RI.
positions as well.
prot eomics facilities. In addition, it provides
In gene ral, p ostd ocs ca n choose the ir projec ts
alJ sorts of services and traini ng to its scien -
as lon g as they are in areas tha t ar e of inte rest
tists. It is o bvio us that these goo d fac ilities
to the supervisors.
offe rs
stat e -o f-the-art
gen o m ics
and services are aimed at ma x im izing the
speed of mak ing scientific d iscoveries.
Like acade mic lab or at o ries, TMRI is str iv-
T here are some differences between T M RI
\'~
Yajun Wu
Torrey Mesa Research Institute, Syngenta
San Diego, Ca lifornia
Yajun .Wu@Syngen ta .c om
and an academ ic institute. First, the scope and
foc us of th e semi na r ser ies are different from
ing for excelJence in science. First, it recru its
th e o nes in univ ersities. Ma ny semin ars at
outstanding scientists w ho have solid pu bli-
T MRI are tech nology and busines s or iented .
ca tion reco rds . Som e of th em come to T MRI
Second, a ltho ugh scient ific co mmunicatio n is
fro m we ll-estab lishe d posit ion s in acade mic
greatly enco uraged, emp loyee s of the insti-
ASPB New s. Vo l. 28. No.5 · 13
~~
, ~'----------------The Mystery of the
Red Primrose
ma tc hed a sam ple of the victim's blood that
had been dra wn by her gynecologist. Motive,
o ppo r tunity, a nd met ho d had been esta b-
by Talos
lish ed, but no body had been found.
Gaudin poi nted to t he field, abo ut 10 hecta res, as we appro ached. A doz en po licemen
arme d with shovels and pickaxes had already
asse m bled in advance of Ga udi n's a rr iva l.
Ga ud in surve yed th e ro ugh terr a in as he
stepped o ut of the car and sighed, " Finding
this bod y wi ll be neit her quick nor easy."
Gau d in's sus picions proved correct. Six
Gaudin had just crack ed his first egg in preparation for one of his legenda ry omele ttes wh en
the teleph on e ran g, Sitt ing in his living room,
I half-heard his end of the conversation . Du ty,
it seem ed, was calling. As exp ected, Gaudi n
emerged from th e kitchen with the aw kwa rd
look of a host abo ut to tell his ho useg uest
that there had been a decided dow nturn in
the events planned for the day.
" Bea ulieu has ma de a deathbed co nfession, " he said simply.
"The mur derer ?" I asked.
Gau d in nodd ed. "Ye s . It seems th at
Beaulieu made friends in prison wi th the sa me
facility wit h whic h he ma de frie nds on the
outsid e. This morning he was knifed in the
pr ison shower. As he was dying he confessed
to the mu rder and indica ted to those present
that the body of his victim coul d be found in
the field acro ss fro m the site of his planned
co untry esta te."
"T his is good news, Inspecto r Ga udi n! T he
case is no w closed, n'est ce pas?"
"No, there can be no closure-not for me,
not for the family- un til the bod y is locat ed
and recovered . And I'm afraid, m on am i, that
I must aba ndon you this afte rn oon whil e I
orchestra te the search."
" Do n't be a bsurd . I'm co ming with yo u," I
replied.
Gau din considered my proposal d ubio usly.
"Well ," he reluctantl y concl uded, " I sup pose
the more eyes the better."
As we drove, Ga udi n filled me in on th e
details of th e case. Beau lieu, a wea lthy Zurich
finan cier, had been carrying o n an affa ir with
the victim for several year s; he had been the
last person to be seen w ith th e victim befo re
her disappearance; the victim had just discovered th at she was preg na nt. Mos t importa nt,
forensic scientists had found a trace of blood
on on e of Beaulieu's golf club s th at precisely
14' ASPS News. Vol. 28. No.5
hours and a hundred sma ll excav ati ons later,
only a rusty cow bell had been revealed. "We' ll
have to hire a co ntracto r to systema tically
shave off the top soil a few centimeters at a
time until we locate the body. A da mnable
expense." Ga udin called the toiling genda rmes
over to inform th em of th e cha nge in plan s. I
bent down and plu cked a curious red Primula
an d placed it in my lapel.
I wa ited fo r Gaud in to finish his speech
befor e I called out to o ne of the genda rmes
carr ying a shovel, " Ex cuse me, sir, but would
yo u indulge me by str iking your shove l w here
I sta nd ?" Th e policeman deferred to Ga ud in,
w ho nodded h is assent. With a shrug of his
sho ulders, the polic eman plun ged his shovel
in to th e so il. The first spade-full came up
empty; the seco nd revealed a wo ma n's shoe;
the thir d a human fibula.
Shou ts of " Void ' filled the va Iley, and all
present rushed to the site of the discovery. One
by on e, 13 pairs of eyes looke d up at me with
va rious expressions of pe rplex ity, astonishme nt, and even suspicio n " How, how .. .,"
Ga udin stam mered, " ho w did yo u know ?"
"This little flow er told me," I sa id , triumphantly removing the red flow er from my lapel for the ir ins pection . " It's un usual , is it
no t?"
"Well , yes, now that yo u me nt ion it," said
Ga udin, " the wild pr imr oses in th ese parts
are usu ally yellow,"
"Pr ecisely, but yo u may remem be r A .
Mussack 's 1932 paper led. note : Vol. 50:391-
392 ) in Berichte der D eutsc hen Botanischen
Gesellschaft]" There was a collective look of
befudd lemen t. "Allow me to remi nd you,
M ussack fo und th at the usua lly yellow flowers o f Primu la auricula beca me red w he n
gro w n on soil fertili zed with blood. "
" Incroyab le," exclaimed the spade ca rrier.
"Do yo u mean to tell us that these little flo wers suck up blood like... like vampires? "
"No, no , my dear cons ta ble. Wit hout further ex periments, of co urse, one canno t be
abso lute ly cer tai n of the exac t mech anism of
the red deni ng effect , bu t if I had to guess I
wo uld hypoth esize tha t is related to the excess of iro n in the soil. Excess iro n in pla nts is
tho ught to lead to oxidative stress, a nd flavo no ids , so me, such as the an th ocyan ins,
w hich are red in color, are kn own to accumulate in respo nse to oxi da tive stress,"
"Ah bien oui, rnon ami ," sai d the jub ilant
Ga udin with a wink to the gendarme rie, "Silly
of me not to think of tha t! Now, how can we
re pay you ? H o w a bo ut d inner in one o f
Z ur ich's fines t hotels?"
"I wou ld prefer a hard y dinner at the inn
up the roa d with all th e diggers."
"An even better idea!" Gau din exclaimed as
we headed for the car, leaving the coro ner and
~~
her assistants alone with their grisly task .
Natasha V, Raikhe l, ed itor-in-c hief of
Plant Physiology, is leaving the Michigan Sta te Unive rsity-Department of Ene rgy Pla nt Researc h La b oratory a t the
end of th is ye ar, She isjoi ning the University of Ca lifornia at Riverside as The
Ernst a nd He len Leibache r Chair Professor in Pla nt Molecul ar, Cell Biology,
and Genetics; Disting uished Pro fessor
of Pla nt Cell Biology; a nd d irec tor of
the Center of Plant Cell Biology , Starting in January 2002. you can conta ct
Na tasha a t the followinq a ddress:
Natasha V. Ralkhel
University of Califo rnia
Dep artm en t of Botany and
Pla nt Sciences
2109 Batchelor Ha ll
Riversid e, C A 92521
Executive Committee in Action at Plant Biology 2001
ASPB's Executive Committee met on Jul y 20,
20 01, a nd agai n on Jul y 24, 2001, during the
Society's an nual meetin g in Providence, Rh od e
Island. President Da n Cosgrove opened th e
meet ing by noting th e Society's man y acco mplishments during the year, includi ng the name
change; th e dyna mic mem bers hip drive th at
is now under wa y; the newl y redesig ned an d
ex pa nded ASPB News; the new and improved
web site; the initia tio n of electronic vo ting;
and th e Ed uca tion Fo un d a t ion's large st
project to date-a film on the history of agriculture fo rmatted for television. H e also co mmend ed staff for th eir help and de dication,
noting th at "ours is a com plex organizat ion."
Actions ta ken by the co mmittee included
• Approva l of the 2002 opera ting budge t
of $6, 032,353.
• Approval o f the digitiza tio n of back issues of both journals, to 1989 for Th e Plant
Cell and to 1993 fo r Plant Physiology
• Fundi ng of an ex hibit booth at the N ation al Science Teach ers Associat io n's 2 002
con vention
• App roval o f gran ts totaling $35,00 0 for
travel to the 20 02 annua l meet ing
• Funding of an exhibit booth at the annual meetin g of the Society for the Advancement o f Chicanos and N at ive Amer icans in
Science
• Approval of fundin g for 2002 for a Summer Und ergraduate Resea rch Fellowshi p Progra m as a co ntin ua tio n of last year's successful pro gram in w hich eight und ergraduates
participat ed.
• Co ncurre nce with the Board of Trustees
to adop t a rev ised inves tme n t policy an d
change the Society 's investment advisers
• Ap pr o val of Pr esident - Elec t Vic k i
Cha ndler's ap po intment of Lou Sherm an to
the Board of Tru stees, Jan Z eevaart to th e
Constitu tio n and Bylaws Committee, and Bob
Fischer to the Pu blicat io ns Committee.
• Referral o f the prop osal to cha nge th e
ASPB ad hoc Internat ion al Committ ee to a
standing com mittee to the Con st itu tion and
Bylaws Committee fo r proper wording pr ior
to th e membe rsh ip vo te.
• Ap prova l of a partne rs h ip wit h J ohn
Wile y & Sons to develop an ASPB- Wiley
book pr ogram
• Discussion ab out ASPB me mbers receiving the on line version of Th e Plant j ournal,
t he premier publicat ion o f th e Socie ty fo r
Ex perime nta l Biology, at a subst an tial dis co unt (since the meet ing, this was approved
at a mem ber price of $30)
• Authorization to appoint a task force to
wr ite an ethics statemen t for the Society regardi ng biot echn ology
• Invitat ion of Pacific Rim cou nt ries to actively participate in Plant Biology 2003 in Ha wa ii, similar to the arra ngement with Jap an
a nd Austra lia for the 1997 a nnua l meeting in
Vancouver.
In addition, it was noted that Robin Lem pert
had been hired as th e directo r of the Education Foun da tion and that Wend y Sahli was
\:~
the Societ y's first dedi cat ed webmaster,
Three m ajo r tec hnological adva nces sta nd o ut as
crucial to plant science during the past 25 years:
th e d evelopment of molecul ar tools, th e d evelopment
of plan t transform ation, and th e wid esp read adoption
of Arabidopsis as a m odel orga nism .
o celebrare rhe 75th anniversary of Plant Physiology, the flagship
journal of the American Society of Plant Biologists, 42 sho rt com me ntar ies were featu red in the Jan uary 200 1 issue that arremp r ro
summa rize t hese and ot her co nceptua l breakrhroughs. T he aut ho rs, represent ing various fields of srudy, com piled a conci se overview of the im portant conce pts and parad igms rhat have eme rged during the past 25 years.
T hese comment aries are fascinating raken onc at a time , but toge ther they
demo nstra te jusr how far plant biology has com e in a relatively sho rt while.
Along wirh analysis of the th ree breakth roughs mentioned above, the
remaining arricles draw ITom research in the following areas: whole plant
physiology and bioche mistry; signal transdu ction; developmental, cell, and
molecular biology; genetics; and biot echnology. They have been repri nred in
this specia l book to commemo rate the eno rmo us adva nces in plant science .
T
Plant Physiology 7 5 th Anniversary
Conceptual Breakthroughs in Plant Biology
ISBN 0-943088- 41-0. Item 30050 . Price $25.00
For ordering information, go to www.aspp.org
ASPB News, Vol. 28, No , 5 • 15
After a long sear ch
for th e " ideal" cand id at e, th e Ed uca tion Fou nda tion has
needs, and incorporating tech nol ogy with
ed uca tion to its best adva ntage . Especially
captiva ting was her abili ty to sta rt and build
an endowment to over $4 million whil e wo rk-
a d irecto r. Robin
Lempe rt
join ed
ASPB as its first perma ne nt Ed ucat io n
Foun da tion director on Augu st 13 . M an y
ASPB members met Robin at th e an nua l
co nference in Providence in July. Ro bin
ing with budg ets of just over $1.5 milli on .
She has worked in the not -for-pro fit sector
for most o f her car eer-writing, mar ketin g,
teach ing, and ma naging projects.
Rob in lives in M ar yland with her husband
and children. She is an active volu nteer at her
children's pre-school and, in her limited spare
wants the mem bers to know, "The Educa tion Foun da tion has an exciting mission ,
an d I am looking forward to wor king with
ASPB's memb ers and the Educa tion Fo undati on boa rd o n man y excit ing proj ects to
help increase the publ ic's und erstand ing of
the importan ce of pla nt biology. Th ere are
time, tries to catch up on her readi ng and see
a few good movi es. She st udie d ma th and
music at SUNY Bingh amton and the University of Mi chigan and traveled in Europe w hile
dir ectin g a folk dan ce troupe. Be sure to add
Robin Lempert's nam e to your ASPB dir ectory. H er ph on e num ber is 30 ]-25 1-0560,
so many new and exciting developments
taking place, and it will be imp ort ant to
presen t an accurate picture of this wor k to
many different audiences. As th e found ation charts its course, I would like to encourage each one of you to contact me by
e-ma il or pho ne to share yo ur ideas a nd
thou ghts at any time. "
Rob in was fo rme rly the exec ut ive di rector of the Distributors Ed uca tion Founda-
ext. 110, an d he r e- mai l a d dr ess is
rlernpertwasp b.org .
tion o f the Amer ican Wholesale M arketers
Associa tio n (AWMA) based in Was hingto n,
DC. As a vice p resident of AWMA, she was
respo nsib le for planning, designing, and d irect ing fo unda tion operations and all associa tio n educa tion, training, research, an d
member service programs. He r creden tials
dem onst rat e streng th in creating successful program s, being resp on sive to mem bers'
Stefanie Sharner joined
ASPB in June as th e
new acco unts pay a ble
specia list. In this position she will be han dli ng vendo r invoic es
and payments. Prior to
join ing ASPB, she was
th e administrative assis tant to the p resident
and CEO of Hartz & Co mpany, a men 's clothing manufacturer based in N ew York, and an
acco unting assistant at Alexu s Intern ational,
an Internet-ba sed hu man reso urces software
company. Stefanic was also emp loyed for eight
yea rs as a florist. She replaces Don na Litman .
Leslie Csikos, or Ash ,
as she is called by her
friends and co-w orkers, recen tl y gra duated
fro m The R ich a rd
Sto ckton College of
Ne w Jersey wh ere she
received a B.A. in ph ilosophy and religion.
Alongsi de her majo r field of study, she to ok
several classes in art and stu died Japanese
language and cul ture. O utside the academic
world, she devot ed a grea t deal of time to
learning ab out web des ign and served as
the vice president and gra phic artist for her
school's "Ga ming Guild."
An unfortunate acc ident a t her previ ous
place of employ ment, an eq uestrian learning center, bro ug ht Ash to us her e at ASPB.
Working with ho rses has been a ch erished
part o f her life since childhood, and although she ca n no lon ger spend long days
with these anima ls, she can still be found
riding every ch an ce she gets.
Ash joins ASPB as a manuscript coordinator fo r Plan t Phys iology, where her experienc e with the Intern et will prove useful
as we prep are to laun ch Benchc- Press, our
new we b- based man uscrip t man agem ent
system . She works with Leslie M alon e in
guidi ng the many ma nuscr ipts Plant Ph ysiology recei ves th rough the peer revi ew
process .
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program
All a p p lic a nts ore expected to use NSF's FastLa ne Gra d ua te I<eseorch Fellowship Pro g ram
(GRFP) p roc ess (http ://www,fa sl-Iane,nsf,gov) to apply,
The applicatio n must be submitted via Fast La ne by 5:00 p .rn. in the a p p licant's loc al trne
zone on November 7, 2001.
16 • ASPS News, Vol. 28, No , 5
Biochemistry & Molecula r Biology of Plants: The First Year!
Published just one year ago, Biochemistry &
Mo lecular Biology of Plants, by Bucha na n,
Gru issem, and Jo nes, is a Society success story.
It was the first major boo k publish ing proj ect
undertaken by ASPB, and wh at a project it
was! With 1,400 pages, 1,100 full-color origina l drawing s, 500 photographs, and the con tribution s of 53 worl d-re no w ned plant bio logists, this book's pu blicat ion is a ma jor triump h for the Society.
And the proje ct is still developing, with the
recen t release of a new version of the CDROM, th is one in 300-dpi resolution , wi th
user-friend ly Pow erPoint capability. Ju st like
the lower-res CD , this product conta ins all
the book's illust rat ion s and is pro ving very
pop ular with facult y an d presenters wh o need
top-flight plant biol ogy illust ra tio ns. M o re
int uitive to use th an th e or igina l, th is CDRO M helps yo u crea te dynamic, exci ting pre sentations for students and coll eagues with
no trouble at all. Intr oduced at th e ASPB annual meeting in J uly, the CD-RO M is off to a
strong start- he lpe d by a specia l offer for
th ose of you who boug ht the ori ginal version.
Purc hasers of th e previous CD-ROM ca n buy
the upgraded release for just $24 .95 (the list
pri ce is $49.95). Th e or igina l, 150-dp i version is still available for $29.95.
The book itself is selling very well, too. Sales
figures are approach ing 8,000 just 14 mo nths
after publication. Add to that nearly 1,500
CD-ROMs, and you see a gra tifying sales pictur e, given the extraord ina ry cos ts of prod ucing th is to p-not ch textbook .
If yo u're in Italy, Japan, or Chi na, there
ar e translations und er way into thos e three
lan gu ages. Zanichelli ed ito re S.p.A. is wor k-
pharm aceutical biology, and agriculture, as
well as th e food science and agribusiness industries. It wi ll undo ub tedly find a very wide
readership."
Other reviews are equally glowing. Trends
in Plant Science ca lled it
"an essential reference for practicing plant
biologists and for the increasing number of
scientists from other disciplines who are en-
tering the field of plant biology. To exploit
fully the wealth of new inform ation provided
by the genome projects and to integrate the
m etabolic, regulatory, and signal transduction path ways of complex organisms, biolo gists will require a solid com ma nd of bioThe reviews are still coming in. Ju st recentl y, chemistry and physiology. For th is reason,
the Journal of Plant Physiology had th is to the publication of Bioch em istry & M ol ecu say:
lar Biology of Plants could not have com e at
"Presently, there ex ists no other book that a more opportune and auspicious time."
brings together so mu ch up-to-date informaGo to the book's web site to see the retion in such an ex tended and yet easily under- views that have appear ed in Cell an d Science,
standable form. [T]his appealing.. .textb ook can as well as those qu ot ed here, an d to view
be recommend ed to all students and scien- sample chapters. You can or de r the book or
tists in plan t biology and biochemistry. It is CD via mai l, p hone, fax, e-mai l, or the web,
also of in terest to researchers in many related using o ur sec u re onlin e o r de r form at
fields such as biotechn ology, cell biology, www.aspb.org/biotext.
ing on the Italian edi tion ; the J apan Scientif ic
Society Press is handl ing the Japanese tran slat ion; and Science Press is hand ling the Chinese trans lation and an English-language reprint fo r China.
Deadlines tor A5F/5 News
We invite!lou to submit articles andletters to the A5ff5 News.
Deadlines for submission ofcOplJ follow:
Issue
Januaro/Fe b rua rq 2 0 0 2
March/April 2002
Mao/June 2002
Ju1o/August 2002
September/Octobe r 2002
November/December 2002
Deadl ine
December
Fe.bru arq
10 , 2 0 0 1
10, 2 0 0 2
April 10, 2002
June 10, 2002
August 10, 2 0 0 2
October
10, 2002
ASPB New s. Vol. 28. NO.5 · 17
~I.
- - - - - - - - ' - - - - - - - -
Senator Bond and Committee Boost Plant Genome
Funding to $75 Million
The Senate Appropriations Committee recommended $75 million for the National Science Foundation plant genome research program for fiscal year 2002. This amount is $10
million higher than both the budget request
of NSF for FY2002 and the current fiscal year
funding.
Senator Bond Kit (R-MO) led efforts again
this year to provide funding for plant genome
research significantly higher than the amount
requested by NSF. ASPB voiced support for
the plant genome research program and the
overall NSF research budget in advance of
the report. If enacted, the committee recommenda tion will bring to $290 million the
amount of funds that Senator Bond and his
colleagues have provided for the plant genome
research program over five years.
ASPB President Dan Cosgrove credited
Senator Bond, Senator Barbara Mikulski
(D-MD), and their colleagues for bringing
plant science forward into the exciting genomic era. Cosgrove said the wealth of knowledge gained from genomic and related basic
plant research will bring profound benefits
to the lives of all Americans and our world
neighbors.
In its overall recommenda tion for NSF,
the Senate Appropriations Committee provided $4,672,520,000. This amount is
$256,130,000 more than the FY2001-
enacted level and $200 million above the
to environmental stresses. The committee also
budget request.
The committee recommendation of
$3,514,481,000 for research and related ac-
supports the recent recommendations of the
Interagency Working Group on Plant Genomes that significant funding be invested in
high-throughput sequencing of the gene-rich
regions of economically important crops, such
tivities is $171,851,000 more than the
FY2001-enacted level and $187,500,000
above the budget request. The recommended
amount for the NSF Biological Sciences Directorate is $529 million, which represents a
substantial increase of 9 percent.
The House of Representatives approved
$4,840,160,000 for NSF and $529 million
for the Biological Sciences Directorate. Congressman James Walsh (R-NY) led efforts in
the House to support NSF.
Following is language from the Sena te
Committee report on the plant genome
initia tive:
"The committee's recommendation includes $75,000,000 for the plant genome initiative, an increase of $10,000,000 over the
request. Over the last three years the plant
genome program has generated massive
amounts of data on major crop plants and
model organisms. The committee urges the
Founda tion to emphasize the use [of] these
datasets and resources to identify, isolate, and
investigate genes associated with plant processes of economic importance, including
nutritional quality, production of industrial
chemicals, disease resistance, and tolerance
Pra kash, Scie nce G roup Protest Sri Lan kan Biotec h Ban
The AgBioWorld Foundation called on the
Sri Lankan government August 16 to rethink
its ban on biotechnology food imports imposed earlier this month. "This was a reckless
decision," said ASPB member C. S. Prakash,
18 • ASPB News, Vol. 28, NO.5
professor of plant genetics at Tuskegee University and president of the AgBioWorld Foundation. "And it will prevent the Sri Lankan people
from benefiting from this safe and promising
~~
technology."
as corn, wheat, and barley. Recent advances
in technology have made it feasible and costeffective to sequence the gene-rich regions of
large, complex plant genomes. The committee expects NSF to fund such an initiative that
invests in high-throughput sequencing, including full-length cDNA sequencing, of economically important crops, such as corn,
wheat, and barley. This initiative will help to
ensure that fundamental genetic information
is publicly accessible to all public and private
plant breeders and geneticists."
There has been support within the maize
science and producer community for highthroughput sequencing of gene-rich regions
of maize. High-throughput sequencing of
gene-rich regions of plant genomes of "economic importance" is one of the recommendations in the plant genome research program
progress report issued in November 2000 by
the White House-appointed Interagency
Working Group on Plant Genomes.
~~
I ~I
Senate Committee Seeks 30 Percent Increase for NRI
T he Senat e Appropriations Committee is recommending an increase of more tha n $31
million for the National Research Initiat ive
Co mpetitive Gra nts Program (NRI ) for fisca l
yea r 2002 . Th e comm ittee-approved bill (Senate Bill 1191) an d committee-app roved accompanying report (Sena te Repo rt 107-41)
reco m mend providing $13 7 million to th e
NR I in FY2002 .
T he N RI is rece iving $ 105 .7 mi llio n in
FY2 001. T he U.S. Department of Agriculture
requested $105. 7 million for FY2002, which
the House of Represe n tatives approved .
T he co mmi ttee reco mme n datio n fo r
In the House, Representative Eva Clayton
(D-NC) offered an amendment Ju ly 11 tha t
wo uld have tran sferred fun ds from the N RI
to the 1890 inst itutions. She withdrew the
amen dment after nearly 20 minutes of de bate.
She sa id that she exp ects the App ro priations
Co mm ittee's fut ur e conferees to wo rk with
her in the eventu al H o use/Senate Conference
to add ress her co ncerns.
Represe nta tive Clayton acknowledged that
"many people have trouble o n wh ere the
money would com e from " in her am end ment.
A nu mber of ASPB ca mp us con tacts and th eir
co lleagues co ntac ted th eir co ngressional offices in the days leading up to Jul y 11 , w hich
helped prompt calls from members of Co n-
FY20 02 rep resents an
increase of 29 .5 percen t for the NRI, by
far t h e h igh es t inc rease see n for th e
N R I in a co mmi ttee
gress to Clayton 's off ice concern ing problems
w ith ta rgeting the NRI for a red uctio n o f
funds. Indicati ons of lack o f sup po rt by co lleagu es for a pr ovision in an amendme nt can
help lead to the eventual withdrawal of the
report. Sen at or H erb Senator Herb Kohl
Kohl (D -WI) , cha ir
of the Appropria tio ns Subc o mmittee on Agriculture, led effo rts for this increa se. ASPB
ca mp us con tacts in Wiscons in an d other key
sta tes sen t timely lette rs in supp ort of the NRI
am endment. If ASPB members had no t contacted their mem bers o f Co ngress, their represent ati ves mig ht no t have been aware of the
effect of the proposed amendment o n the NRI
a nd NRI-suppo rt ed researchers in their state
and district. T he Clay to n amendment wo uld
to Congress. The bill is exp ected to be con sidered by the full Senate in Septem ber. Following the Senat e vo te, a H ouse/Senat e Co nference will reco ncile diff erences betw een the
have cut $10 milli on or nearly 10 pe rcent
fro m the NRI.
Represent ative Sheila Jac kso n Lee (D-TX)
joined Represent at ive Clay ton in support of
th e amendmen t in flo or debate. They pre sented a chart that ind icated tha t 0.5 percent
of N RI funds goes to 1890 co lleges. Representa tive Lee sa id th ey were not tr ying to
" tak e over" what the 1862 ins titutions win
in awards fro m the NRI. The ma jority of peerreviewed NRI award funds are won by scientists at 1862 institutio ns.
Subco mmi ttee Cha ir Henr y Bonilla (R-TX)
led the successful opposition to the amend ment in floo r debate. He and his colleagues
also prot ected the NRI earlier this year fro m
attempts to redu ce fundin g for the com petitive gra nts progr am in the co mmittee report .
Inst ead of sup po rting a tte mp ts to t a ke
money from one research program to move
to an other, ASPB ha s been sup po rt ing a
bro ad -b ased coa lition initia tive tha t is seeking increased fun di ng for all USDA resear ch
programs includ ing the NRI, form ula funds
for 1890s an d 1862s, Agric ultural Res earch
Service (ARS), Initiative for Futu re Agri cul tur e an d Foo d Systems (lFA FS), and other
agric ultura l researc h p rogr am s.
T he Senate bill p ro vides $120 million in
fund ing for IFAFS. Th e House bill would pr eclude fundi ng IFAFS. Fundi ng for ARS is
$1.004 billion in the Senate com mitt ee recom mendati on . T he H ou se bill ca lls for $971.3
million for ARS, w h ich is $74 .5 million higher
t~
than th e curren t year.
two bills.
Senate Votes for Increase for DOE Energy Biosciences
The Senate has voted to pro vide $3 4.4 million for basic plant and micro bial research
sponsore d by t he Department of Ener gy
(DO E) Ene rgy Bioscienc es program for fiscal
yea r 2002. T his is $686,000 high er than the
FY2 00 1 amo unt and $2 million high er tha n
the department's request.
The House has ap pro ved $32.4 million for
the Energy Biosciences program, the same
am o unt as DO E req ueste d. Differences between the two bills w ill be reconciled in a
H ou se/Senat e Conference expec ted after the
summer recess.
ASPB was joined by the Nation al Corn
Growers Associ at ion, representing more th an
30,000 memb ers, and th e Ame rican Phy to pathological Society, representing 5,000 scient ists, in su bmitt ing comments on April 9
and Apri l 30 to the H o use and Sena te Appropriat ion s Su bcomm itte es on Energy and
Wat er Development in support of basic plant
and microbi al research sponsored by the Ent~
ergy Biosciences pro gr am in FY2002.
ASPBNews. Vol. 28. NO. 5· 19
Dr. Ingo Potrykus Accepts Leadership In Science
Public Service Award
The ASPB Leadership in Science Public Service Award was presented July 21, 2001, at
Plant Biology 2001 in Providence to Dr. Ingo
Potrykus in recognition of his outstanding
contributions to science and humanity.
Dr. Potrykus has pioneered efforts in engi-
been more vexing. Despite encountering some
initial resistance, Dr. Potrykus has been able
to gain agreement from firms holding patent
restrictions that could apply to golden rice to
make the rice availa ble to poor farmers.
One of the most persistent challenges to
neering an enhanced variety of rice known as
golden rice that could revolutionize health and
nutrition efforts for mass populations in the
developing world. His research offers the
potential to save millions of children from
being stricken blind from nutritional deficien-
bringing golden rice to the developing world
has been from non-governmental organizations such as Greenpeace. Dr. Potrykus lamented the chilling effect resulting from misleading rumors circulated by anti-biotech interests that have convinced many farmers and
cies. ASPB President Dan Cosgrove presented
the award to Dr. Potrykus.
In a stirring presentation given during the
Perspectives of Science Leaders Program, Dr.
Potrykus addressed the scientific, legal, and
political obstacles he has tried to overcome
in his work with golden rice. After years of
others in India, for example, that they will
suffer fearful physical maladies if they eat
genetica Ily engineered rice. Dr. Potrykus remarked that Greenpeace appears to have a
financial stake in the GMO debate: Raising
concerns among the public serves to raise
research, he has addressed many of the most
challenging science questions faced in engineering higher levels of ~-carotene in rice to
counter vitamin A deficiencies in the human
diet. Vitamin A deficiencies reportedly lead
to the deaths of at least 1 million children
and nearly 500,000 cases of blindness among
children each year in the developing world.
Legal and especially political obstacles have
funds for Greenpeace. He said there is a need
for more investigative reporting into
Greepeace and its sources of substantial
contributions.
In discussing why he has dedicated several
decades to his plant research to meet the nutritional needs in developing nations, Dr.
Potrykus noted a sense of obligation. He said
scientists are fortunate to conduct work that
they enjoy. If scientists can lead rewarding
Sied ow Ad d resses Sa fety of G MOs ot
Major Food Service Meeting
ASPB Committee on Public Affairs member
Siedow also gave a presentation March 26
James Siedow spoke July 15 on food safety
issues associated with genetically modified
foods as part of a symposium on food safety
at the ann ual meeting of the American School
Food Service Association. The meeting, which
draws a huge number of attendees, was held
at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville.
on modified foods at the American Commodity Distribution Association annual meeting
in Greensboro. He is joined by many ASPB
members who are active in conducting education outreach activities concerning plant
biotechnology and modified foods.
c~
20· ASPB News, Vol. 28, No, 5
careers working at something they like, they
should feel obliged to provide service to less
fortunate people, he reasoned.
Committee on Public Affairs Chair Peggy
Lemaux moderated the question-and-answer
session after Dr. Potrykus's presentation.
ASPB members responded with sustained and
standing ovations to his talk and his responses
to various questions.
See page 20 for a story from the July 22
edition of The Providence Journal on Dr.
Potrykus's research on golden rice and his
acceptance of the ASPB Leadership in Science
ll~
Public Award.
Dan Cosgrove presents Ingo Potrykus with
the ASPB Leadership in Science Public
Service Award during Plant Biology 2001
ASPB Undergraduate
Research Fellowships
Deadline for applications is
March 1, 2002,
For details contact Paula
Brooks at paula@aspb,org or
see our web site at http://
www.ospb.orq/eoucotlon/
surnrnerunderqrod.cfrn.
Golden Rice Goes Against the Grain
PROVIDEN C E, Jul y 22-A Swiss scie n tist
who spent more than a deca de developin g genetically altered rice that may help ma lno urished chi ldren in poor countries was hon ored
for his ac hievement last night by a gro up of
pla nt scientists .
Ingo Potryk us, 67, modifi ed a rice plant to
pr oduce "Go lden Rice," a yellowis h-co lor ed
grai n th at co nta ins beta carotene, one of the
building blocks of vitamin A. T he American
Society of Plant Biologists, wh ich is holding
its an n ual co nference here, pres ent ed Po trykus
with its Leadership in Science Pu blic Service
aw a rd.
H is resea rch, acco rdi ng to Brian I-Iyps, a
spo kesma n fo r the society, co uld help save
the lives of mi Jl ions of child ren w ho die every
yea r in developing nations from a lack of vitamin A. It co uld also help avert blind ness
for ano ther half-million children each year.
Usin g DNA mat erial from daffodi ls and
from bac teria , he and a colla bor ator, Peter
Beyer of th e Univ ersity of Freiburg in Germany, finally succeeded in 1999. T hey developed a plant that prod uced rice that was paleyellow in co lor, thanks to beta carot ene. T ha t
ora nge-yellow pigment is normally found in
vegeta bles such as carrots and sq uas h, but not
in pr ocessed rice. T he tasteless nut rient is used
by the bod y to mak e vitamin A.
"It was of cou rse, very pleasing, very ex citing," Pot ryku s sa id. The scientific co mm unity didn't believe it was possible, he said . H is
work landed him on the cover of Time magazine last summe r.
Gold en Rice is still severa l years away fro m
being distribut ed. It still faces at leas t four
years of breeding experiments and safety stu dies. It could take even longer, Potrykus said,
if groups opposed to genetically mod ified
organisms, suc h as Greenpeace, ar e a ble to
derai l his plans.
Potryku s's wor k, however, has not esca ped
the con troversy tha t has sur rounded the scienc e of gen eti call y alt ering plants. Severa l
gro ups oppo se such tink erin g, ar guing that
we ca n't be sure that the genetica lly mo dified
or gan isms won't create mo re pro blems than
th ey so lve. Potr ykus, a form er pr ofessor at
Oppo nents say th at such genetic ta mpering co uld pr od uce plants that create unforeseen pr ob lems. Th ere is a fear tha t some co uld
harm ani mals or the enviro nment. They often cite a 1999 ex pe riment involving " Bt"
the Swiss Federa l Institute of Tech nology in
Z ur ich, Switz erland, spent much of the 1990s
corn-geneticall y modified corn plants-that
were design ed to produ ce a tox in that wa rds
trying to deve lop a better r ice th at wo uld help
alleviat e some of the maln ourishme nt suffered
by those living in co untries where rice is the
main source of food . He wa nted to give the
seeds away to poor farmers.
H is person al experience may have motivat ed him. H is father, a doctor, died in the
final da ys o f World War II, and Pot ryk us, at
age 11 , fled eas te rn Ge rmany. H e and his
br others were forced to stea l for fo od . " I
wanted, as a scien tist, to con tribu te to th e
food securi ty of poor peopl e," Pot ryku s said
in an inter view yesterday.
off the Eur o pean co rn borer. In a lab or at ory
sett ing, poll en from Bt co rn was du sted o n
plants popul at ed by monarch butterfly ca terpillars, and so me of th e insects died. Even
so, it is not yet clear wh ether Bt corn pos es a
danger to thes e ca te rp illa rs outside of th e
la bora tory.
Some oppo nents have gone to ex tremes to
sto p such resea rch . Las t month , "ecoterro rists" destro yed a field of pea plants conta ining transpl anted genes on the West Coast.
Last summer, opponents cut down $10,000
worth of exp eriment al poplar trees in M ain e.
Potryku s said his research gre enh ou se in
Z ur ich has been built to protect his plants
from an attack.
There is a bitte rness in his voice wh en he
talks about those w ho wan t to sto p his resea rch. "They are not willing to discu ss deta iled qu esti on s. T hey a re, by p rin ci pl e,
aga ins t the use of tran sgenic plants ."
There is already wid espread use of gene tically altered plants in this co untry. This year,
more than 51 million acres, or 68 percent, o f
soybeans grown in the United States are genet ically engineered, according to a sur vey by
the Department o f Agricultu re. About one in
four co rn plant s growi ng on U.S. farms are
genetically altere d.
Cosgro ve, president o f the American Society of Plant Biol ogist s, sa id biotechnology
research has given us cro ps that are more resistant to insect s. Th at means farmers can use
less insecticid es and get a grea ter yield fro m
the plants. "T hose w ho have stud ied this are
co nfide nt there are no hidd en mon ster s tha t
are goi ng to be unleashed on the world using
this technology," Cosgrove said.
Potrykus said he rema ins focused on moving ahea d with getting th e rice in the hands
o f those who need it the most. "The ma jor
task is to make sure Go lden Rice reac hes the
poor far mers in rice-growing co untries," he
said, "as Gr eenpeace an d other radical oppone nts [of genetically modi fied organisms]
are doing everything to try to pr event it."
Digital Extra: Read mo re on the opposing
views in the debate over genet ica lly modified
~~
rice: http://pro jo.comiext ra/r ice/.
Reprinted with permission of The Pro viden ce
Journal 2001.
ASPB News. Vo l. 28. NO.5· 21
Plant Researchers Eligible for NSF Graduate
Fellowships and ITR Awards
NSF recently announced th e N SF Awa rd s
Program on Graduate Research Fellow ship s
and the NSF Awards Program for Info rmation Technology Research.
NSF Awards Program on Graduate
Research Fellowships
N ew 2002 Gu idelines for Subm ission of Application s for Nation al Science Fo unda tio n
Graduate Research Fellowship s are availabl e
at the follo wing web site: http://www.nsf.go v/
pubs/2001lnsf01146/nsf01146.pd f. T his program is open to gra dua te stude nts in plant
biology and ot her science pro grams. T he program aims to ensure the vita lity of th e human resource base in science, ma thema tics,
and engineering in the Unit ed Sta tes and to
reinforce its diversity. It offers about 900
gra duate fellowships each year. Fellowships
provide thr ee years of support for graduate
study leading to research-based master's or
docto ral degrees in the fields of science, math ema tics, and engineering su pported by NSF.
Fellowships a re intended for students in the
ea rly stages of th eir graduate study. Awards
incl ude a $2 0, 500 stipend for a 12 -month
tenure plus $10,5 00 cost-of-education allowanc e per tenure year.
NSF Awards Program for Information
Technology Research
T he p ro gr am anno uncemen t for the NSF
pubs/2001/n sf0114 9/n sfOI14 9.htm/. In
the current yea r, the progra m w ill expa nd
to enab le rese a rch a nd ed uca t io n in
mu ltidisciplina ry areas, focusing on emerging o pportunities at th e int erfaces betwe en
inform at ion techn ology and other discipline s.
Th e types of projects that are enco uraged includ e a reas st udied by plant scientists. Small
pr o ject awa rds ra nge up to $500,000. Me dium project awards are up to $5 million with
no more th an $ 1 milli o n per year. Large
proj ect awa rds are up to $15 million with no
mor e than $3 million per year.
We apprecia te the hel p o f Dr. Machi
Dilworth in providing this information .
l:~
Awards Pro gram for Information Technology
Research can be found at http://www.nsf.gov/
Agricultural Biotechnology Offers an Invaluable
Tool for Humanity
The following perspective o n agricultural biotechnology is offered by ASPB Co mmittee o n
Public Affairs mem ber Dawn Luthe of M ississippi State Universit y. He r co mmenta ry was
first published in the Spring 2001 issue of the
Research Highlights publicati on of the M ississippi Agricultural and Forestry Exp erim ent
Station. Colleagues in o ther science disciplin es
are amo ng the imp ortant a ud iences plant scientists can add ress in edu cati on outreac h efforts. (As with other perspectives pr inted in
the ASPB News, the opinions expressed are
those of the author and not necessarily of
ASPB or the ASPB News .)
22 • ASPB News. Vol. 28. NO. 5
PERSPECTIVE
Agricultural BiotechnologyAn Invaluable Tool for All Humanity
O ver the past century, science has made amazing ad vances- ma ny beyond wha t we may
ha ve believed possibl e. Techn ology has a ffected a lmos t every as pect of daily life, and
its imp act is particularl y evident in the field
of ag ricu ltu re . Today, bio technology and
gene tic eng inee r ing are revol u tionizing
th e way we farm and feed a growing world
popul ati on.
Research and other indicators show that
biot echn ology is an invaluable tool for the
benefit of all hum anity. U.S. consumers benefit from imp rov ed product quality and food
cos ts th at are 53 percent lower today than
th ey were in 1961. Likewi se, far mers will
pro sper th rough the use of mor e eco no mical
and efficient production pr actices, million s of
malnourished people could benefit fro m geneticall y enr iche d food s up plies , and th e
world 's natu ral resources co uld be sus ta ined
despit e its ever-gro wing population .
Farmers ben efit fro m biot echn ology because it improves yields, eases their workload ,
reduces th e need for pesticides, and co nser ves
soil quality by reducin g tillage. M any of these
benefits are as good for the enviro nment as
they are for the farm er. For example, Bt cotton and corn with built-in pest co ntro l have
significantly reduced insecticide use. Rou ndup
Ready soybeans allow mor e efficient weed
control. Crops that a re mo re to lera nt o f
environmental stress a nd that can mo re
efficiently use fertilizer s w ill fu rth er re d uce
production costs. Research is being co nd ucted
that will lead to the de velopment of pl ants
resistant to fungal and vir al di seases.
Biotechnology and genetic mod ificati on o f
foods seem the best hope to feed th e wo rld 's
gro w ing population and sustai n environmen tal resources. Malnutrition aff ects mo re th an
800 million people, 40,000 of w ho m d ie each
da y. Biotechnology ha s helped produce such
promising devel opments as gold en r ice, a
vita min A--enriched cro p th at may help pr even t blindness in m aln ou r ish ed chi ldre n .
Plants with incre ased iron co nte nt w ill alle viate iron deficiency, o ne of th e most pre vale nt
nutritional disorders. Usin g gene tic eng inee ring, it will be possible to improve th e q ua lity
of starch, protein, and oil in seeds that are
Dawn Luthe of Mississippi Sta te University. Photo by Fred Faulk, MSU
University Relations.
used for human and animal co nsum ption.
The world's population is escalat ing mo re
an d more rapidly, but th e amo unt of ara ble
land will not inc rea se. The use o f biot echnol-
to precisely insert a single gene
vantageou s characterist ics
to
to
prov ide ad-
a cro p va riet y
Despite the efforts of biote chn ology ad voca tes, th e de cision
to
use gene tic mo dificaco ns umers . The de-
and is a much faster proce ss than con ventio na l
tion is ultimat ely up
mands of everyday peopl e will determine how
to
ogy to devel op cr op s th at grow w here poor
breedin g. For example, it has tak en mor e th an
so il a nd clim ate co ndi tio ns lim it producti on
20 yea rs to develop high-lysine co rn, a n ac-
biotechn olog y is inc o rp o rat ed into ag ric u l-
w ill be essen tial for th ose w ho rely o n th is
co mplishment that co uld have been ac hieved
tu ral pr actices. The key
marginal land for fo od prod uction .
much qu ick er us in g ge ne tic engi neeri ng.
taining consumer con fidence is carefu l test-
to
ea rni ng an d main-
There are oth er health and eco no mic ben-
Despite the benefits, no new tech nology is
ing and open communication. Th e role of sci-
efits of agricultural biot echnol ogy. For ex -
fre e of risk. We must weigh all th e bene fits of
en tists in this exchange is to provide accura te
ample, the vaccine for hepat itis B, a lead ing
ge ne tic modification against a ny poss ib le
inf ormation that allows the public to ma ke
cause of cancer, is bein g pr oduced in ba na nas
drawbacks. To me, the risks are far o utn um-
go od, informed decisions.
so that it can be given or ally a t low cos t to
bered by the positive health, envi ron mental,
Through this public exchange, the world
children in developing countries. In th e future, other vaccines and ph ar maceuti cals ma y
and economic implications of biote chnology.
Some concerns that hav e been ra ised include
will better understand that agr icultu ral bio tec hno logy has many significa nt posi tive im-
be produced in tobacco and o t her crops. Bio-
food sa fety, cross-pollinati on w ith ne a rb y
plica tio ns . As more pe ople learn a bo ut th e
technology could make possible the pro d uc-
w ild species, and devel o pment of pes ticide-
science of biotechnology and weigh th e ben -
tio n o f completely ne w pr od uct s, suc h as
resistant insect s. So und , sc ience- based test-
efits fo r themselves, I believe most will acce pt
plants that make biod egrad able plast ics or
ing is essential to evalu at e th e levels o f these
no vel fiber s.
r isks and to add ress an y significa nt probl em s
th is technology and va lue its posit ive imp act
o n thei r lives.
I~~
Genetic modifi cati on is ce rta in ly not a new
identified. While science ca nno t rule ou t all
phenomenon . All o rga nis ms are gen eti call y
possible disadvantages, it ca n be used to regu -
m od ified throu gh th e natural ac t of breeding. Intentional genetic modi ficat ion th ro ugh
lat e and help pre vent biot echnology-related
problems.
classical selective breeding tech niq ues is as old
Years of rigorous testing by the USDA, EPA,
as civilization. Conventional breeding brings
and FDA indicates that gen etically mo dified
a multitude of additional genes a long with a
foods are as safe as conventional food s. In fact,
single beneficial gene; the se of ten include un-
one advantage of biotechnology is th e abi lity
desirable traits that require yea rs to elim ina te .
to elim ina te some food allergens and
Biotechnology, on the o the r han d, ena bles us
eas ily monitor food safety.
to
Dawn Luthe
Mississippi Sta te University
dsluthe@ra .msstate .edu
Reprinted with permission fr om MA PES
Research Highlights.
mo re
ASPB News, Vol. 28, NO. 5· 23
~f----------..-------Teaching Portfolios and Their Significance
Compi led and edited by Gary Kuleck, Biology Department, Loyola Marymount University,
7900 Loyola Blud., Los An geles, CA 90045, e-mail gkuleck@lm umail.lmu.edu
Dr. Rob ert Beckm ann of the Botany Department at N orth Caro lina Sta te University led
the Teac hing Portfolios Worksho p at the ASPB
ann ual meet ing in Pro vidence this pas t Jul y.
T he main message: The teachi ng po rtfo lio
sho uld be considered seriously as a major curriculum vitae component for facult y at all institution s but especially those wh ere teachin g
is a primary component of evalu ation .
Dr. Beckmann emphasized th at the teaching po rt fo lio is a relative newc om er to the
aca de mic co mm un ity at la rger inst itutions.
No t surprising ly, it en genders co nsiderable
disc ussio n, o ften marked by skepticism, as to
bot h its mer it and its use. Beckm ann posed
three qu est ion s that frequ ently are asked by
both cur re n t an d p otenti al members of
aca deme :
1. Wh at is a teaching portfolio? Beckmann
reiterated th at a teaching portfolio is a personal
representation of not only content and presentat ion but, more important, your mo tiva tion
for teaching in your particular style. Second,
the portfolio is not simply an iterat ion of the
annua l faculty report becau se you maintain
control of the content . The content an d source
of the essentia l elements can be as diverse as
the format of the portfolio itself.
2. W hy tak e the time to prepar e the po rtfolio? T he p ortfoli o is th e ve h icle for
presenting yo ur accomplishm ent s in the most
fa vora ble and effective manner. From the
grad ua te student seeking employment , to the
ass ista nt professor seeking prom oti on and
tenu re, to the full professor interest ed in
awards and recognition, the po rtfolio en hances yo ur competitive status.
3. W ha t is the role of the teaching portfolio in the scho lars hip o f teach ing ? T he portfo lio requi res profound reflect ion o n your
teachin g, an d the outco me of this is a lmos t
invariably posit ive. Such reflectio n ca n help
24 • ASPB News. Vo l. 28. NO.5
improve your teach ing and help yo u esta blish co ntac ts with o ther ed uca tors . Th e po rtfol io is prepared in cons ulta tion with this peer
gro up, thu s pro vidin g a non -threa ten ing environment in which yo u can both receive and
provide constructive cr iticism .
Dr. Beckmann believe s th at al tho ug h the
teaching portfolio is rel ativel y new on th e
scene , its use is growing. Its repu ta tio n as an
effective tool is increasing, and it is now used
by mo re th an 800 colleges and universities in
the United Sta tes. It is an asset th at will provide valua ble returns th rou gh out one's academi c career. Co nsider ing the high tu rnou t
at, and vigoro us participati on in, the workshop , we believe o ur membership is interes ted
an d we enco urage the co nsidera tion of suc h
a portfo lio . For additional infor mat ion on
teac h ing portfolios, cont a ct Dr. Ro bert
Beckma nn, Botany Department, Box 7612,
N orth Carolina State University, Ra leigh, N C
27695-7 612 ; telephone 91 9-51 5-5 024 , fax
919-51 5- 75 19.
2001 PKAL National Assembly
The 200 1 Project Kaleidoscop e (PKAL) Fac-
ult y for the 2 1" century (F2 1) N at ion al Assem bly will meet at the Un iversit y of Wiscon sin-Ma diso n Octo be r 19-21 , 200 1. Th is
year's asse m bly, "Sc ience a t t he C utt ing
Edge ," will emphasize bringing cutt ing-edge
ad va ntages to the undergraduate learni ng
environment. Three of the tracks of pa rt icular interest include biotechnology, infor mational technology, and environmental science.
T he an nual PKAL National Assembly is a
key opportuni ty for F21 mem bers to exc ha nge
ideas a nd exp er iences w ith peer s an d wit h
seasoned age nts of cha nge w ithin the nat ion al
Science, Ma thema tics, Enginee ring Techn ology (SM ET) co mm un ity. Th e Nat ion al Assembly prov ides oppo rtunities to ex plore new
d irect ion s in science a nd techn ology and to
develop modules a nd tool kits for bringing
those advan ces into the und ergraduat e learning environment in co urses and la bs for students at all levels. O ne goa l is that a ll pa rt icipants leave with specific ma teria ls to ada pt
in bringing cutting-edge science to their own
ca mpuses, with special atte ntion to issues relati ng to ethics, writing, un dergra dua te researc h, and technology. Part icipants leave
with an actio n agenda for th e com ing months
and year focusing on opportun ities and cha llenges of integrating resea rch and ed uca tion
int o the ir scho larly age nda .
If yo u are int erested in attending the meeting or becoming a PKAL facul ty, please visit
the web site at http://www.p kal.or g for more
inform ation.
CUR National Conference 2002
The C o uncil on Undergr ad uat e Researc h
(CUR) N ational Conferenc e will be held at
Co nnecticut Colle ge, New London, on Ju ne
19-22, 20 02 . The theme is " Und ergrad uat e
Resea rc h for All, " wi t h d iverse works hop
activities covering to pics such as the nature
o f und ergr adu at e resear ch, interna l a nd extern al funding and sup po rt , resear ch responsibi lities, an d assess ment. There will be plenty
for everyo ne at CUR 2002: Administrat or s,
fac ulty, gra d ua te students, and pa rticularl y
those seeking employment at primarily undergradu at e institutions are all welcome .
Ad ministrat or s will be especially interested in
sessio ns on assess ment and research ethics.
T his conference is a grea t opportun ity for
th ose doing researc h w hile wo rk ing to improv e unde rgrad ua te education.
For furt her inform ation , on line registra tion,
and detai ls o n how to sub mit a wo rks ho p proposal or pos te r a pp lica t io n, visi t http ://
www .cur.org!conferences.html.
l~~
.tJ--------=->'--L...----------ASPB News publishes date s, titles, locati ons, and contact names and addresses for meetings, courses, seminars, and the like
that are of interest to ASPB memb ers. Su bmit announcements via e-mail to [email protected] or mail to Sylvia Braxton Lee,
ASPB News, 15501 M on ona Driv e, Rockville, MD 20855-2768 USA. Faxed transmissions are not accepted.
2002: Denver, Co lorado
2003: Honolu lu, Hawa ii
Saturd a y, Augusi" 3, throug h
Saturday, July 26, throug h
Wednesday, August 7
Wednesday, July 30
2004: Orlando, Florida
Sa turd a y, July 24, through
Wed nesd a y, July 28
2001
info@keysto nesym posia .o rg or JI Schroeder@
ucsd.edu. Visit Web site a t www.
ke yst o ne sympo sia. o rg .
J'vIARC H
Marc h 2- 4
So uthern Section 's An n ua l M eet ing
Georgia C en ter for Co n tin uing Ed uca tio n
Un iversity of Geo rg ia C a m p us, Ath ens
Ruth Grene (forme rly Alsche r) is th e orga nizer,
worki ng w ith Sco tt M e rkl e, local host . Fo r
informa tion co n tac t Ruth Gre ne, Depa rtmen t o f
Plant Path ol og y, Ph ysiology a nd Weed Science,
Virgin ia Tech, Blacks burg , VA 24 061-0330 ;
teleph one 540- 2 31-67 61, fax 540-2 31-5 75 5 ,
e-m a il ralsche r@vt. edu.
DEC EM BE R
O C T O BER
October 2 7- 3 0
X N a tio nal Co ng ress of Biochemis try a nd
M o lecu lar Biology of I'la nts a nd
-lth Symposium M exi co-U SA
La Paz, Baja Cali forni a Sur, M ex ico
Deadline for poster abstract s is Jul y 3 0th , 20 01.
For more information on th e aca dem ic program,
a bstract forma ts, costs, lodging, et c, visit o ur
Web page at http://www.cibnor.org/anuncios/
bioplanta. For questions, conta ct [email protected] or Dr. ]. L. Di az De Leo n a t
[email protected].
N O VEM BER
November 11- 15
6 th ISSR Sym posiu m R oo ts: The Dyna m ic
Interfa ce Between Plants a nd th e Ea r th
N agoya, Ja pa n
Orga n izers: Japanese Soc iety for Ro ot Research
(JSRR) a nd Internation al Soc iety o f Root
Resear ch (ISSR). For informati on, e-m ail Dr. S.
M orita at an a to my@ mai l.ecc .u-tokyo .ac .jp o r
vis it th e Web site a t http://www.soc.n acsis.ac.jp/
jsrrlisr r/.
De cem ber 4-6
In terna t ion al Sympo sium
Irr igation and Water Relatio ns in Grapevine and
Fr uit Trc cs
M end oza , Argentina
For inf o rmati on, con tact Facultad de Ciencias
Agr a rias-UN Cuyo, Alte. Brown 500, Casilla de
Co rreo N ° 7, Chacras de Coria, MendozaArgentin a CPA M5528AHB. Telephone +5426 1-4 96-0004, ex t. 2023 or 1019, fax +54-2614 96- 04 69, e-mail sec reta ria t@
irriga tionsymposi um .co m .ar, Web site http://
www.i rrigat io nsymp osium. com.ar.
Dece m ber 8-12
4p t ASC B Annual Meeting
Washi ngton Co nvent ion Ce nter, Was hing to n , D C
Fo r info rma tion , co ntac t us a t teleph on e 30 1347-9300, e-ma il asc bi nfors'asc b.o rg, we b site
http://w w w.a scb .or g .
AP RIL
Apri l 8-1 2
:'o ciety fo r Ex peri m enta l Bio logy
Annual Ma in M eeting
Swan sea , Wa les, Uni ted Kingd o m
Co ntac t th e SEB offi ce a t: telephon e, +44 -2074 3 9- 8732, fax +4 4 -207-7287-4786, e-ma il
c. trim mer@s ebio logy.o rg/. See we b s ite a t
www.se bio logy.org.
2002
JA N UARY
january 22 -2 7
N o vem ber 19-21
"O xygen , Free R ad icals and Oxidative St ress in
Pla n ts"
N ice, Fran ce
Information can be obta ined on ou r Web site a t
http://www. unice. fr/Pla ntRa dicals200 1/. For
additional information contact Ala in Puppo at
[email protected].
M arch 2 3-2 6
6t h Intern at ion a l Conferenc e on Plasma
M em br ane Red ox Systems and T heir Role in
Biological Str ess and Di sea se
Ravenna, Italy
For information contact Pao lo T ro st , Depa rt ment of Biology, Universit y o f Bo logna,
telephon e +39 -051 -209 132 9, fax +3 9- 051242576, e-m ail trost @al m a.un ibo. it. or visit th e
web site at http://www.u nibo .itl redox2 002.
Keyston e Sym p osium on Specificity and
Crossta lk in Plant Signa l Tr a nsdu ction
Gra n libakkcn Resor t, T ahoe Cit y, California
O rgan ize rs: Julian I. Schroed er, Mark A. Estelle,
M asa ki Furuya . Ab stract Deadline: September
2 1,2001. Early Registration Deadline: November 20, 2001. Fo r info rmation contact 800-253068 5 , fax 97 0-26 2- 1230 , fax 970-262-1525,
Apr il 11-1 4
5 th Workshop on Sulfur Assim ila tion in High er
Pla n ts: "Sulfur Tr ans por t an d Ass imil a tionR egula tion, In teraction, Signa ling "
M on tp ellier, Fra nce
For mo re in for ma tion on progra m and h ow to
register, visit th e web site a t h ttp ://cost 829 .
dhs.org/planned _meet ings/ . Wor ksho p limited to
120 participants. Co ntac t Prof. Jea n-Cla ud e
Davidian, ENSA -M / INRA (UMR 50 04) 2,
Place Viala, 34060 M ontpellier, Fr a nce,
[email protected] .fr.
ASPB News, Vol. 28, No.5· 25
April 15-1 7
17th Long Ashton Interna tio nal Symp osium
" N ew Fron tiers in Plant Develop ment: Fro m
Genes to Phenotype"
Bristol, Un ited Kingdo m
For infor mation contact Christine Co oke at +441275-54 934 1, fax +44- 1275-5493 97, e-mail
Chri [email protected].
JULY
Ju ly 7-12
XX Ist Intern atio nal Carbo hydrate Symposium
Cairns, Qu eensland, Australia
For infor mat ion, cont act T he Secretariat,
Congress West, 12 T helma Street, PO Box 124 8,
West Perth , Western Aust ra lia 6872; fax +61-89322- 1734, e-ma il conwesrscongresswesr.com.au,
we b site http://www.ics200 2.u wa.edu .au/.
April 23-27
VI Intern ational Meeting on Biology a nd
Biotechnology of the Plant H orm on e
Eth ylene
Murci a, Spain
For informat ion contact Dr. M. Vend rell, e-ma il
[email protected], or Dr. F. Rom ojaro, e-ma il
eth [email protected]. Meeting Secretariat :
CEBAS-CSIC, Ca mpus Universitario de
Espina rdo, Aparrad o de Correos 4.1 95, 30 100
Murcia, Spain; teleph one +34-968-396 328, fax
+34-96 8-396 213.
July 28-August 1
Plant Gr owth Regulatio n Society of America
Westin No va Scotian , Ha lifax, Nov a Scotia
Contact Dr. Wayne A. M ackay, Program Chair,
Texa s A&M Universit y, 17360 Co it Road ,
Da llas, TX 75252-6599; telephone 972 -2315362 , fax 972-962-921 6, e-mai l w-macka y@
tamu.edu , Web site http ://www.griffin .
peac hnet.edu /pgrsa.
MAY
AUGUST
May 20-22
Ur ban Agriculture: Emerging Op port unities in
Science, Ed ucation, and Policy
Dallas, Texas
Call +972-231-5362 for more inform at io n or
visit htt p://ur ban ag.tamu .edu.
August 3-7
T he Annu al M eeting of the America n Society of
Plant Bio logists
Adam s M ark Ho tel
Denver, Colorado
For info rmation see http ://www.asp b.org/
meetings/p b-2002/index.efm.
JUNE
June 23-28
11th Intern ational Symposium on Iron N utrition
and Intera ctions in Plants
Udine, Italy
Co ntac t: Rob erto Pinton , Department
Prod uzione Vegeta le e Tecno logie Agra rie,
University of Udine, Via Delle Scienze 208 133100 Udine, Italy; telephone +39043255864 1,
fax +3904 3255 8603, e-mail iron.sym p@
dpvra. uniud .it, Web site http://www.
irons ym p2 002.unimi.ir.
26 • ASPB New s, Vo l. 28, No, 5
SEPTEMBER
Sept ember 1-6
13'h Int ern at iona l Co ngress of the Federat ion of
European Societies of Plant Physiology (FESPP)
Heraklion , Crete, Gr eece
For info rmation please co ntact Pro fessor Ka lliop i
A. Roubelakis-Angelakis; telephone +30-81394073; 304 459, fax +30-8 1-394459, e-mail
[email protected]; fespp@biolo gy.uoc.gr;
Website www .biology.uoc.gr/meetingslfesp p.
ASPB Placement Service
This form ma y be used on ly by members of the Am eric a n Society of Plant Biologists.
Please print or typ e your p la c ement information on th isform (cu rric ulum vita e wiil not be accepted) and send t o
Donna Gordon, ASPB Headquarters, 15501 Monona Drive, Rockville, MD 20855 -2768 USA; e-mail dgordon@aspb,org
LASTNAME
INITIAL
FIRSTNAME
TITLE
STREETADDRESS
CITY
STATE
TELEPHONE
FAX
COUNTRY
ZIP
E-MAIL
I am seeking the following position (check all that apply):
(
(
) Permanent
) Academic
UScitizen? (
) Yes
( ) Temporary
( ) Government
( ) No
) Industrial
) Outside USA
( ) Postdoc toral
( ) USA on ly
Date ovcllcble.,
_
Fields of inte rest, specialties, and publ ications titles:
Thesis, dissertation topics, professor:
Professional societies and honors:
Degreejyear
Major
Minor
Postdoctoral study (specialty and with whom , where, and
Employer and location
From
To
References (names, addresses , and telephone numbers):
College/university and location
_
when1~:
Position, title, and duties
I. Registering with th e ASPB Placement Service and
Ob taining Placement Files
ASPB operates a placement service in whi ch are kept active
two files of resumes of indi vid uals who are seeking employment. Emp loyers are urged to surv ey the resume files for
those seeki ng permanent posi tio ns a nd t hose seek ing
pos tdoc toral or similar posi tions. The files cos t $25 each
and may be or dered from Donna Go rdon, ASPB Placement
Service, 15501 Monona Drive, Rockville, M D 2085 5-2768
USA. Th ose seeking employment should com plete the Placement Service For m on the prev ious page to be included in
the service.
II. Placing a Position Ad in the ASPH etas and on the
ASPS H omep age
Submit a ll ads bye-mail to Sylvia Braxton Lee at sbraxton
@aspb.o rg (or by mail to Sylvia Brax to n Lee, 15501 Mon ona
Dr ive, Rockville, MD 20855-2768 USA). If yo u are submitting a chargea ble ad, please include billing information when
you send the ad.
ACA DEL'vUC/GOVER N ME1 'T/I DUSTRY
PERMANENT
POSIT IOJ S (Ph.D.)
Two Resear ch Scientist Positions
Phy raf- cnics, Richla nd , Washi ngto n
(Received 07/06 )
PhytaGenics is a new ly founded plant biotec hnology co mpany for novel plant gene discovery,
pro tein production for ph ar maceut ical and
ind ustrial applica tions , and meta bolic engine ering for phy tochem ical manufacture.
Position I: molecul ar biology/prot ein purification.
Can didates shou ld have demon str at ed expertise
in sta nda rd molecular clonin g, vector co nstruction for tran sgcne ex press ion, and mo lecuJar and
biochemical analyses of expressed protei ns in
transgenic plan ts. Previous exp erience in largescale pro tein puri fication is pr eferr ed . A Ph.D. in
(pla nt) mo lecula r biology, bioch emistry, or a
closely re lated area is requ ired .
Position II: plant molecul ar biology/plant
ph ysiolog y.
Can didates should have demonstr ated expe rtise
in standard molecu lar cloning, p ro tein expression in transgenic pl ants, molec ular and
biochemical cha racte riza tion of transgene
expressed products in plants, an d plant tiss ue
•
Academic/GovernmentlIndust ry Perm anent Position s (Ph.D. level):
Fee: $15 0. Includes listing in one issue of the A SPB News and 12 weeks
on the ASPB online j ob Bank.
Word Limit: 200 for print ad; no limit for online ad .
• Postdoctoral Position s
Fee: N o charge for universities, non- pro fit organiza tions, and gove rn ment installati ons; $150 for commercial com pani es. Include s listin g in
one issue of the ASP B N ews and 12 weeks on the ASPB on line job Bank.
Word Limit: 200 for print ad; no limit for online ad.
• Research/Technical Positions (non-Ph.D.)
Fee: No charge for un iversities, non-p rof it orga nizatio ns, and gove rn ment installati ons; $150 for co mmercial com pani es. Includ es listin g in
one issue of the AS PB News an d 12 weeks on the ASPB on line job Bank.
Word Limit: 200 for print ad; no limit for online ad.
•
Assistantships, Fellowships, Internship s
Fee: No charge; ad will ap pear in tw o issues of the ASPB N ew s-the
first time a t full length and the second time in a n ab breviated forman d 12 weeks on the ASPB online j ob Ban k.
Word Limit: N one.
cu lture a nd transfo rmati on . Experience in plant
physio logy a nd hort icult ure is preferred. A Ph.D .
in plant molecu lar biology, plant ph ysiology,
bo tany an d related areas is required. Good
com munication skills an d the ability to int erac t
wi th techn ical peers are necessa ry. Please send a
current cur ricul um vitae, a lett er of research
interes ts and ex periences, an d the nam es,
teleph on e nu mbers, a nd e-mai l addresses of th ree
references bye-ma il to Dr. Bria n H ook er,
D irector of Resea rch at PhytaGenics,
brian. ho o ker@phytagen ics.com.
Land scape Horticulture Specialist
Unive rsity of Ca lifornia, Davis
(Received 07/13)
This is a career track appointment in th e
Department of Environ menta l Horticulture
(80%) and the Land scape Architecture program
(20%) in the Depa rt ment of Environmenta l
Design, at the University o f California, Davis.
This is a cooperative ex tens ion pos ition (IOO%),
with em phas is on ur ban land scap e ho rticulture.
The land scap e ho rt iculture specialist will develop
a statewide program in landscape ho rt icult ure
foc using on issues cr itica l to the general p ublic,
la ndsca pe management ind ust ries, and relevant
government agencies. The appointee wi ll
estab lish a coo pera tive research program wi th
fac ulty, spec ialists and far m advisors , a nd will
pub lish find ings in peer-reviewed media. Th e
incumben t will also develop and dissem inate
educational ma terials, will pro vide leadership
and coord inat ion for Uni versity of Cali forn ia
land scap e horticulture ad viso rs, and will be a
resou rce for the sta tew ide Master Gar dener
program . Applicant s must hold a Ph.D . degree
in horticultu re, urban forestry, plant biolog y or
ecol ogy, or related fields with a researc h area
relevan t to co ntemporary ur ba n landscape
issues. Dea dline for submission of ap plication
materials is Oc tobe r 1, 200 1. For further
appl ication informat ion, con tac t Dr. Alison M .
Berr y, Department of Environ mental H orticultu re, University of Ca liforn ia, One Shields Ave.,
Da vis, CA 956 16-8 5 87 ; telephone 530 -7527683, e-mail am [email protected].
Assistan t Professor Positi ons
Purdue Univers ity, West Lafayette, Indiana
{Received 07/17}
T he Dep artment of Botan y and Plan t Pathology
at Pur due Un iversity is seek ing outsta nding
applic ants with stro ng reco rds of research
accom pl ishment for two tenure-track assista nt
profe ssor pos itio ns in the area of function al
genomics, T hese aca dem ic year {10-mo nth}
THE DEADLINE FOR ADS FOR THE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER ISSUE OF ASPB News IS OCTOBER 31,2001.
Ch ec k ASPS's Web site (htt p :/ /www.a sp b .org/job ba nk/) every Fri day for new Job listings.
Jobs with early a pplication deadlines are listed on the Web site but might not appear in the ASPB Ne ws,
28 • ASPB News, Vol. 28, NO. 5
.. ..
appointm ents will ex pa nd a nd stre ngthe n basi c
plant path ology in the departm ent a nd support
Purdu e's overa ll in itia tive in p lant ge nornics. The
s uccessful app lica nt s wi ll be ex pec ted to de velop
strong, ex terna lly funded resea rc h programs that
address rel evant q uesti ons regardi ng plantpa thogen int eracti o ns, su ch as molecular and
genetic mech a nisms of diseas e resistance in crops
or model systems, o r mech anisms of pathogenicity and virul ence in plant p athogens. Teaching
responsibiliti es wi ll incl ude und er graduate and
graduate courses in plant patho log y as w ell as
me ntoring gr adu ate stu dents. A Ph .D . in plant
pathology or rela ted d iscipline is required and
po stdocto ra l experience is des ira ble . Applicants
sh ould submit th eir curricul um vitae, a short
st at ement o f research int er ests, a sta te me nt of
teaching inte res ts a nd p hiloso phy, an d the n ames
and co nt ac t info rm at ion o f four references to Dr.
Ra y Ma rt yn , H ead , Dep a rtment of Bot an y a nd
Plant Pathol ogy, 1155 Lilly H all , Purdu e
Uni versit y, West La faye tte, IN 4 7 90 7-11 55 .
Application s s ho uld be recei ved by O ctober 3 1,
2 00 1, to ens ure full co nsi dera tion . D epa rt mental
web site : http ://www.b tny.p urd ue .ed u. An EO
em p loyer.
Assistant or Asso ciat e Profes so r
Colorado Stal e U niversity, Fort Co llins
(Received 07/1 8)
A tenure-track resea rch and teaching assistant or
associate professor pos ition is a vai la ble in plant
genomics/proteomi cs. Res po ns ib ilities include
fundame ntal resea rch relevant to qu alit y a nd
va lue o f flow eri ng plants; o bta ining ex te rnal
fund ing ; a nd co ntribut ing to int erd iscipli n ary
research wi t h em p has is o n top ics such as flower
development , em bryogenesis, seed biology, etc .
C and ida te will tea ch o ne to tw o co urses per yea r
and ad vise graduate st udents . Q ua lifica tio ns:
Ph.D. in plant biol og y or relevant field .
Postdoctor al ex perie nce p referr ed . App lica tion,
curr iculum vita , transcripts, d escripti on o f
research and teaching interests, a nd four
p rofe ssion al reference letters sho uld be sent to
Dr. Steph en J. Wall n er, H ea d, De pa rtment of
Horti cultu re and Land sca pe Architecture,
Colorado Stat e Univers ity, Fo rt Co llins , CO
80523-11 73; teleph on e 970-49 1-70 18 , fax 9 70491-7745, e-m a il sw all ner @agsci.col ost at e.edu .
Applications and no mi na tio ns will be co nsidered
until th e position is filled ; how ever, applicants
should submit applicati o ns by N o vember 1,
2001. Colorado State Un iver sit y is an eq ua l
opportunity em plo yer.
Interdiscipl ina ry
Sup er visor y Research Gen eticist (Plants )
Sup er visor y Plant Ph ysiologist
Supe rvisory R esear ch Plant Pathol ogist
USDAJARS, Hil o , H awa ii
(Rece ived 0 7/25 )
The USDAIARS, H ilo , H awa ii, invites a pp lica tion s for the p osition of cente r d irector o f th e
Pacific Basin Agricul tural Resea rch Ce nt er, GS15 ($79,71 0-$ 10 3,623 per a nn um (+ 16.5 %
COLA ), sal ary co mmensura te w ith ex pe rience ).
The center d irect or has overa ll resp ons ibility for
formulating a nd guiding a broa d -sca le
multidisciplinary research p rog ra m coverin g
crop production, fu nd am ental and applied plant
sciences, plant protecti o n, pr e-h ar vest an d postharvest plant physi ology, plant ge ne tics/p la nt
germplasm co nser vation a nd en ha ncement, and
entomology. The inc umbent will a lso co nd uct a
personal research p ro gr a m with in o ne or more of
the program missio ns. A Ph.D . or equ iva lent in
plant gen etics/pl ant p hys io logy /p lant pa t ho logy
or a clos ely rel at ed field is d esired . This is a
competitive, permanent a p po int me nt a nd U.S.
citi zen ship is req u ired . ARS is a n eq ua l opportu nit y provide r a nd em p loyer. Women an d
minorities are encou raged to a pp ly. App lica tions
mu st be marked " ARS-X 1W-14 5 1. " Fo r speci fic
a pp lica tio n p ro cedu res a nd req uire me nt s, please
ca ll Ms. Lor ett a O kam ot o, 808 -9 59 -430 1. You
may obtain a co py of th e vaca ncy anno unce me nt
from Ms. Okamoto or from th e ARS home page
(http://www. ars. usd a.go v/a fm /hrd/res j0 bs/
index.html) under a nno unceme nt ARS-X1 W1451. Applications mu st be p ost mar ked by
September 28, 2001.
Professor and Head
The University o f T en nessee, Knoxvi lle
(R eceived 0 8/ 10 )
The Uni ver sity of Tenn essee, Knoxv ille, invites
nominat io ns a nd a ppl icat ion s for th e po sition o f
professor and head o f the De partment o f Plant
Scienc es a nd Landscape Systems (see
ohld.ag.utk.edu/psls/). The head will pr ovide
leadership to a d iverse de partment having
resea rch , ex ten sion a nd aca de m ic mission s
in vol ving produ cti on of orna me nta l, food ,
forage, fiber a nd turf crops; biot echn o logy; w eed
scien ce; landscap ing; p u blic horticulture; and
en vironmental sustainab ilit y. Qu a lificat ions
include a Ph.D. in plant biology or closely
related field, administrative ex perience,
appreciation of the Land Gr ant mission , and
nationally recognized accomplishments in
teaching, research, and/or ext ensi on . Ap pl icants
should have a commitment to equ al emp lo yment
opportunity and affirmative act ion . Send for ma l
letter of application, re sume , and names, pos ta l
and e-mail add resses, and telephon e num be rs o f
five professional ref erences to Dr. Rob ert Auge,
Chair, Pla nt Sciences an d Landscap e Syste ms
Department Head Sea rch Co mm itte e, 2 52
Ellingto n Building, The Uni ver sit y of Tennessee,
PO Box 1071, Knoxville , TN 3790 1-1 071;
telephone 86 5- 974 -7324, fa x 86 5-974- 19 47,
e-mail au [email protected] . Re view o f appl ica nts '
cred entials will begin o n N ovem ber 10 , 2001 ,
and w ill co ntinue until the position is filled . Th e
..
Un iversity of Tennessee is an EEO/AAIT itle Vl/
Title IX, Sect ion 50 4/ AD A/A DEA institution in
the provision of its ed uca tion a nd em plo yme nt
programs and ser vices.
Assistant Professor
Mississippi State Univ ers ity, M ississip pi Sta te
(Received 08/17)
A tenure-track position w ith 12 -month
appointment is availa ble. Candida te is ex pec ted
to develop and susta in an interna tionallyrecognized a nd extramurall y-fund ed resea rch
p rogr am in pla nt molecular bio logy. Preference
g iven to ca nd id ates ha vin g int erd iscipl inar y
interest s in conducting co lla bo ra ti ve resea rc h o n
eco no mica lly-im po rta n t cro ps. Appo int ee w ill
devel op and tea ch gradua te co ur ses in his/her
a rea of spec ia lty. M SU ranks 8t h amo ng U.S.
uni versities in total agri cul tu ral researc h
expend itures a nd has a co m mi tmen t to
a dvan cing biotechnol ogy. Co mmercia l app lica tio ns of biotechno logy are encouraged. A Ph. D .
in plant molecular biology or relat ed field is
required and postdoctoral ex perience desira ble.
Send letter of intent, curriculu m vitae, sta teme nt
of research and teaching interests, an d name s o f
three references to Search Com mitt ee, Plant an d
Soil Sciences Department, Box 9555, Mi ssissippi
State University, Mississippi State, M S 39762.
Applications accepted until Octo ber 1, 200 1, or
until position is filled. For further inf ormat ion
co n tact Dr. Alan Wood, Director, Life Sciences
a nd Biotechnology Inst itute a t 662-325 -9208 .
ANEEO Emplo yer.
Assis ta nt Professor
Universi ty o f N ebrask a, Omah a
(R eceived 0 8/21 )
The Biology Depa rtment, Uni versit y o f
Nebraska at Omah a, a nno unces a tenu re-t rack,
assi stant professor p osition in pla nt p hysio logy,
st arting August 2002. A co mp leted Ph.D . in
pla nt physiology or closely related d iscipli ne is
req uired . Postdoctoral research and/or teaching
ex pe r ience is desirable. Applicants with research
int er ests in any area of plant physiology will be
co ns ide red . Teaching responsibilities include an
upper-division/graduate plant physiology course
with a laboratory and participation in introductory bio log y survey courses. Graduate courses in
th e area of specia lizatio n may be developed . The
su ccessful ca nd id a te is expected to esta blish an
ac tive research progra m . The uni vers it y a nd
de partme nt are st ro ngly committed to achi evin g
d ive rsity amo ng facult y an d sta ff. We ar e
particul arl y in terested in receiving applicati on s
from members o f underrepresented g ro ups a nd
strongly enco urage women a nd people o f co lo r
to appl y. For more informati on a bo ut th e
dep ar tment, see the web site at www.uno ma ha .
eduz--wwwbio/, Screen ing of application s will
begin Oc to ber 1, 2001, and continue until th e
ASPB News, Vol. 28, NO.5· 29
position is filled. Send curriculum vitae,
statements of teaching and research objectives,
and three letters of recommendation to Chair,
Biology Department, University of Nebraska at
Omaha, 6001 Dodge St., Omaha, NE 68182.
In teg ra tive Ph ysiologist
Unive rsi ty of Colorado, Boulder
(Received 08/31 )
Th e Department of En vironmental, Population
an d Organi sm ic Biolog y (htt p ://w w w.C olora do .
EDU/epo b/) at the Un iversity of Colorado,
Boulder (h tt p://www.co lo rad o .ed u/), inv ites
app lica tio ns for a tenure-trac k integra tive
ph ysiologist who a pplies molecular and/or
biochem ical appro ach es to th e st udy o f cellular
fun cti on within a compar ative a nd/o r envi ron mental cont ex t. Individu als w orking with a ny
ta xa and/or model sys tem are encouraged to
a pp ly. The department anticipates hiring at the
ass ista nt professo r level. H owever, a p plica tions
a t o ther levels ma y be considered. The tentative
sta rt date is Augu st 19, 20 0 2. Tea ching duties
will include a n undergraduate core course in
cellul ar a nd integrative ph ysiol og y and upper
level co urses in a reas o f specia lty. Applicants
sho uld sub mit a current curr iculum vitae,
sta tement s of research and teaching interest s,
a nd have three indi vidu als send letter s of
recommendation under separate cover. Su bm it
ma teri als by October 15,2001, to Integrative
Physiologist Search Committee, Dept. of EPO
Biology, Campus Box 334, University of
Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0334. Queries
about the position can be sent to cynthia.
[email protected]. The University of Colorado
at Boulder is committed to diversity and equa lity
in education and employment.
POSTDOCTORAL POSITIONS
Postdoctoral Fellow
Universiry of Kalmar, Kalmar, Sweden
(Received 07/03)
A postdoctoral position for up to two years is
available from October 1st to study the
regulation of sesquiterpene biosynthesis in
plants. Of particular interest is sesquiterpenoid
phytoalexins induced as response to pathogenic
attack (elicitation). Both wild-type and
transgenic plants/cell cultures expressing key
biosynthetic enzymes under the control of
inducible promoters (e.g. tetracycline) will be
used in these studies. The successful candidate
should possess a Ph.D. with a strong emphasis in
molecular biology and demonstrate experience
with plant molecular biological techniques. The
ca nd id ate should a lso p referably have experience
with vari o us biochemical methods such as
enzym e isolation and characterization as we ll as
met a bol ite a na lysis (G C-M S). Add itio nall y, th e
cand ida te sho uld ha ve publ icat ions in gen erally
30 • ASPB Ne w s. Vol. 28, NO.5
accessible peer-rev iew ed internationa l jou rn als.
Please send complete curriculu m vitae a lo ng w ith
names of three references to peter.b rodelius@
hik .se or to P. Brodelius , Dep artment of
Chemistry a nd Biomed ical Sciences , Uni versity
of Kalm ar, 391 82 Ka lmar, Swe den .
Po stdocto ra l Po sition
Un iversity of Kentu cky, Lexing to n
(Received 0 7/ 05
One postdocto r al posit ion is avai lable imm ed iatel y in th e De partment o f Agr on om y, Un iver sity
of Kentucky, Lexington . Th e success ful ca nd idate
w ill join a ver y active resea rch team focu sing o n
(l) development o f nov el mol ecul a r ge ne tic tools
and germ plasm fo r molecul ar ph a nn inglfarm ing,
and (2 ) molecul ar reg ulatory mech ani sm s
underlying leaf senescence in Ara bid opsis (for
more inf o rmation , please visit http://www.uk y.
cd uz--sga n/ ). While th e incumbent is ex pec ted to
co ncentr a te o n (l), the ca nd ida te is a lso ex pec ted
to use modern molecul ar geneti c tec h niq ues to
a na lyze a geneti c insul at or tha t we hav e iso lated
from Ara bid op sis. Appl icants sho uld have
received their Ph .D . degree in bioche mis try,
genetics, bacteriology or a closely rela ted field
with in past tw o yea rs. Appli cant s ho uld be
highl y m otivated a nd career-o rient ed. Ex tensive
w o rkin g exp eri ence in molecul ar biology is a
mu st, a nd experience with Ara bid op sis is a plu s.
To ap ply, p lease fax or e-m a il your ap plica tio n
with cur riculum vitae , and nam es, teleph on e
num bers an d e-mai l ad dres ses o f three references
to Dr. Sushe ng Gan at 859-323 -1077 (fax) or
sga n@pop .uky.ed n. EO£.
Po stdoctoral Po siti on
Texa s A&M Uni versit y, Co llege Sta tion
(Rec eived 07/06 )
A postdoctoral po siti on is avai la ble to study th e
functional genomics of pl ant resp on se an d
adaptation to advers e environ ments using
microarrays. The per son hired will join a
dynamic team of resear ch er s w o rkin g o n tw o
NSF sponsored gen om e pr oject s focus ed o n th e
environmental stress tolerance o f pl ants usin g
sorghum as a model spec ies. Please send a
curriculum vit ae an d list o f refer enc es to Dr.
John Mullet (jmu llcrwr amu .edulau d Dr. Pat ricia
Kle in (pkl ein @tamu .edu), Ins titute fo r Plant
Genomics and Bio tech nology (ipg b@ta mu.ed u),
Texas A&M U nivers ity, College Sta tion, Te xas.
Po stdoctoral Pos ition
University of Florida, G a ines ville
(Received 0 7/1 2 )
A postdoctora l pos ition in plant molecular
biology is a vaila ble at th e H ortic ultural Sciences
Department , Un iversit y o f Flo rida , Ga inesville.
The pr oject focu ses o n the synt hetic pathways o f
beta -alanine an d beta-alan ine beta ine . Fo r
background wor k see Physiolo gia Plantarum
10 9, 225-2 31 , 20 00; a nd Plant Physiolo gy 126,
124 1-1246,200 1. Ca ndi da tes sho uld ha ve a
Ph .D . in a ny area o f plant bio logy. Stro ng skills
in mo lecular clo ning a nd bioc hem ist ry, as
dem on st rat ed by th esis wor k a nd publications,
a re requ ired. Sala ry a nd sta rt d at es a re negotiab le. To a pp ly send a copy o f yo ur c urr iculum
vitae (prefe rably by e-ma il) a nd co nta ct
infor ma tio n fo r th ree refere nces to Dr. Bala
Rath inasab ap athi , Assist ant Professor, H orticulrural Sciences Dep artment, Universit y o f Flo rida,
G a inesville, FL 3261 1-069 0; teleph on e 352-392192 8 . ex t. 32 3 , fa x 352-392-5 653, e-ma il
b ra th@ma il.i fas .ufl.ed u.
Po stdoctoral Positi on
Un iversit y o f Ari zo na, Tucson
(Recei ved 07/12 )
Appli cants are invited for a n NSF -funded
postd o cto ral position in the a rea o f plant
fun cti on al geno mics a t the Uni ver sity of Arizona.
Th e respo nsibilities of this positi on, fund ed for
tw o yea rs, invo lve the production of maize
cD NA /EST mic ro ar ra ys, including on e fo r a
ma ize uni ge ne set, a nd using th ese for analysis of
gene ex p ressio n. We ar e looking for en thusiastic,
hard-work ing, a nd di ligent applica nt s to help
lead o ur interdiscip linary team, which also
inte rfaces with o ther rn icro arra y-based projects
in pl ant fun ctional gen omics. Applications and
enq uiries shou ld be directed to Drs. David
G albraith a nd Vick i Chandler, University of
Arizona, Dep artment of Plant Sciences, 303
Forbes Buildi ng , Tu cson, AZ 85721. Application s sho uld includ e a curriculum vitae and the
names of three references to David W. Galbraith,
Profe ssor o f Plant Sciences, Department of Plant
Sciences, Uni ver sity of Arizona, 303 Forbes
Building, Tuc son, AZ 85721; telephone 520-6219153 , fax 520-621-7186, e-mail galbraith@
a rizona.ed u, Web site http://latin.arizona.edu/
ga lbra ith. Plant-Insect Interaction program:
http://ag. arizo na .ed u/pii-rtg.
Po stdo cto ra l Positio n
IN R A, Versaill es, Fra nce
(Rec eived 07/13)
T he foll owi ng postd oct or al fellow ship position is
ava ila ble im medi at ely a t INRA (h ttp ://
www. inra. fr), Versa illes, France, a nd is restri cted
to no n-F ren ch a pplica nts . App lica nts a vailable to
sta rt in Janu a ry 20 02 a re a lso enco uraged to
a pp ly. We requi re a m oti vat ed an d experienced
po stdoctoral fello w to work on mole cul ar
ph ysiol ogy a nd gene tics o f br an chin g in pea a nd
Medicago, Th e a p plica nt sho uld hav e a Ph.D .
an d sho uld dem on strat e ex per ience in pl ant
gene tics, molecul a r biology, particul arl y gene
ex pressio n techniques, ge nera tion, and a na lysis
o f tr an sgeni c plants. Ex perience with plant
ph ysiology is highly desir abl e. Th e postdoctoral
fellow wi ll co nt ribute to the un ders tand ing of
bra nch ing in plants by st udying genes contro lling
tw o no vel lo ng-d ist a nce sig na ls speci fica lly
invol ved in branching an d by charac terizi ng new
m uta nts in co llaboration with C. A . Bever idge
(The Univ ersity of Q uee ns lan d, Brisba ne ; see
Beveridge C. A., Long-distance sig na lling and a
mu tation al an a lysis of branching in pea. Plant
Growth Regul 32, 193-203 , 20 00) . Interest ed
app licants sh ou ld sen d a curr iculum vit ae , list of
publications , brief sta teme nt of experience, skills
and qu alific ations, an d the names of two referees
to Catherine Ram eau, Station de generiqu e
IN R A, Rou te de Sa int- Cyr, 78 02 6 Versaille s
cede x, Fra nce; telephone +33- 1-3 0833 289, fa x
+33-1-30833 31 9, e-ma il rameau@versa illes.
inra .fr.
Postd octoral Positio n
Un iversity o f Flo rida , G ainesville
(Rece ived 07/17 )
A pos td octora l position is avai lable in biochem ist ry, gen omi cs and eng ineer ing of p lant onecarbon and fola te metabolism (see J Biol Chern
274, 3 608 9 , 1999; Tren ds Pla nt Sci 5, 20 6,
2000; Plan t J 25,575,200 1; www.hos.ufl.edu/
metengl 1Cpage l .hrml), A stro ng background in
mo lecu lar bio logy a nd biochemistry is essent ia l.
Applicants mus t hav e good scien tific w riti ng
ski lls and be able to work ind ependently. Please
send curriculum vit ae, cover letter descr ibing
resea rch inte res ts and experience an d names of
th ree reference s to Andrew H an son , University
of Florida , H o rt icul tu ral Scie nces Dept.,
Ga ine svi lle, FL 3 26 11 -06 90 ; teleph o ne 3 52-3 92192 8 ext. 33 4; e-ma il a d ha@ma il.ifas .ufl.ed u.
Postdoctor al Pos itio n
Johns H opkins U n iversity, Ba ltim ore, Mary land
(Receiv ed 07/2 0 )
A postdoctora l position in the Department of
Biology will be avai lab le September 1, 2001. The
subject o f resear ch will be the chloro p last ATP
synthase. In pa rti cular, we are interested in the
regula tion o f activity and in the struc ture of this
complex enzyme (see McCarty et a I., Ann u. Rev.
Plant Ph ysiol., 5 1, 83-109; 2000) . Please sen d
your curr iculum vit ae a nd names an d contact
information fo r two references to Dr. Rich a rd E.
McCarty, preferably via e-mai l (rem l@ jhu.ed u).
Ma iling a dd ress: 23 7 Merge nt haler H a ll, Joh ns
Hopki ns University, 34 00 N . Charles St.,
Ba ltim or e, MD 2 1218.
Po std o ctoral Po sit ion
Virgin ia Tech, Bla ck sbu rg, Virginia
(Received 0 7/25)
A postdocto ra l position is ava ila ble to study the
genes inv olv ed in synt hesis of D-chiro inos itol.
The pr oje ct w ill focus on isol at ing pla nt
(Arabidopsis thaliana) genes req uired to
synt hes ize D-chiro-inos ito l an d tran sfering th ese
gen es int o t ran sgenic pla n ts for prod uction to
treat Typ e II D ia betes . App lica nts shou ld ha ve a
Ph.D . deg ree in biochemis try or biolog y or a
related filed wi th em phas is o n molecul a r bio logy.
Virginia Tec h has a strong commi tment to t he
principl e of di versi ty an d , in t har spirit, seek s a
broad spectrum of candi da tes inclu ding women ,
minori ties, and people with disabiliti es. Send
curri cul urn vitae and contact inform at io n for
three references to Dr. Glenda Gilla spy,
Department of Bioc hem istr y, Vir ginia Tech,
Blacskbu rg, VA 2406 1; e-ma il gillasp y@vt. ed u.
Postdo cto ra l Re search Position
Vienna Bio cen ter, Vienna, Aus tria
(Received 0 7/27 )
A pos tdoctora l resea rc h pos ition is av a ilab le a t
the Institute of Microbio logy and Genetics a t the
University of Vien na . T he research program is on
sign al tra nsd uctio n of a bio tic and bio tic stresses
(Cardina le et a I., ]. BioI. Chern. 275, 36 73436740, 2 000; Hirt Proc. Na t!. Acad. Sci USA 97,
2405-2407, 2000; Kiegerl et aI., Plant Ce ll 12,
22 47-2258,2000; j on ak et aI., 12, 1467-1475,
2000) and incl udes ge n om ic, proteomic, a nd in
vivo cell bio logy st udie s in Arabidopsis.
Experience in p lant an d molecu lar biology is
required . T he successfu l cand idate wi ll become a
Wi ttg enstein fellow an d wo rk on the tea m of
Pro f. I-Ieribert Hirt who was recen tly awarded
this prize. The Hirt lab is locat ed in the Vienna
Biocenter, a Cent er of Exce llence, in the cen ter of
Vienn a . Vienna is one of the most a ttractive
places in the wo rld, offering socia l an d cu ltura l
h ighl ight s a nd a bea utifu l environment.
Emplo yment wi ll inclu de a n a ttractive sa lary,
includ ing socia l sec uri ty an d hea lth insurance .
Applicants sh o u ld submit a cur ricu lum vitae,
resum e, GR EIT O EFl. scor es, and th ree letters of
reference to Prof. Dr. H . Hirt, Inst, of Mi cr o biol ogy and Gen etics , Vienna Biocenter, Dr.
Boh rgass e 9, A-103 0 Vienna, Austria; e-mail
hehi@gem .un ivie .ac.a t .
Pos tdocto ra l Po sitions
Kansa s Stat e U niversity, Ma n ha tta n
(Received 07127)
Two NSF-funded pos tdoctora l positi on s a re
av ailable imm ed iately to st udy signaling
pro cesse s in plant me tabolism and stress
resp onses. Po sition one is to inves tigate
ph osph olip ase -me dia ted sign a ling processes. Tile
incum bent will characterize no vel phosph ol ipase s, identify cell ular targets of lipi d messenger s, and determi ne physiological fun cti on s of
lipid-based signa ling cascades. Candid at es must
have a strong backgro un d and demonstrat ed
ability in molecu lar bio logy and biochem istry
techniq ues. Ex perience in plant stress physiology
is a plu s. Po sit ion two is to partici pa te in a
mul ti-di scipl inar y pro ject t hat uses me tabolomic
a pp roac hes to study th e d yna mics and fun cti on s
o f mem bra ne lipid tu rn o ver a nd to identify the
mo lecu lar a nd ce llular mach inery th at generates
and reg u lates th e membrane fun ct ion s. In
a dd ition to having a so lid background in
bioc hemistry a nd m olecular biology, w orking
experience in mass spe ct ro metr y a nd stre ss
physiology is desired. Interest ed applicants
sh ould sen d curriculum vit ae and arr a nge to
have three letters of referen ce sen t to Dr. X uemin
Wang, Professo r, Departm ent of Biochemistry,
Kan sas Sta te University, Manhattan, KS 66 50 6;
telephone 785-53 2-6422, fax 785-532-7278 ,
e-mail wangs@ksu .ed u.
Po stdoctora l Posi tion
Un iversity of Flori da, Gai nesv ille
(Received 07/31)
A two-year pos tdoctoral research po sit ion is
available for the st udy of mi tochondrial
biogenesis and function in p la nt s. Resear ch
expl oits the S system of cytoplasmi c rna Ie
ster ility (CMS) in maize, in whi ch a novel
mi tochondria l ge ne initiates progr ammed ce ll
death lead ing to pollen collapse and male
sterilit y. Res torer-of-fertilit y (R f) alle les at many
different n uclear loci suppress or compensate fo r
t he exp ression of the mitoc hondria l CMS gene to
co nd it io n male fertili ty. T he pos tdoctora l
associate wi ll use trans poson displ a y and/or
TAIL PCR to clo ne nuclear Rf a lleles recovered
from C M S-S plants wi t h ac ti ve AdDs or En/Sp m
systems and wi ll ha ve th e o pportuni ty to deve lop
a re late d project addressing th e ro le of mit o chon dr ia in p lant progra mmed ce ll de a th or the
m o lecu lar mechanisms of fertili ty restoration by
nu clear genes . Applica nts should send via e-mai l
a cu rricul um vitae, a st ateme nt of scientific
inte re sts and career goals, and th e names and
con tac t informa tion (including e-ma il) for t hree
references to Dr. Christine Chase, Horticu ltural
Scienc es Department , Box 11 0 690 , Universit y o f
F lorida, Gainesville, FL 32 611 -06 90; te lephone
352 -39 2 -192 8 ext. 3 16, e-mail ctdc@ma il.
ifas.u fl.ed u, web site http://w ww.hos.ufl.ed u/
ctd cw eb/index .hrm .
Po std octoral Research Associates
Washington Sta te University, Pu llm an
(Received 08/02 )
Tw o well-tra ine d, eager and imagin ative
m ole cu lar geneticists are so ug ht to join a
mu ltidisciplinary program to un dersta nd and
manipulate tile pathways of lip id synthesis in
oilseeds, One pro ject involves scre en ing for
des irable mo d ifier mutations in tra nsgenic
Ar abidopsis an d clon ing the affec te d genes. A
second project is to al ter the expression of
spe cific genes in transgen ic pla nts. App licants
sh ou ld hav e experience in genetics and/or
mole cu la r biolog y bu t pr io r work w ith pla nt s is
not essentia l. My la bor at o ry of 15 gradua te
ASPS News. Vol. 28. No .5 · 31
students and postdocs alre ady ha s pro jects o n
fatty acid and lipid synthesis, and th e Inst itute of
Biological Chemistry at Washington Sta te
University is an excellent research env ironment
for the work that is planned. Th e position will be
available from November (but th e sta rt date is
flexible) for up to three years po ssibly. Sa lary
will be commensurate with experience. Review
of applications will begin immed iat ely, an d
continue until the positio n is filled . Send
curriculum vitae, a statement of resea rch
interests and car eer goals, rep resent ativ e
pu blications, and three lette rs of referen ce to
Joh n Browse, Institute of Bio logical Chemistry,
Washington Stat e University, Pullm an , WA
99164-6340, USA; teleph on e 509-335-2293; fax
509-33 5-7643 , email jab @wsu .edu EOFJAN
ADA .
Postdoctoral Position
State Uni versit y of N cw York , Sto ny Brook
(Received 08/02 )
A postdoctor a l position in the Departm ent of
Biochemistry and Cell Biology is avai lable
starting immediatel y. Th e research pr ojects wi ll
focus on identification and charac teriza tio n of
Arabidopsis proteins th at int eract w ith
Agrobacterium virulence proteins an d o n th e use
of a genetic assay to identify Arab idop sis
mutants with altered cell-to-cell pr ot ein
transport. Required qualifications: experience in
molecular biology, biochemistry a nd Ara bido psis
biology, record of publications. Eligibility fo r
outside funding is preferred. For m ore det ails 01'
applications (curriculum vitae and th ree letters o f
reference), please contact Dr. Vitaly Cito vsk y,
Department of Biochemistry a nd Cell Bio logy,
State University of New York, Ston y Brook , N Y
11794-5215; telephone 631-6 32- 95 34 , fax 631 632-8575, e-ma il vitaly.c itovsky@sun ysb.edu .
The Un iversity at Ston y Bro ok is an eq ual
o ppo rtunity/a ffirmative acti on employer.
Applicatio ns from wo men, peopl e o f co lor,
disabled per son s, and/or specia l disabled or
Vietnam era vete ran s are espe ciall y welcom e.
I' ostdocrora l and or Resear ch Positions
U niversity of Geor gia, A thens
(Received 08/02 )
Th ree new positio ns rema in avai lable in an
ongoing genomics program. Effort wi ll focus o n
microarray evaluation of geno me express io n
utilizing our >14,OOO-member uni gene set and
continued development of our current O racle
database and methods for mining it. Th e
postdoctoral position is dedicated prim arily to
the wet-lab aspects of microarrays, whil e a
second position is dedicated to bioinformati cs.
For further details see http://www.botany.
uga.edu/-prattlab. For the wet-lab position, send
curriculum vitae with contact inform ati on for
32 • ASPB News, Vol. 28, No. 5
th ree refere nces to Dr. Lee Pratt, Department of
Bota ny, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
30602; telephone 706-542-1841, fax 706-58302 10, e-ma il lecpratrs'uga.cdu. For the
bio infor ma tics position respond similarly to Dr.
Alan Gingle, Offi ce of the Vice President for
Research , University of Georgia, Athens, GA
30602; teleph on e 706-5 83-0226, fax 706-58 30210 , e-ma il aging [email protected] u.
Postdoctoral Fello w
T he Samue l Rob ert s N obl e Foundation
Ard mor e, Ok laho ma
(Received 08/06)
A NASA-funded postd octoral fellowship is
avai lable to investigate the cellular mech ani sms
und erl ying gra vitro pism in plant ro ots. Th e
researc h will employ ad vanced optical microsco py an d cell biological techniques to help define
the dynam ics and ro le of the cytos keleton and
other ce ll regula tors suc h as pH and auxin
d uring root growth and gravitropism. A Ph.D. in
cell a nd molecul ar biolog y or plant biology is
requ ired. Ex perience in fluorescence/confocal
microscopy, molecular techniques, the cytoskeleto n, an d/o r gra vitro pism would be advantageo us. Interested candidates are encouraged to
review the job description and download an
applica tio n at http://www.noble.org and send a
com plete curr iculum vitae (position number
must be included) and names and contact
informa tion of three professional references to
H uma n Resources - #PBlPD-EB191, The Noble
Found ati on, PO Box 2180, Ardmore, OK 73402;
telephon e 5 80-22 3-5810, e-mail NFHR@Noble.
org . Infor mal inquiries can be directed to Dr.
Elison Blancaflor, telephone 580-221-7364,
e-mail eb lanca flor@nob le.or g.
Pos tdoc tora l Fellow Positions
Un iversity of H on g Ko ng, C hina
(Received 08/07 )
Two position s are available immediatel y in the
De part ment o f Bot an y for o ne yea r (rene wable
for up to thr ee yea rs) in the areas of plant
geno mics a nd bio techno logy at the Univer sity of
H on g Kon g. App licants sho uld ha ve a Ph .D. in
plant biology-related discip lines a nd must have
demon strated sk ills in mo lecular biology. We
seek interactive and self-motivated indi viduals to
man age developing pro jects in plant genomics
and biot echn ology. Salary range is on a fourpoint scale at HK $ 30,78 5, $33,705, $36,940,
$4 0,500 per month (current excha nge rate:
1US$-7.8 HK$), co mmens urate with experience.
H on g Kon g is o ne of th e major gateways into
Asia a nd is an exc iting cosmopolitan city that
offers diverse modern conveniences as well as a
rich cultura l herit age. Int erested applicants
sho uld send th eir vitae and thre e letters of
reference to Dr. Eri c La m, Ch air of Botany,
University of H on g Kon g, Pok fulam Road, Hong
Kong; e-ma il ericL89@ho tmaiJ.co m . Closing
date for appl icati on s is December I sr, 2001.
Postd octo ral Pos itio ns
N orth Ca ro lina Sta te Universi ty, Rale igh
(Received 08/09)
Two post doctor al posi tions are ava ila ble
O ctober 1, 2001 , to study brassi nos tero id signa l
transduction in Ara bido psis .
Position 0 105
Th e primar y ex perimenta l objectives will be to
identify the in vivo auto phos phorylario n sites of
the Ara bido psis BRIl receptor kinase and
determine if a uto phos phory latio n events are
brass inos tero id -de pendent . Techn iqu es emp loyed
will includ e irnmunoprecipiration of BRIl from
purifi ed mem bran e preparations followed by
advanced ana lysis by mass spec trometry in
colla boration with exp erts in th at field (Oh et
al., Plant Physiology J24, 751-765,2000).
Position 0106
Role of TRI P-J in BR signa ling (Jiang & Clo use,
Plant J 26, 35-45, 2001). Th e prima r y experimental ob jectives wi ll be to determin e if the
TGF -beta Recept or Int eracting Prot ein homolog
in plants is a substrate of th e BRIl receptor
kinase in Ara bidopsis. Minimum requirements
include a Ph .D . in biochem istry, genetics ,
mole cular biology or plant ph ysiology, and
exp erience with recombin an t DNA tech niqu es
and pr otein bioch em ist ry. Exp ert ise in imrnun oprec ipit ati on of prot eins and kinase bioche mistry
would be parti cul arly relevant . App ly to pos ition
num ber by send ing cur ricu lum vitae and e-mail
add resses of th ree references to Dr. Steve Clou se,
Box 76 09, N orth Carolina Sta te Uni versity,
Ra leigh, N C 27695- 76 09; e-ma il steve_clo use
@ncs u.ed u. Eq ual o ppo rtu nity emp loyer.
Postdocto ral Resear ch Position
Th e Samuel Rob ert s N obl e Fo undation
Ard more, O klaho ma
(Received 081J6)
A postd octor al po sition is imm ediately ava ilab le
in the Fo rage Biote chn olo gy Grou p of the Nob le
Foundation . The successf ul can dida te will work
on geneti c manipul ati on of flowering time in
forage crops. Applicants sho uld have a Ph.D .
with a strong background in plant developm ental biology/molecul ar biology. Th e project is
supported by the Noble Found ati on and th e
position is initially available for tw o years with
the possibility of renewal for an addi tiona l year.
Annual salary is in the range of $31 ,090$46,630 depending upon qualificati on s and
experience. Application and jo b descript ion
obtainable from our Web site, www.nobl e.org,
For details of the project, co nta ct Dr. Ze ngyu
Wang at zywang@noble. or g o r 58 0-224- 6830 .
For application, send a cov er lette r, detai led
.. ..
curriculum vitae, and arrange for three letter s of
reference to be directly sent to Human Resources
Department, Attn: Job# FBGIZW86, The
Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, PO Box
2180, Ardm ore , OK 73 402; e-mail
[email protected] rg.
Pos tdocto ral Positions
Boyce T ho mpso n Institute at Corn ell Univ ersit y
Ithaca, N ew York
(Received 08/1 7)
Two postdoctoral positions are ava ilable
immed iately, to study nuclear gene produ cts
requ ired for plant organelle biogenesis. One
project will focu s on phage-like RNA pol ymerases and associated factors, using bioch emical, genetic and genomic approaches (Chang et
aI., 1999, Plant Cell 11,911-926; 1999). The
ot her project will utilize Chlamydomonas
reinhardtii as a model system to investigate
global and gene-specific regulation of chloroplast
RNA stability (Esposito et al, Curro Genet., 39,
40-4 8; 2001). Familiarity with molecular
techniques and prior exposure to genetics are
preferred, but not essential. For consideration,
ap plicants should have publications in peerreviewed journals and be able to travel to Ithaca
for an interview. The initial appointments will be
for tw o years , with poss ible renewal. Please send
a letter outlining research goals and experience,
a cu rriculum vitae, and the addresses o f th ree
references to Dr. David Stern, Boyce Thompson
Institute at Corne ll Universit y, Tower Rd ., Ith aca
NY 14853; telephone 607-254 -1306, e-mail
ds28 @cornell .edu . Information about Dr. Stern's
laboratory can be viewed a t www.pl antbio.
corn ell.ed u/faculty.php?fid=43 . The Boyce
Th omp son Institute is an equal opportunity
emp loyerlrecr uiter.
Postd octor al Position s
Un iversity of Nebraska, Lincoln
(Rece ived 08/20)
Postdoctoral positions are available October 1,
2001, to study the signaling pathways and
structural proteins in drought and salt stress in
Arabid opsis and rice. The experimental
approa ches include microarrays, proteomics,
genetics, transient assays and transgenic plants .
Par ticular emphasis will be on protein.protein
interaction s and protein phosphorylation using
UN L's sta te-of-the-art proteomics facilities and
on genet ic screens using RNA-suppressi on
st rategies in single cells. Minimum requ irem ent s
include a Ph.D . in biochemistry or molecular
biology. Send cur riculum vitae a nd e-mail
addresses of thr ee references to Dr. Mich ael
Fromm , N300 Beadle Center, Universit y of
Nebraska , Lincoln, NE 685 88-06 60; teleph on e
40 2-4 72 -2968, e-mail mfromm@unln otes.unl.
ed u, Eq ual op port unity empl oyer.
Postdoc tora l Position
Universi ty of Ca lifornia -Riverside
(Received 08/24)
A postdocto ral position will be availabl e starting
in Octo ber 2001 to investigate the regulation of
prot ein synthesis in plant s. M olecular studies
wi ll include prot ein-p rot ein and prot ein-RN A
analysis between the po ly(A)-binding protein and
translat ion initiati on facto rs using yeas t twohybr id, immunop recipita tio n, and GST pulldown assays. Genetic a na lyses of their development al ro le will a lso be stu died using transgenic
plants ex hib iting altere d expr ession profiles.
Fur ther research descr iption is available at
www. biochemistr y.uc r.edulfaculty/ga llie.html.
Ca ndida tes must have a stro ng background in
molecular biology and/or bioch emistry. Salary
will be com mensura te with experience. Applica nts shou ld send a curr iculum vitae bye-mail,
sta teme nt of research accomplishments, and
th ree lett ers of recommenda tion to Dr. Daniel R.
Ga llie, Department of Biochemistry, University
of Ca liforn ia, Riverside , CA 92521; fax 90978 7-35 90, e-ma il [email protected].
Facult y Research Assistan t/Pos td octor al
Researc h Associate
Or egon State University, Corva llis
(Received 08/27 )
A full-time faculty resear ch ass istant!
postd oct oral resea rch associat e position is
availabl e to stu d y th e interaction between
toma to and Bot ryt is cinerea , the caus al agent o f
gray mold . A Ph.D. (resea rch associate) or M .S.
(research ass ista nt ) in molecul ar biology,
biochemi st ry, microbi ology, or gene tics; strong
training/experience in molecula r and biological
techni que s; lab manager/supervisory experience;
and experience wr iting grant proposals are
req uired. For furt her information contact Henrik
Sto tz, 54 1-737-54 68; sto [email protected]. Send
lett er of resear ch interest, professional resume,
ph ot ocop ies of academic transcripts, and three
refere nce lett ers to Viki Freeman, OSU Horticultur e De part ment , 4017 ALS, Corvallis, OR
9733 1-7304; teleph on e 541 -737-5475, fax 541737- 34 79. For full con sideration, apply by
September 20, 2001. O regon State University is
an affirmative ac tion/equa l opportunity
em ployer an d has a policy of being responsive to
the needs of d ual-ca reer co uples.
Postdoctor al Research Associat e Posit ion
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N ew Jersey
(Received 08/2 9 )
A postdoct oral resear ch associa te position is
ava ilable at the Biotech Center at Rut gers
University to study the effects of poke weed
antivira l prot ein (PAP) on mRNA sta bility in
yeast. PAP is a rib osom e inactiva ting prote in
with broad- spectrum activity against viral and
::
fungal pathogens. PAP recogn izes the ca p
structure on cellula r an d viral RNA s and inhibits
translati on by de pur inati ng the capped RNA. A
pos tdocto ral resear ch associa te is sought to
characteri ze the mechan ism by which PAP
interacts with the cap str uctur e a nd destabi lizes
mRNA. Qualificat ion s include a Ph.D . in a
related field, expe rience with RN A biochemistr y
a nd molecular biolog y, and demon str ati on of an
ac tive publi cat ion record. Please send the na mes
a nd addr esses of three references to Dr. Nil gun
Tu rner, Biote ch Center, Fora n Hall, Cook
College, Rut gers Universi ty, New Bru nsw ick, NJ
089 01- 8520; e-mai l tumer@aesop .rutgers.edu.
Postdoctor al Positions
Donald Dan forth Plant Science Center
St. Louis, Mis so uri
(Received 08/31)
Postdoctoral position s are anticipa ted at the
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in a
variety of scientif ic disciplin es including
biochemistry, co mputati onal and structura l
biology, cell biolo gy, virology, immu nology,
molecul ar pathology and physio logy, and
genetics. Successful cand idate s will ha ve good
publication reco rds an d co mma nd of the English
langua ge. Descript ion s o f op enings and co ntac t
inform at ion ca n be fo und und er Job O ppo rt un ities at www.da nforthcent er.org . T he Donald
Danforth Plant Science Center is an equa l
oppo rtunity/a ffirmat ive act ion empl oyer and
encourages app lica tio ns fro m underrepresented
groups, including minorities, wom en and people
with disa bilities.
Postdo ctoral Posi tio n
Un iversit y of Z uric h, Switzerla nd
(Received 08/ 31 )
A postdoctoral position is currently available in
my group at th e Institute of Plant Biology to
study the molecul ar phy siology of ra ffinose
family oligosacch arid es (RFO s) in plant s. RFOs
are primary photosynth et ic products th at fulfill
many vital physiolo gical funct ion s such as
storage, tran slocatio n, an d meta bolic utili zati on
of carbon as well as protect ion aga inst environ mental stre sses. T he successful ca ndida te w ill be
using a phys iolo gica l, bioch emical, and
molecular-genetic a pproa ch to furthe r explo re
compartmentation , regulation, and ph ysiological
roles of RFOs in Ajuga reptans (common bugle)
and Arabidopsis thalia na as th e model systems.
Qu alifications: a Ph.D . in plant biology,
molecul ar biology, biochem istr y, o r a relat ed
area; cDN A cloning and plan t tran sformatio n
experience is essential. T he position is ava ilab le
imm edi atel y or as soo n as possible an d is offered
for a term of two to three years. Please send a
letter of inter est, curric ulum vitae, and na mes
and e-ma il addresses of th ree references to Dr.
ASPB News. Vol. 28. No.5· 33
IJo b
Pla c em en servic e I
Felix Keller, Institute of Plant Biology, Universi ty
of Zurich; telephone +41-1-634- 8225, fax +41-1634-8204 , e-mail fkel@boti nst. unizh .ch. web site
http://www.unizh.ch/botinst/Physiol_Website/
kcllerfhome.html .
RESEARCH/TECH N ICAL PO SIT IO N S
(N o n-Ph. D .)
Research Assistan t
Ru tgers Uni versit y, N ew Bru nswick , J ew J ersey
(Received 07/18 )
A Ph.D. resea rch assista nt posi tio n is ava ila ble to
wo rk o n turfgrass tra nsfo rmat io n. Expe rience in
tissue cul ture and molecular biology is req uired.
Please send curricu lum vitae by mail or e-m ail
(bela nger@aesop .ru tgers.e du) to Dr. Faith
Belanger, Biotech Center, Foran H all, Cook
Co llege, 59 Du dley Road , New Brun sw ick, NJ
08901.
Research Assistant
T he Ohio State Uni versity, Woo ster
(R eceived 07120 )
App licatio ns are so ugh t to fill a research
assis tan t 1 position in the Depa rtment o f
Horticulture and Crop Science a t T he Ohio Stat e
University R &D Cen ter locat ed in Woos ter,
Oh io. Th e successf ul ca ndida te will be in volved
in ma nagi ng a lab o rat o ry th at investiga tes the
molecul ar regul atio n of flower senescence by
plant ho rmon es. T his is a per manent, ha rd
money- funded posi tion with a star ti ng salary
range of $19 ,011-$25,000. Minim um q ua lificatio ns arc a B.S. deg ree in hor ticulture, biology,
bioche mistry, mol ecular biology, or re la ted field .
Lab exp erience with molecular techniqu es and a
desire and willingness to learn new tech niqu es is
essential. Experience with tissue culture, plan t
tra nsfor mation, and plant-hor mo ne interac tions
is desired. Responsibilities will include ser ving as
a technical resource and assisting in cond ucting
resear ch in molecul ar biology a nd phy siology in
a floric ultur e biotechno logy lab . Specific duti es
will include co ndu cting lab and greenho use
experimen ts; per form ing tissue culture and plant
tran sfo rmat ion s; conductin g dai ly lab op eratio ns; supervising and assisting stu de nts; and
assisting with data ana lysis, manu script
pre pa ra tion, a nd literature searches. To apply,
send cove r lett er, a detailed curric ulum vitae or
resume, an d the names and con tac t inf ormation
of three referen ces to Dr. M ichelle L. Jones, T he
O hio State Un iversity/O AR DC, Depar tme nt of
H orti cu lture and Cro p Science, 1680 M ad iso n
Avenue, Wooster, OH 44 691; e-ma il jo nesl 96 8@
osu.ed u. The Ohio State University is an eq ual
opportunity/ affirmative action empl oyer.
Ph.D. Graduate R esear ch Position
Vienna Bioce nter, Austria
(R eceived 07127 )
34 • ASPB New s, Vol. 28, NO.5
A graduate research pos ition to pu rsue a Ph .D .
in molecular genetics at the Institute of M icrobiology and Genetics at the Univers ity of Vienna is
available. The research program is on signa l
transduction of abi ot ic and biotic stresses
(Ca rdina le et al., ]. BioI. Chern. 275, 3673436740 , 200 0; Hi rt, Proc. Na tl. Acad . Sci USA
97, 2405-2407, 2000; Kieger et a I., Plant Cell
12,2247 -2258 ,2000; Jonak et al., 12 , 14671475,2000) and includ es gen omic, prot eomic,
and in vivo cell bio logy stud ies in Arabidopsis.
Preference will be given to students hold ing a
master 's degree or eq uiva lent wit h experience in
plant a nd molecular bio log y. T he successful
ca ndid ate w ill become a Wittgenstein fellow and
work in the team of Prof. Heribert Hirt who was
rece ntly aw arded this pri ze. Th e Hirt lab is
located in the Vienna Biocenter, a Ce nter of
Exce llence, in th e center of Vienna . Vienna is one
of the most attractive places in the world,
offering social and cultural highlight s and a
beautiful environment. Emp loyment will inclu de
an attractive salary, incl udin g social security and
health insurance. Applicants sho uld submit a
curriculum vitae, resume, GREITOEFL scores,
an d thr ee lette rs of reference to Prof. Dr. H. H irt,
Inst. of M icrobiology and Genetics, Vienn a
Biocen ter, Dr. Bohrgasse 9, A-I030 Vienna,
Austria; e-mai l hehi @gem.un ivie.ac.at.
Facu lty Research Assistant/Postd octoral
Research Associa te
Oregon Sta te Un iversity, Corva llis
(Received 08 / 27)
See co mplete descrip tion on page 33 .
Technical Positions
Donald Danforth Plant Science Centel'
St. Louis, Missouri
(Received 08/31)
F ull time positions ar e availa ble for research
ass ista nts or research associa tes in the areas of
plant membran e transpor t/st ress physiology (D.
P. Schachtrn an) and the mo lecula r manipu lation
of the pheny lpro pa no id pathway (0. Yu). For
more deta ils o n the pro jects co ntact Dr. Yu o r
Dr. Schac htman or visit our we b site. M .S. in
biochemist ry, genetics or plant physiology is
pr eferred a nd ski lls in molecul a r biology a re
essentia l. Candida tes with a B.S. and stro ng
expe rience in molecular and biologi cal techniques will be cons idered. Salaries offer ed w ill be
comme nsura te wi th degree and year s of
experience. All positions includ e a fu ll benefi t
packa ge (health, dental, life insur ance, retire ment contributions, sick leave and vacation
time). Relocation expenses are negot iable.
Da nfort h Center is a new state-of- the -art plant
science research facility in St. Lo uis (see
www.da nfor thcenter.org). Subm it letter of
interes t an d res ume to Daniel Schach tman or
O liver Yu at dsc ha [email protected] or
o yu@danforthcen ter.org or by ma il to Do na ld
Danforth Plant Science Ce nter, 893 N . War son
Rd., St. Louis, MO 63 141. T he Dona ld
Danforth Plant Science Center is an equ al
oppor tunity/affirma tive ac tion empl oyer and
enco ura ges ap plication s from underrepresented
grou ps, including minorities, women, an d people
with disa bilities.
ASSIST ANT SH IPS, FELLOWSHIPS,
IN T ERN SH IPS
Grad uate Research Assista ntship
Clemso n Universi ty, Clemson , South Ca ro lina
(R eceived 07 /05 )
A co mbined research/teaching assistantship is
ava ilable January 2002 for studies leading to the
M.S . or Ph.D. degr ee in the newly for med
Department of Genetics an d Biochemis try at
Clemson University. Th e student will be involved
in the study of aux in transport involvement in
nodulation using the model leg ume Medicago
tru ncatula. A B.S. wit h a strong back gr ound in
mo lecula r biology, biochemistry or genetics is
req uired. Studen ts will use molecu lar biolog ica l,
biochem ical and gene tic techn iq ues to study
auxin muta nts and their nodul at ion phenotypes.
Further det ails can be fou nd at htt p://www.
clemson.ed u/- jfrugo l. T he assistantship ca rries a
co mb ined resear ch/t eachin g stipend of $ 15,000.
T he Department of Genetics and Biochemistry is
com mitted to et hnic an d gende r diversity;
therefore w omen and minority candida tes are
enco uraged to apply. Clemson University is an
eq ual opportunity/affir mat ive ac tion em ployer.
Int erested applicants sho uld contact J ulia
Frugoli, Department of Genetics and Biochemistry, 122 Long Hall, Clemson, SC 29634;
telephone 864-656-185 9, e-ma il jfrugol@
clemson.edu.
Graduate Assistan tship
University o f Lou isiana, Lafayette
(Received 07/09)
A grad ua te resea rch & teachin g ass istan tship is
avai lable at the Biology Depa rt men t, University
of Lo uisia na, La fayette. Th e assista ntship is for a
Ph.D. ca ndida te with a masters degree. Research
work will focu s on nove l plant proteins invo lved
in microt ubu le and acti n microfilament
organizatio n, including ana lysis of At[(55, a
plan t ka ranin homologue [recen t wo rk ha s been
pu blished Pro rop lasrna 216, 18 1-1 90, 2000.
Research methods include fluo resence and
confoca l microscopy and basic mol ecular
biology techniques. The ideal candid at e will be
mo tiva ted in plant cell development al an d
physio logy research. The assistantsh ip req uires a
min imum total of 1,000 in ver ba l and qu ant itative par ts of the GR E. Reci pient s must be U.S.
citizens o r hold a green card. Information on
gra d ua te studies a t the Universi ty of Louisia na ,
Lafa yette , can be ob tained fro m http://
.. ... www .ull.ed u/D ep artments/BIO L. To apply,
please mail curr iculum vitae to Reg ina
M cClinton, Assistan t Professor, Depa rtm ent of
Biology, PO Box 42 45 1, Un iversity of Loui sian a,
Lafayette, LA 70504-245 1; teleph on e 33 7-48 25 15 3, fax 337-4 82-5834, e-ma il rsm124 1@usl.
ed u. App lica tio n mat erials ca n be d o wnl oad ed
from htt p://www.usl.edu/Dep artments/BIO U
project , ap plication requirement s, and ma terials,
please con tac t Dr. Jyot i Shah , Assistan t Professo r,
Division of Biology, Kan sas Sta te University,
M anh attan , KS 66506; teleph on e 78 5-532-636 0,
e-ma il [email protected] u. Th e KSU Web site is http:/
/www.ksu .edu . Ka nsas State Universit y is an
eq ua l oppo rtu nity emp lo yer a nd actively seeks
diversity a mong its employees.
mcclinton.htrnl.
Grad ua te R esearch Assistantship
Kansa s State U niversity, Manhattan
(Received 07/25)
A grad ua te resea rch assistantship is availabl e in
th e Division of Biology for a qualified studen t
fo r stu dies lead ing to Ph.D . Research will be in
the ar ea of signa l tra nsduct ion in plan t defense
(Shah et aI., Plant Cell 11, 191-206, 1999; Sha h
er al., Plant Jo urnal 25 , 563 - 57 4, 200 1; Kachro o
et al., Pro c. N atl, Acad. Sci, USA, in press,
2001). Students will have the op portunity to
ap ply the co nce pts of genetics a nd techni qu es of
molecular biology, bioch emistry, and physiology
to ward developin g a better un derstand ing of
plant defense responses. Th e ass istan tship is
ava ilab le beginning spring 2002 and carri es an
annua l stipend of $ 15,000. Stud ents with an
M. S., a B.S., o r a B.A. in plant physiology, plant
path ology, genetics, biochemistry, mol ecul ar
biology, o r relat ed fields are encouraged to
apply. For mor e information about th e resea rch
Grad uate Researc h Assistantship
Texas A& Ivl U niversity, College Stat ion
(Received 08 /27 )
A grad uate res earch assistantship is available in
the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences at
Texas A&M University to pursue an M .S. or a
Ph.D . in agro nomy or in m olecul ar an d
enviro nmenta l plant sciences. Th e ob jective of
the research in rice cro p physiology is to imp ro ve
management to en ha nce the co mbined yield an d
q ua lity of the first (or main) cro p plu s the seco nd
(o r ra too n) crop . A co mb ina tio n of cellular- and
field- level approaches is anticipated. Th e Texas
A& M Center in Beaumo nt is well eq uipp ed to
co nd uct rice research with a large research farm
pri mar ily ded icated to rice, sa tellite researc h
centers representi ng the diver se rice-gro w ing
regio ns of Texas, and a faculty of state and
USDA scient ists with interests in rice ranging
from the ecological to the genomic levels.
Applicant s sho uld have a strong backgro und in
agro nomy , plant physiology, or a relat ed
:
bio logical science. Texas A& M Grad ua te Schoo l
admission requi rement s are descr ibed on the web
site (http: //vpr.ta mu.ed u/). Th e Department of
Soil and Cro p Sciences (http://soilcrop .tamu.edu/ )
and the Molecu lar a nd Environmental Plant
Sciences (http://soilcro p .ta mu.ed u/me ps/
inde x.ht ml) web sites pro vide additi onal
infor matio n. Informa tion a bo ut the TAM U
Center at Beaumo nt can be viewed at its web site
(http ://agresea rch. ta mu.ed u/pu bs/bea umont/
rice. htrnl; see also http://aesrg.t amu.edu/), and
the USDA research at the Beau mo nt Center is
introd uced at its web site (http ://usd a-a rsbeaumon t.tamu.ed u/). For add itio nal infor ma tion a bo ut the assistantshi p and the researc h,
please co ntact Dr. Lee Tarpley, Assistant
Professo r of Pla nt Physiology, Texas A&M
Agricultural Research and Extension Center,
150 9 Aggie Dr., Beaum ont, T X 77 71 3; teleph on e
40 9-752 -2 74 1, ext. 2235 , fax : 409-752-5560, ema il Itarp ley@tamu .edu . EEO /AA.
Gra d ua te Resear ch Assista nt ship
West Virginia Univ ersit y, Mo rg ant own
(Re pea t)
Co nt act Sven Verlinden, Division of Plan t a nd
Soil Sciences, PO Box 6108, M or gant own, WV
26506; telephone 304-293 -6023, e-m ail
sverlindts'wvu.ed u; division off ice telephone 304 293- 4 817 . (Details Jul y/August 2001 ASPB
Ne ws)
ASPB News. Vol. 28. No . 5· 35
For your conv enience, keep this
listing of ext ension nu mbe rs and
e-mai l addresses hand y wh en yo u
contact ASPB headquarters so th at
you can reach the person best able
to assist you.
•
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American Socie1y o f Plan1 Bioto qists
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Rock ville. MD 20855-2768 USA
A5PB NeI"S(ISSN 1535-5489) is publishedbimonthlyby the American Society of PlantBiologists, 15501MononaDrive,Rockville, MD 20855-2768 USA, telephone 301-251-0560,
fax 301-279-2996. Members' duesinclude a subscription priceof $2 per yearto ASPBNews.Subscription priceto nonmembers is $30 per year. Periodicals postage paidat Rockville,
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