Sixth International Symposium
on In Vitro Culture and Horticultural Breeding
2020 Vision
for in vitro horticultural breeding
24-28 August 2008
Brisbane, Queensland, AUSTRALIA
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Sixth International Symposium 2020 Vision 24-28 August 2008 |
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• Invitation |
Invited Speakers
Dr Simon Robinson has more than 35 years of experience as a research scientist specialising in plant physiology, biochemistry and molecular biology. He developed an international reputation in the fields of photosynthesis and stress physiology in plants. In the last fifteen years he has studied enzymes involved in browning of fruit and vegetables and this work is the subject of a number of international scientific publications and patents. His group has successfully used genetic modification to downregulate genes encoding polyphenol oxidase enzymes in plants and this work is was applied commercially with industry partners in a number of crops. He applied molecular biology to the study of ripening and fruit development and currently has an active research program studying the factors controlling ripening and fruit development in grapes and regulation of the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway in horticultural crops. Dr Robinson has published more than 100 scientific papers and book chapters and is the principal inventor on a number of Australian and international patents. Dr Robinson is currently a Program Leader in CSIRO Plant Industry and a Program Manager in the CRC for Viticulture.
Robert completed a PhD in Plant Pathology at the University of Hawaii, and worked for 10 years with the Australian sugar industry as a pathologist and founder of sugarcane molecular biology research before joining UQ in 1988. At UQ he has led the teaching of plant biotechnology, served as principal supervisor of more than 20 completed research higher degree students, led collaborative teams that produced and field tested the world's first transgenic sugarcane and helped to develop practical methods for peanut transformation applied in Indonesia and China. He currently leads a team of more than 30 graduate scientists in a major UQ-industry R&D initiative in plant metabolic engineering. This team investigates useful new genes, gene control sequences, genetic transformation and transgene operating systems, with a driving motivation to deliver benefits for industry and the community. Their work has been published in over 100 widely-cited scientific papers and patents. Robert is a founding editor with the Plant Biotechnology Journal and a member of the Australian Government Gene Technology Technical Advisory Committee. He has served on many international scientific and advisory committees, advocating the importance of molecular biotechnology as the platform technology for sustainable high-yield agriculture in the 21st century.
Professor Dunwell's research interests are focused in three areas. First, he has a particular interest in the structure, function, and modification of the recently identified cupin superfamily of functionally-diverse plant proteins. These include the seed storage proteins, the germins (cereal oxalate oxidases), the germin-like proteins and auxin binding proteins. In particular he is investigating the conservation of the active site residues within these proteins and their potential use in improving the response of transgenic plants to plant pathogens and to abiotic stress. The second is the application of Serial Analysis of Gene Expression (SAGE) technology to the study of gene expression in plants, in particular in the cereals rice and wheat. The third is the development and applications of transgenic plants. This includes novel techniques for DNA introduction into plant cells, and the use of new methods for regeneration from single somatic cells.
Professor Gidley's research interests include Nutritional benefits of plant-based foods, Plant cell wall structure and its impact on food and nutrition, Starch properties, Food materials science, NMR spectroscopy, Polysaccharide interactions and gelation, In vitro models for digestion, Emerging consumer trends in nutrition and food.
Associate Professor Ian Godwin's research interests include Molecular plant improvement and molecular genetics. Transgenic cereals for improved quality and agronomic performance. DNA markers and fingerprinting for plant germplasm management and marker assisted selection. Plant retrotransposons and transposable elements.
Prakash P. Kumar obtained his Bachelor of Science (First Class) degree from Mysore University, India. He completed his MSc in Botany (First Class, First) from the Madras University, India. Subsequently, he worked for two years at the Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, Kasaragod, India as a Research Fellow. He obtained his PhD in 1988 at the University of Calgary in Canada under the guidance of Professor Trevor A. Thorpe. His PhD research established, among other things, that ethylene plays a key role in the process of adventitious shoot bud induction. The main research interests of Prakash are in the areas of physiological and molecular aspects of vegetative shoot development. His group uses plant tissue culture as a tool for research, e.g., leaf cultures of Paulownia sp., a fast-growing timber tree species, and Petunia as well as Arabidopsis and rice as experimental systems. At present his research interests include: • Genes regulating shoot bud differentiation and vegetative shoot growth. As a tenured faculty member, Prakash Kumar has been teaching Plant Physiology, Plant Developmental Biology, Plant Tissue Culture and Morphogenesis, Molecular Aspects of Plant Tissue Culture, and Molecular Biology of Plant Stress at the National University of Singapore for the past 18 years. He has so far supervised about 15 PhD and 6 MSc students at the National University of Singapore. Prakash Kumar is the author of over 60 original research articles and 6 book chapters. Since 1999 he has been serving as an Editor of Plant Cell Reports (Springer) and since 2002 he has also been the Reviews Editor of Plant Cell Reports. He is also an Editor of the new journal Plant Biotechnology Reports (Springer) since April 2007. He had been an Editor of Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture (Kluwer) from Jan 1999 to Feb 2006. He was a Visiting Faculty member at the California Institute of Technology (Clatech), Pasadena, CA, USA during 1998. At the University he has also contributed to academic administration by serving as the Deputy Head (Academic) of his department for 5 years and as a Faculty Associate (Education) at the Provost's Office, National University of Singapore for one year.
Dr Mary Taylor is currently the Coordinator of the Genetic Resources Programme, Land Resources Division, and Manager of the Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees (CePaCT), the region's centre for tropical plant genetic resources conservation and utilization, serving 22 Pacific Islands and Territories. She has over 17 years experience managing regional multi-donor funded development projects in the Pacific. Her major area of expertise is in conservation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (policy and methodologies). Mary's current interests are in the use of genetic diversity to address many of the major issues facing the Pacific Island region, such as climate change and the increase in lifestyle related diseases connected with a move away from traditional diets. |
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© UNE Conference Company, 2006 |
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Dr Simon Robinson
Dr Robert G Birch
Professor Jim Dunwell
Professor Mike Gidley
Associate Professor Ian Godwin
Associate Professor Prakash Kumar
Dr Mary Taylor