There is a strong need to develop the knowledge base that will enable the rational design of improved crop species. To attain this goal we must learn how plant cells integrate metabolism, cytoskeletal organization, and vesicle trafficking during growth and in response to environmental challenges. The focus of this meeting is unique, and seeks to promote the use of innovative methods for live cell imaging, image quantification, signal processing, and computational simulations. All participants will network, have the opportunity to present posters, and many early career scientists will have opportunities for oral presentations. Student and post-doc presentations will be geared toward teaching all participants basic methodology as well as data interpretation.
There is a growing core of plant cell biologists that seek to better understand the underlying mechanisms of organelle and cell dynamics, who share similar technical challenges to meet their research goals. The group as a whole seeks to find the most effective ways to employ combinations of quantitative imaging techniques, biochemical techniques, and computational tools to gain a mechanistic understanding of plant cellular systems. Meeting these goals will require development, implementation and training of faculty, post-doctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students in state-of-the-art quantitative cell biology methods. The Midwest Plant Cell Biology meeting provides the opportunity for plant cell biologists to discuss their latest research, develop collaborations, gain hands-on experience with current state-of-the-art approaches, and to promote the development of new tools that will accelerate mechanistic analyses of cell dynamics. The focus of this meeting is unique, and seeks to promote the use of innovative methods for live cell imaging, image quantification, signal processing, and computational simulations. This year's meeting features useful workshops on high-resolution light and electron microscopy. The keynote speakers for the 2015 meeting are recognized experts in the analysis of organ and cell and cell growth. All participants will network, have the opportunity to present posters, and many early career scientists will have opportunities for oral presentations. The specific objectives in terms of broader impacts are: 1) To provide an open and inclusive forum for oral presentations that allows all labs to share research results. Lead PIs are limited to a brief 5 minute overview of each research area to define key knowns as well as important knowledge gaps. This limit in the time allocated to established PIs is to help focus on postdoc, student and beginning PI presentations. Student and post-doc presentations will be geared toward teaching all participants basic methodology as well as data interpretation. Ample time will be devoted for discussion; 2) To provide an opportunity for all participants to present and discuss their results in evening poster sessions; 3) To conduct hands-on demonstrations and workshop centered on the topics of super-resolution light microscopy and imaging using electron tomography.
