Gramene at Plant Biology 2012!

Left to right: Donghui Li (TAIR), Laurel Cooper (Plant Ontology), Sylva Donaldson (BAR), Steve Goff (iPlant), Kate Dreher (PMN), Eva Huala (TAIR), Doreen Ware (Gramene), and Ken Youens-Clark (Gramene). Josh Stein (Gramene & iPlant) who contributed this blog, is missing in this group photo.

No event brings together a wider spectrum of the plant sciences community than the annual meeting of the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB). This year was no exception as scientists and students from around the world convened in Austin TX to share latest advances in plant research.  Several of us at Gramene--Doreen Ware, Ken Youens-Clark, and Joshua Stein--had the privilege to attend.  For Gramene the meeting was an opportunity to engage the community and learn about future priorities in the field.  This year we teamed up with other on-line providers to run the Plant Genome Resources Outreach Booth at the exhibitor’s hall and the Plant Informatics Workshop.  We were happy to see many visitors at both venues.  It was particularly rewarding to work one-on-one with people to show how Gramene works with their research interests.  An added benefit was face-time with our co-organizers from TAIR, iPlant, Kbase, PO, PMN, and BAR.  Our interaction brought perspective to the landscape of available on-line resources and also helped promote common objectives that will continue to increase interoperability in the future.

With Austin’s scorching 100-degree weather it was impossible not to take notice of the fact that the United States is experiencing its worst drought in more than 50 years.  This summer’s damage to corn and soybean crops, as well as pasture and rangeland, has prompted the USDA to designate over one-third of US counties disaster areas.  Rising food and energy prices here and around the world will bring hardship to many.  Inside the (super-chilled) Austin Convention Center, it was impossible not to take notice of the immense progress our community is making in addressing future sustainability in agriculture and energy.  This was brought to focus during many posters, talks, and entire symposia devoted to topics of abiotic stress, bio-feedstocks, and climate change and the constraints of world economy and government.  Attending this year’s meeting was a potent reminder of the importance of plant biology research to society and of what motivates us at Gramene.  We thank ASPB organizers and members alike for welcoming our participation.