The Society for In Vitro Biology (SIVB) provides a venue for scientific exchange, education and discussion on important topics related to the understanding and use of developmental processes of crop plants. The objective of the International Association for Plant Biotechnology (IAPB) is to promote plant biotechnology, including cell and tissue culture applications. Every four years (with the exception of meetings held outside the U.S.), SIVB and IAPB collaborate to convene a larger international conference focused on plant biotechnology. This year, the 2010 SIVB/IAPB conference will be held on June 6-11, 2010 in St. Louis (MO). This joint meeting will integrate topics from very basic research in plant biology to applied research related to the production of commercial products. The topics addressed in this program will describe up-to-date basic investigations into plant biology, and talks on applied aspects of genomics and metabolomics, as well as the effect of gene expression, biochemistry and physiology on plant developmental biology. Application of state-of-the-art technologies to practical solutions will be highlighted, including topics such as plant tolerance to stress, creation of biofuels from plants, and metabolic engineering for the production of pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals. The funding provided by NSF will broaden participation by defraying the costs of participation students, especially those from underrepresented groups.
The Society for In Vitro Biology (SIVB) held its annual meeting in St. Louis, MO, June 6 - 11, 2010, in conjunction with the 12th International Association of Plant Biotechnology World Congress. There were approximately 800 total attendees, 50% of which were from the U.S. and 50% from around 30 other countries. The global economic downturn did have an impact on reducing attendance at this meeting in spite of its high quality. The program included Opening Ceremony presentations from biotechnology pioneers Roger Beachy and Indra Vasil. Throughout the week, there was a balanced mix of academic and industry, domestic and international presenters, a hallmark of these meetings, which afforded students networking opportunities in both sectors. Examples of topics included abiotic and biotic stress, gene expression/stacking, photosynthetic efficiency, renewables from plants, signal transduction/genomics/metabolomics. Specific student events organized by SIVB included an evening workshop on "How to get the most from a scientific conference", oral presentation competitions for postdocs and students, and a student affairs breakfast. Funds supported student registration fees and one-year society membership for those registered through SIVB. The selection process for student awardees emphasized student presentation opportunities and diversity, in terms of gender, institutional affiliation, and geography. Abstracts of oral and poster presentations are published in In Vitro Cellular & Developmental Biology-Animal vol. 46, our standard outlet for meeting abstract publication.
