Recent progress in plant science has resulted in the development of a wide range of new tools and resources for research and education. These include genome scale information (such as whole genome sequences, high resolution genetic and physical maps, etc), extensive phenotypic data sets (expression profiling, proteomics, and metabolic data sets, etc) genetic resources (mutation, recombinant inbred, and transgenic collections, etc.), functional genomics assets (including reporter-gene expression collections, high throughput deletion and RNAi sets, protein interaction surveys, etc.) and informatics resources (software tools, algorithms, databases, web sites, etc.). While each of these resources is quite useful individually, their highest value may lie in their use in combination and by those outside the groups that created the resource. The former requires creative synthesis - combining the information represented among these distinct resources in innovative ways to achieve a better understanding of fundamental principles in plant biology. The latter requires that individuals from other fields and disciplines be able to find, understand and effectively employ these resources in novel ways. Such innovative, synthetic approaches do not come 'off-the-shelf' and, instead, present a significant new challenge that can only be met by plant researchers/educators, information scientists, and others working together. This workshop brings together members of the relevant communities to consider whether the development of a plant science synthesis center could provide an effective means for meeting this challenge. Questions that workshop participants are addressing include the following: Is there a need for a plant science synthesis center? What would be the mission and goals of such a center? What mechanisms could a center use to respond to community needs and to promote progress through new synthesis and innovation?
The summary report of the workshop, describing the outcomes of the discussions, will be posted on the Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR) web site (www.arabidopsis.org/). The broader impacts of this workshop are substantial. The central goals are the identification of unmet needs and opportunities for progress across all areas of plant research and education, information and computer sciences, and enabling interdisciplinary research that engages individuals from all settings and perspectives and includes those outside the immediate field, including engineers, mathematicians, chemists, and others.
