Founded in 1630, Boston is one of the
oldest, wealthiest and most culturally significant cities
in the United States. Boston is the home to: the Old
North Church, Fenway Park, and Harvard University --
the list goes on and on. Beantown was home to this year's
annual meeting of the American Society of Plant
Biologists (ASPB), which I attended along with my PI, Dr.
Frans Tax and fellow UBRPer, Kelli
Davies
. The topics presented ranged from intracellular signaling
in plants to the social impact of medicinal plants in
Latin America. Dr. Maureen Hanson of Cornell University
was one of my favorite speakers. Her presentation featured
the work her lab had done with stromules (stroma filled
tubules), which are tubular extensions found on plastids
and serve various functions. The videos of stromules
in action were impressive since I had never seen or heard
anything about them before. Dr. Hanson's talk is an example
of just one of many given by scientists studying plant
biology.
The meeting also encompassed luncheons on such topics
as women and minorities in plant biology and a networking
poster session for all the undergraduates presenting
at the conference. Along with attending the meeting,
Kelli presented our poster about TOAD1 and 2 leucine-rich
receptor-like kinases that we work on in the Tax lab.
It was fun to be able to talk to students our age from
places such as Rice and Penn State about the work they
are doing in plant biology.
The ASPB meeting opened my eyes to the amount of scientific
research being done with plants and the impact it has
on everyday life. This was clear in the many presentations
done on biomass as an alternative energy source and using
genetics and molecular biology to increase the efficiency
of crops such as switchgrass for use as an alternative
fuel. At times, the meeting felt overwhelming with the
amount of information and data being presented, but overall
it was a great learning experience and there was even
time to roam through the beautiful city of Boston. I
would like to thank NIH (1 R25 6MO727333) for funding
this trip to the ASPB.
Andrea Aguirre, UBRPer in Dr. Frans Tax's
lab, Molecular & Cellular
Biology
*Beantown refers to early Bostonian tradition of making
baked beans with imported molasses.
Founded in 1630, Boston is one of the
oldest, wealthiest and most culturally significant cities
in the United States. Boston is the home to: the Old
North Church, Fenway Park, and Harvard University --
the list goes on and on. Beantown was home to this year's
annual meeting of the American Society of Plant
Biologists (ASPB), which I attended along with my PI, Dr.
Frans Tax and fellow UBRPer, Kelli
Davies
The topics presented ranged from intracellular signaling
in plants to the social impact of medicinal plants in
Latin America. Dr. Maureen Hanson of Cornell University
was one of my favorite speakers. Her presentation featured
the work her lab had done with stromules (stroma filled
tubules), which are tubular extensions found on plastids
and serve various functions. The videos of stromules
in action were impressive since I had never seen or heard
anything about them before. Dr. Hanson's talk is an example
of just one of many given by scientists studying plant
biology.
The ASPB meeting opened my eyes to the amount of scientific
research being done with plants and the impact it has
on everyday life. This was clear in the many presentations
done on biomass as an alternative energy source and using
genetics and molecular biology to increase the efficiency
of crops such as switchgrass for use as an alternative
fuel. At times, the meeting felt overwhelming with the
amount of information and data being presented, but overall
it was a great learning experience and there was even
time to roam through the beautiful city of Boston. I
would like to thank NIH (1 R25 6MO727333) for funding
this trip to the ASPB.
