In recent years the field of ethylene biology has been strongly and positively impacted by genomics approaches and represents an area with many opportunities to translate genomics into practical real-world products and solutions. The 8th International Symposium on the Plant Hormone Ethylene to be held June 21 - 25, 2009 at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY will provide a forum for discussion and collaboration for the highly interactive and competitive ethylene community and is anticipated to draw a diverse group of participants that include plant scientists from the public and private sector and breeders from around the world. Topics include but are not limited to 1) hormone synthesis and signal transduction, 2) biotic and abiotic stress responses, 3) ripening and senescence, and 4) postharvest physiology and applied ethylene biology. The participation of graduate students, postdoctoral and beginning investigators will be fostered through travel awards to attend the Symposium. Funding provided by NSF will be used to broaden participation of young scientists and those from underrepresented groups from the US scientific community. Symposium program and abstracts will be publicly available online at the symposium website (www.hort.cornell.edu/ethylene/) and through a program book of abstracts that will be distributed to meeting attendees.
