This message was sent to ##Email## To advertise in this publication please click here October 28, 2021 .ASPB SPOTLIGHT Applications Now Open for Plant Biology 2022 Travel Grants and Women's Young Investigator Travel Awards ASPB is offering a limited number of awards in each of these two programs to attend Plant Biology 2022 in Portland, Oregon, July 9-13, 2022. Read more about both programs on the ASPB Funding page. Deadlines for both are in early December. Request for Concurrent Symposium Proposals for Plant Biology 2022 We are looking forward to Plant Biology 2022, a meeting organized jointly by the Canadian and American societies of plant biology, returning to a primarily in-person format in Portland. New for this year, the ASPB/CSPB/SCBV Program Committee is soliciting proposals from the community to convene and organize concurrent symposia. The Program Committee will evaluate the proposals and select the ones that will best help to create an interesting, impactful, and well-balanced overall program. If you are interested in convening a concurrent symposium, follow the link above to learn more and prepare a proposal. Submissions due November 5, 2021. .FROM ASPB & PLANTAE The Role of International Collaborations in Resolving Viral Diseases of Cassava ASPB is collaborating with AIBS and other societies that are members of the USA Nagoya Protocol Action Group to highlight efforts to incorporate the principles of access and benefit sharing into research with biological sequences. Register for an ASPB-hosted webinar on October 29, 2021 from 9:00 - 11:00 AM EDT (1:00 - 3:00 PM UTC) to hear how vital international research collaborations on viral diseases of cassava might be impacted by such provisions.  SPONSORED CONTENT Promoted by PhytoTech Labs Media Optimization - Optimize your formulation with our Media Optimization Kit. Click here to get started! Bulk Savings – Complete the form to tell us more and save on your bulk components Antibiotics – Save big on high quality antibiotic powders and sterile filtered solutions Plant Growth Regulators – We have the largest selection of cytokinins, auxins, gibberellins and much more Announcing the ASPB Centennial Challenge In 2024, ASPB will celebrate its 100th Anniversary! To ensure that the Society will thrive for the next 100 years, we aspire to raise $3 million in donations by the Plant Biology 2024 meeting. Learn more and donate today to help us achieve this goal! Are You an ASPB Member? Would You Like to Serve on an ASPB Committee? With the active participation of its members, ASPB becomes a more effective society. Interested in having an impact on ASPB? Consider applying to serve on one of our standing committees by logging in to the member portal and completing the form linked above. We will keep your application open for 3 years; however, you can update your information and preferences by editing your member profile.  PRODUCT SHOWCASE Proven Performance Get your best research results with SciBrite colored LEDs: · Unparalleled uniformity · Up to 8 evenly mixed colors No other colored lighting measures up to SciBrite! LEARN MORE Plantae Webinar: Impact of COVID Pandemic on Graduate Students' Mental Health This webinar, which is being organized by the ASPB Early Career Plant Scientists Section Subcommittee on Equity Diversity and Inclusion, will facilitate a discussion on the grave impact that COVID has had on mental health; how universities, institutions, and funders have helped to mitigate that impact; and whether those changes have had any effect. Learn more and register to attend Monday, November 1, 2021 1 PM EDT. Plant Physiology Article of the Week: Carbon dioxide responsiveness mitigates rice yield loss under high night temperature The spotlight is on Rajeev N. Bahuguna, Ashish K. Chaturvedi, Madan Pal, Viswanathan Chinnusamy, and S.V. Krishna Jagadish. Their article shows active selection for carbon dioxide responsiveness in rice and other C3 crops can mitigate yield loss induced by high night temperature.  SPONSORED CONTENT Promoted by Agrisera Save 15% off Environmental stress antibodies Free Posters! Respiration, PSII, Rubisco Save 25% off On epitope tag antibodies: FLAG, GFP, YPF, HA, 3xHis, 6xHis Find the antibody for Arabidopsis thaliana, algae, barley, rice, maize and many more Short videos about Western blot and antibodies The Plant Cell Article of the Week: A glossary of plant cell structures: Current insights and future questions The spotlight is on Byung-Ho Kang, Charles T. Anderson, Shin-ichi Arimura, Emmanuelle Bayer, Magdalena Bezanilla, Miguel A. Botella, Federica Brandizzi, Tessa M. Burch-Smith, Kent D. Chapman, Kai Dünser, Yangnan Gu, Yvon Jaillais, Helmut Kirchhoff, Marisa S. Otegui, Abel Rosado, Yu Tang, Jürgen Kleine-Vehn, Pengwei Wang, and Bethany Karlin Zolman. Their review article is a collection of short reviews of plant cell organelles covering our up-to-date understanding, novel findings, and future research outlooks. Plant Direct Article of the Week: Brassinosteroids promote parenchyma cell and secondary xylem development in sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) root The spotlight is on Wei Wang, Yaqing Sun, Guolong Li, and Shaoying Zhang. Their findings show that brassinosteroids function in transverse development in beetroot. .CHANGING CULTURES AND CLIMATES The mission of Changing Cultures and Climates is to provide information that supports and promotes diversity, inclusivity, and equity in the international plant science community so that it grows to more accurately reflect that of our larger, global society. URM Plant Scientist Highlights — Thelma Madzima (she/her) Originally from Zimbabwe, Dr. Thelma Madzima (she/her) is one of very few Black plant molecular biology faculty in the US. She is an assistant professor of molecular biology at the University of Washington, Bothell, a primarily undergraduate institution. Her research program aims to understand how epigenetic mechanisms enable abiotic stress responses in plants, primarily using maize as a model. She actively serves on DEI-centered committees for the plant science communities for which she is a member. Thelma co-developed an implicit bias and conscious inclusion workshop through ASPB and has written a commentary on inclusion efforts in professional societies that was recently published in The Plant Cell. Equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts in professional societies: intention versus reaction As part of the "Sowing Seeds of Equity" series published in The Plant Cell, Thelma Madzima and Gustavo MacIntosh have contributed a letter in which they reflect on how academic institutions and professional societies can be more effective in their equity, diversity, and inlusion efforts toward reducing negative impacts on marginalized individuals. Among other recommendations, they state that organizations should not assume what members of marginalized groups need and that members from marginalized groups are integrated into leadership structures. PRODUCT SHOWCASE Reach Your Prospects Every Week Thousands of industry professionals subscribe to association news briefs, which allows your company to push messaging directly to their inboxes and take advantage of the association's brand affinity. Connect with Highly Defined Buyers and Maximize Your Brand Exposure   LEARN MORE   Plant Breeding Services Variety of Techniques Modern Breeding Methods Wide Range of Plant Species Skilled Scientists and Experts From Traditional Breeding to Modern Molecular Breeding   LEARN MORE   .#WeAreASPB Recognizing Plant Physiology Authors Meet Isha Goyal, co-first author of "N-hydroxypipecolic acid-induced transcription requires the salicylic acid (SA) signalling pathway at basal SA levels." Isha is a PhD student in the Department of Plant Molecular Biology and Physiology, Albrecht-von-Haller Institute for Plant Sciences, at Georg-August University Göttingen, Germany. Her PhD project focuses on deciphering components of the N-hydroxy-pipecolic acid (NHP)-induced gene regulatory network functioning in the establishment of systemic acquired resistance. Isha's hobbies are sketching, doodling, calligraphy, quilling, photography, and reading. Recognizing The Plant Cell Authors Meet Xiaotong Liu, co-first author of "The calcium-dependent protein kinase CPK28 is targeted by the ubiquitin ligases ATL31 and ATL6 for proteasome-mediated degradation to fine-tune immune signaling in Arabidopsis." Xiaotong is an assistant researcher at the Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His research focuses on plant biotic interactions with an interest in understanding the mechanism of plant innate immunity. Xiatong also enjoys listening to rock music, traveling, and playing with his cat. Share Your Moment in the Spotlight with ASPB Members! ASPB would like to highlight news coverage about plant science. If you or your research is being highlighted in newspapers, magazines, television, radio, movies, online, or other sources, please let us know! Just send a quick note, URL, and other relevant information to ASPB News production manager, Diane McCauley, at diane@aspb.org. .PLANTAE JOBS The Plantae Job Center offers job seekers and employers a great resource for finding the right match of people to careers. Job seekers get free access to a searchable list of jobs specific to science careers, as well as access to the Mentoring Center and to a list of available internships. Employers who post a job get access to over 500 searchable profiles of job seekers. With over 140,000 unique page views in 2020, the Plantae Job Center is your resource for finding your next opportunity or your next hire. Below are just a few of the jobs currently listed on the site. Postdoctoral Associate   University of Florida Gainesville, FL Learn more Research Biologist/Plant Physiologist/Geneticist GS-0401/0435/0440-12/13   USDA Dairy Forage Research Center Madison, WI Learn more .PLANT SCIENCE EVENTS October 30, 2021   ASPB Northeastern Section 2021 Virtual Meeting Learn more November 8-11, 2021   XIX National Plant Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Congress, XII Joint Symposium Mexico-USA, and the 2nd ASPB Mexican Section Meeting Virtual Learn more November 17, 2021   AG2PI Industry Event - Industry Collaborations Field Day Learn more For plant science events, make sure to check out the Global Plant Science Events Calendar. Also, check the calendar for the latest cancellations and postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as webinars and online events you can join. .FROM THE FIELD Please Share Information About a Citizen Science Project for the ABRC The ABRC is the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center. Many of you might have ordered seeds from the ABRC for your research. This project aims to provide ABRC with new information about some of its seed lines by asking citizen scientists to quantify the number of mutant phenotypes and dead seeds in photos of different seed samples. This citizen science project is valuable to the ABRC, and the plant science community, because it allows them to gather data for a large number of seed lines that they might not otherwise have the time to analyze themselves. Adapting Crops for Future Climate Conditions From Texas A&M University With crops, farmers will adapt — they always have and always will. To help this adaptation, a Texas A&M AgriLife research project has used artificial intelligence modeling to determine what traits cultivars will need to be successful under changing climate conditions. Coffee and the Effects of Climate Change From Tufts University Coffee is grown on more than 27 million acres across 12.5 million largely smallholder farms in more than 50 countries. Many coffee-producing regions are increasingly experiencing changing climate conditions, whose impact on coffee's taste, aroma and even dietary quality is as much a concern as yields and sustainability. A new research review says that coffee quality is vulnerable to shifts in environmental factors associated with climate change. The review, led by researchers from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts and Montana State University, also finds that some current adaptation strategies to combat these effects provide hope for positive outcomes. Erie Researchers Identify New Threat to American Chestnut Trees From Pennsylvania State University For lumber companies, the American chestnut was a nearly perfect tree — tall, straight, rot-resistant and easy to split. It also was prolific, sending up new shoots that grew quickly. Today, however, it can be difficult to find a healthy American chestnut. A fungal pathogen on trees imported from Japan and China wiped the species out in less than 40 years. That loss is considered to be the greatest ecological disaster to ever strike the world's forests. First Artificial Scaffolds for Studying Plant Cell Growth From Washington University in St. Louis As a baby seedling emerges from the depths of the soil, it faces a challenge: gravity's downward push. To succeed, the plant must sense the force, then push upward with an even greater force. Visible growth is proof that the seedling has won against the force of gravity. What we cannot see is how plants sense force, at least not yet. But a discovery by plant biologists at Washington University in St. Louis will help make it possible to study how mechanical forces, such as gravity, affect the way that plant cells form and grow. Scientists Reveal Genetic Secrets of Stress-Tolerant Mangrove Trees From the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Mangrove trees straddle the boundary between land and ocean, in harsh environments characterized by rapidly changing levels of salinity and low oxygen. For most plants, these conditions would mark a death sentence, but mangroves have evolved a remarkable resistance to the stresses of these hostile locations. Now, researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) have decoded the genome of the mangrove tree, Bruguiera gymnorhiza, and revealed how this species regulates its genes in order to cope with stress. Their findings, published recently in New Phytologist, could one day be used to help other plants be more tolerant to stress. The Young Plant's Pantry Does More than Just Feed It From the University of Geneva via Phys.org The endosperm, the tissue surrounding the plant embryo in the seed, has long been perceived as a nourishing tissue that is abandoned once the transition to the seedling is complete. A Swiss team, led by scientists from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), has now shown that the endosperm also plays a key role in the proper development of the seedling after germination. It acts notably on the formation of the cuticle, a protective layer essential for the survival of plants. Plant Breeding AI Gets Schooled in New Student Competition From North Carolina State University Phenotyping is time-consuming and labor-intensive for researchers. NC State and the USDA-ARS jointly developed a low-cost, open-source solution for non-destructive high-throughput phenotyping in greenhouses, affectionately called the BenchBot. The team recently won third place regionally in the OpenCV Spatial AI Competition with the BenchBot and decided to host a similar competition for students. Chris Reberg-Horton, an NC State Department of Crop and Soil Sciences professor and the Resilient Agricultural System Platform Director in the university's Plant Sciences Initiative, helped conceptualize the student competition event.   The Signal Connect with ASPB American Society of Plant Biologists 15501 Monona Drive  |  Rockville, MD 20855-2768 USA  301-251-0560  |  Click here to access our Terms and Privacy Statement  |  www.aspb.org The Signal is produced in affiliation with Multiview, Inc. Disclaimer: The media articles and/or advertisements featured in The Signal do not express or reflect the opinions of the American Society of Plant Biologists or any employee thereof. 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