The Plant Biology Graduate Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has presented annual Plant Biology symposiums since October 2003. Each symposium has been designed to highlight an exciting area of plant biology and has featured a daylong program of speakers, along with a poster sessions featuring contributions from attendees.

Here is a brief listing of past symposiums:

2011 PB SYMPOSIUM & WORKSHOPS: AUXIN AND EXPANSION, OCTOBER 8TH AND 9TH
Co-sponsored by the the Plant Biology Graduate Program at UMass Amherst and the Center for Plant Integrative Biology (CPIB), University of Nottingham, UK.
Symposium coordinators - Tobias Baskin, UMass Amherst and Malcolm Bennett, CPIB, Univ. of Nottingham, UK

SYMPOSIUM PRESENTERS:
MALCOLM BENNETT
The Centre for Plant Integrative Biology
University of Nottingham, UK
"Systems analysis of auxin-regulated root gravitropism"
THOMAS GUILFOYLE
Biochemistry
University of Missouri Columbia
"Functional Characterization of Conserved Domains/Motifs in Aux/IAA and ARF Transcription Factors."
MARK ESTELLE
Section of Cell and Developmental Biology
University of California San Diego
"Auxin regulation of hypocotyl growth"
STEPHEN FRY
Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences
University of Edinburgh, UK
"The in-vivo action of enzymes that loosen and tighten the plant cell wall"
JOHN BOYER
Marine Biosciences
University of Delaware
"Cell enlargement, wall deposition, and the role of auxin"

SUNDAY WORKSHOP PRESENTERS (30 min. each):
AM SESSIONS, 9 - 12 NOON:
Modeling auxin response and transport pathways
ERIC KRAMER
Simon's Rock College
"Developmental and biophysical constraints on auxin transport"
TEVA VERNOUX
Ecole Normale Supérieure Lyon, FR
"Integration of hormone signaling during morphogenesis at the shoot apical meristem"
LEAH BAND
University of Nottingham, UK
"Modelling auxin transport and signalling in the plant root."
STEFAN KEPINSKI
University of Leeds, UK
"Context, specificity and self-organisation in auxin signalling"
PM SESSIONS, 2 - 5 PM:
Integrating the auxin response machinery with plant growth and developmental pathways
JACQUES DUMAIS
Harvard University
"Cell Division and Meristem Structure in Land Plants"
BRUNO MOULIA
INRA-Université Blaise Bascal, Clermont Ferrand, FR
"From Plant Gravitropism to Posture Control: what our models of Auxin response networks should explain"
ANJA GEITMANN
University of Montreal
"Why getting in (cell) shape is not trivial - understanding cell biology through mathematical modeling".
TOBIAS BASKIN
University of Massachusetts Amherst
"Up, down, and sideways: Remarks on anisotropic expansion."

2010 PB SYMPOSIUM: October 2nd, UMass Amherst
BIOLOGY WITHOUT BORDERS: Synergies between Plant and Animal Biology
Faculty symposium coordinators - Magdalena Bezanilla and Danny Schnell

PRESENTERS:
MICHAEL AXTELL
Biology Department, Penn State University
Evolution and functions of plant microRNAs over long and short time scales
ERIC LAI
Developmental Biology, Sloan-Kettering Institute
A diversity of miRNA pathways in flies and vertebrates
RICHARD VIERSTRA
Department of Genetics, University of Wisconsin Madison
Atomic perspectives on phytochrome signaling
MAGDALENA BEZANILLA
Biology Department, University of Massachusetts Amherst
The role of evolutionarily ancient cytoskeleton gene families in cell polarity
JAMES BIRCHLER
Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri Columbia
The Gene Balance Hypothesis: Implications for quantitative traits, aneuploid syndromes, dosage compensation and evolutionary processes

2009 PB SYMPOSIUM: October 3rd ,UMass Amherst
PLANT EPIGENETICS
Faculty symposium coordinators - Alice Cheung and Sam Hazen

PRESENTERS:
RICHARD AMASINO
Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry,Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator,Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison
"Vernalization: remembering winter with an environmentally induced epigenetic switch."
CRAIG PIKAARD
Department of Biology, Indiana University
"Roles of plant-specific RNA polymerases IV and V in siRNA-directed DNA methylation"
VENKATESAN SUNDARESAN
Department of Plant Biology, University of California, Davis
"Patterning and gamete specification in the Arabidopsis female gametophyte"
JOSEPH ECKER
Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Studies
"Charting the Epigenomes of Plants (and People)"
NATHAN SPRINGER
Department of Plant Biology, University of Minnesota
"Natural variation for epigenetic regulation of gene expression in maize."

2008 PB SYMPOSIUM: October 18th,UMass Amherst
ECOLOGICAL GENOMICS: The Genetic Basis of Plant Adaptation
Faculty symposium coordinators - Lynn Adler and Ana Caicedo

PRESENTERS:
EDWARD BUCKLER
USDA-ARS Research Geneticist and Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Cornell University
"Complex Trait Genetics in Diverse Maize"
SCOTT HODGES
Ecology, Evolution & Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara
"Speciation and adaptation in Aquilegia: from field to genomic studies."
THOMAS MITCHELL-OLDS
Department of Biology, Duke University
"Nucleotide polymorphisms and their ecological consequences in natural plant populations"
ROBERT THORNBURG
Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology, Iowa State University
"Molecules of nectar: The food of the gods and the pilfering pollinators"
CYNTHIA WEINIG
Department of Botany & Program in Ecology, University of Wyoming
"Quantitative variation in circadian rhythms and plant adaptation to heterogeneous environments"
STEPHEN WRIGHT
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto
"Population genomics of plant adaptation in Arabidopsis and Capsella"

2007 PB SYMPOSIUM: October 13th,UMass Amherst
PLANT BIOLOGY AND BIOENERGY
Faculty symposium coordinators - Danny Schnell and Jennifer Normanly

PRESENTERS:
FREDERICK AUSUBEL- Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital
"Pseudomonas aeruginosa - Arabidopsis interactions as a model to study plant cell wall degradation"
DANIEL J. COSGROVE - Pennsylvania State University
"Wall loosening by expansins"
STEPHEN J. LONG - National Center for Supercomputing Applications,
and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
"Achieving environmentally and economically viable biofuel feedstock crops. Why improvement of photosynthetic efficiency is critical and attainable."
CHRIS SOMERVILLE - Carnegie Institution and Stanford University
"Cellulose synthesis"
KENNETH P. VOGEL- USDA-ARS and University of Nebraska, Lincoln
"Switchgrass: Ecology, Biology, Genetics, and Agronomics of an Emerging Energy Crop"
SUSAN LESCHINE - University of Massachusetts, Amherst
"A novel microbial catalyst for converting biomass to ethanol "

2006 PB SYMPOSIUM: October 14th,UMass Amherst
PHYTOEXTRACTION OF NUTRIENTS AND POLLUTANTS
Faculty symposium coordinators - Om Parkash and Elsbeth Walker

PRESENTERS:
NEIL BRUCE - University of York, UK
"Engineering plants for the phytoremediation of explosives"
NIGEL CRAWFORD - University of California, San Diego
"Genomic Studies of Nitrate, a Potent Signal, Phytonutrient and Pollutant"
RICHARD MEAGHER - University of Georgia, Athens
"Engineering plants to clean up mercury and arsenic pollution"
ELIZABETH PILON-SMITS - Colorado State University, Fort Collins
"Plant Selenium Metabolism and Phytoremediation"
PHILIP REA - University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
"Phytochelatin synthase and its cousin papain - a question of catalytic bias"
ELSBETH WALKER - University of Massachusetts, Amherst
"Moving metals from soil to seed"

2005 PB SYMPOSIUM: October 13th, UMass Amherst
CHEMICAL PLANTS: MANIPULATING PLANT METABOLISM TO IMPROVE HEALTH AND NUTRITION
Faculty symposium coordinators -Elsbeth Walker, Jennifer Normanly and Susan Roberts.

PRESENTERS:
DEAN DELLAPENNA, Michigan State University
"Vitamin E Synthesis in Photosynthetic Organisms or Is it possible to do well and good in your research at the same time?"
HARRY KLEE, University of Florida
"Molecular approaches to understanding complex traits: tomato flavor and nutritional quality"
SUSAN ROBERTS, UMass Amherst
"Targeted Metabolic Engineering for Enhancement of Paclitaxel Accumulation in Plant Cell Culture"
DAVID SALT, Purdue University
"Genetic Manipulation of Selenium Speciation in Plants"
YAIR SHACHAR-HILL, Michigan State University
"Mapping fluxes through plant metabolic networks"
BRENDA WINKEL, Virginia Polytechnic Institute
"How do they do that?  Evidence for assembly of flavonoid enzyme complexes at the endoplasmic reticulum AND in the nucleus."

2004 PB SYMPOSIUM: October 2nd, Smith College
FUNCTION AND FATE IN PLANTS: PHYSIOLOGICAL TRAITS AND ECOLOGICAL SUCCESS
Faculty symposium coordinators - Peter Alpert and Tobias Baskin

PRESENTERS:
BILL DAVIES, Lancaster University, UK
"Long distance chemical signalling from soil to roots to shoots and the regulation of water use"
PETER ALPERT, UMass Amherst
"Signaling and sharing between connected plants within clones"
JOHANNA SCHMITT, Brown University
"Ecological genomics of seasonal timing and adaptation to climate in Arabidopsis thaliana"
FRANK BERENDSE, Wageningen University, The Netherlands
"Soil fertility, plant species, and long-term community dynamics"
PETER REICH, University of Minnesota
"Causes and consequences of plant functional diversity: from dappled understory to global change"
PHIL GRIME, Sheffield University, UK
"Plant strategy theory:1974 and 2004"

2003 PB SYMPOSIUM: October 4th, Smith College
CELLULAR SIGNALING IN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
Faculty symposium coordinators -Danny Schnell and Alice Cheung

JOANNE CHORY, Salk Institute
"Light, brassinosteroids, and Arabidopsis development"
JUNE NASRALLAH, Cornell University
"Receptor-ligand interactions in the self-incompatibility response of crucifers"
PETER QUAIL, University of California, Berkeley
"Phytochrome photosensory signaling networks"
SALLY ASSMANN, Penn State University
"Abscisic acid signal transduction in guard cells"
NAM-HAI CHUA, Rockefeller University
"Roles of ubiquitination and sumoylation in plant signaling networks"
PETER HEPLER, University of Massachusetts Amherst
"Actin/ion interactions in the control of pollen tube growth"

For more information or questions, send an email to: pb@bio.umass.edu