We are pleased to announce the inaugural Cold Spring Harbor Asia conference From Plant Biology to Crop Biotechnology which will be held at the Suzhou Dushu Lake Conference Center in Suzhou, China. The conference will begin at 7.30pm on the evening of Monday October 25th, and will conclude after lunch on Friday, October 29th, 2010.

This conference is similar in design to the famous Cold Spring Harbor meetings series,  a program now in its 75th year. The conference will include eight oral sessions and two poster sessions covering the latest findings across many topics in plant and crop biotechnology. Many talks will be selected from the openly submitted abstracts on the basis of scientific merit and relevance. Social events throughout the conference provide ample opportunity for informal interactions.

Topics
Stem cells, development and morphogenesis
Hormone signaling pathways
Abiotic stress responses
Host-pathogen interactions
Growth and Metabolism
Genomics, proteomics and metabolomics
Genes, networks and Systems Biology
Evolution and Phylogeny
Trait Engineering
Marker assisted breeding/Crop biotechnology

Keynote Speakers:
Cathie Martin, John Innes Institute, UK
Marjori Matzke, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria

Invited speakers:
John Browse, Washington State University, USA
Bernie Carroll, The University of Queensland, Australia
Xiaoya Chen, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, CAS, CHINA
Nam-Hai Chua, The Rockefeller University, USA
Xiangdong Fu, Institute of Genetics & Developmental Biology, CHINA
Hiroo Fukuda, University of Tokyo, JAPAN
Ikuko Hara-Nishimura, Kyoto University, JAPAN
Guangcun He, Wuhan University, CHINA
Zuhua He, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, CHINA
Tetsuya Higashiyama, Nagoya University, JAPAN
Inhwan Hwang, Pohang University of Science & Technology, KOREA
Toshiro Ito, Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, SINGAPORE
Takeshi Izawa, National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, JAPAN
Tetsuji Kakutani, National Institute of Genetics, JAPAN
Ilha Lee, Seoul National University, KOREA
Young Sook Lee, Pohang University of Science & Technology, KOREA
HongGil Nam, Pohang University of Science & Technology, KOREA
Chung-Mo Park, Seoul National University, KOREA
Kazuki Saito, RIKEN Yokohama Institute, JAPAN
Rod Wing, University of Arizona, USA
Yongbiao Xue, Institute of Genetics & Developmental Biology, CHINA

Abstracts should contain only new and unpublished material and must be submitted electronically by the abstract deadline. Selection of material for oral and poster presentation will be made by the organizers. Status (fellow's talk/poster) of abstracts will be posted on our web site as soon as decisions have been made by the organizers.

We are eager to have as many young people as possible attend since they are likely to benefit most from this meeting. We have applied for funds from government and industry to partially support graduate students and postdocs. Apply in writing to stipends@csh-asia.org stating need for financial support - preference is given to those submitting abstracts.

We look forward to seeing you at Suzhou in October.

This conference is supported in part by funds provided by:

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