Scientific Program

The program of the 2nd Conference of PSEPB shall include six–seven plenary lectures presented by invited guests, mostly foreigners, about 20 session lectures, several short oral presentations and 150–200 posters. The Conference is organized in 8 thematic sessions which will be accompanied by respective posters sessions. It is our intention to plan the program in such a way as to enable all participants the attendance in all the events of the meeting. The Conference will be preceded by the Confocal Microscopy Workshop.

• Session 1: Plant cell biology
• Session 2: Mechanisms of growth and development
• Session 3: Energetics of plant cell
• Session 4: MicroRNA functions
• Session 5: Functional genomics
• Session 6: Plant biotechnology
• Session 7: Mechanisms of stress tolerance
• Session 8: Biotechnology.

Confocal Microscopy Workshop

• Confocal Microscopy Workshop – S. Samardakiewicz
• Chris Hawes: “Fluorescent proteins and live cell imaging in plants”
• Jerzy Dobrucki: “Confocal microscopy: capabilities, limitations, typical technical problems”
• Maria Wędzony: “Immunolocalisation techniques in plant tissues”
• Dariusz J. Smoliński: “Preparation of plant material for fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis. Observation of FISH by using confocal microscopy”
• Jerzy Dobrucki: “New confocal microscopes and their analytical capabilities”
• PSEPB Main Board Meeting
• PSEPB General Assembly
• Opening ceremony
• Welcome dinner.

Session 1: Plant cell biology

Organizers: H. Gabryś, J. Małuszyńska:

• Plenary lecture – Dieter Volkmann: “Vesicular membrane recycling: basic mechanism for gravisensing?”
• Jerzy Paszkowski: “DNA methylation and regulation of transcriptional gene silencing in Arabidopsis”
• Maria Kwiatkowska: “Plasmodesmata structure and role in cell communication as well as their changes in development of antheridia of Chara species”
• Reinhold Herrmann: “The eukaryotic genome: patchwork of a complex phylogenetic puzzle”
• Oral presentation – W. Krzeszowiec: “Myosins respond to blue light”.

Session 2: Mechanisms of growth and development

Organizer: B. Zagórska-Marek:

• Plenary lecture – Keith Lindsey: “Polarity in Arabidopsis embryogenesis and seedling development”
• Edyta Gola: “Towards understanding morphogenetic mechanisms of early land plants”
• Soazig Guyomarch: “Auxin and phyllotaxis”
• Ewa Mellerowicz: “Remodelling pectin in differentiating wood cells”
• Beata Zagórska-Marek: “Tubulin cytoskeleton in differentiating cambial cells”
• Oral presentation – M. Sujkowska: “Localization of expansin-like protein in the apoplast of effective and ineffective pea root nodules”.

Session 3: Energetics of plant cell

Organizers: A. Rychter, K. Strzałka:

• Plenary lecture – Christine Foyer: “Redox homeostasis and antioxidants: Roles for ascorbate and glutathione in plant growth and defence responses”
• Per Gardeström: “Contribution of mitochondria to the energetics of leaf cells”
• Jim Barber: “Structure of Photosystem II and its implications”
• Grzegorz Jackowski: “Chloroplast proteases as the chloroplast protein quality and turnover control system”
• Oral presentation – A. Świda: “Inhibition of A. castellanii uncoupling protein activity by GTP depends on the redox state of quinine”.

Session 4: MicroRNA functions

Organizers: A. Jarmołowski, M. Figlerowicz:

• Plenary lecture – Zofia Szweykowska-Kulińska: “Regulation of gene expression by small RNAs in eukaryots”
• Józef Bujarski: “New insights towards the mechanisms of replication and recombination of RNA viruses by using the brome mosaic bromovirus model system”
• Maria Barciszewska-Pacak: “Brome mosaic virus (BMV) and barley stripe mosaic virus (BSMV) – based vectors: application in gene silencing in plants”
• S. Świeżewski: “The role of RNA in flc regulation”
• Oral presentation – A. Żmieńko: “Symbiotic nitrogen fixation in narrow-leafed lupin investigated with differential screening and cDNA arrays”
• Oral presentation – J. Podkowiński: “Analysis of Lupinus angustifolius genes activated during symbiotic nitrogen fixation with suppression subtraction hybridization and cDNA arrays”
• Oral presentation – A. Urbanowicz: “A new subgenomic RNA of brome mosaic virus”
• Conference dinner.

Session 5: Functional genomics

Organizers: J. Sadowski, W. Karłowski:

• Plenary lecture – Piotr Zielenkiewicz: “Evolutionary analysis of eukaryotic interactome”
• Paweł Herzyk: “Simplex est sigillum veritatis – towards better understanding of biological processes underlying simple functional genomics experiment”
• Bernd Müller-Rober: “Genes and genomics in transcription factor function search”
• Dirk Steinhauser: “CELLULAR INVENTORY: A joint initiative of the Comprehensive Systems-Biology Database (CSB.DB), the Golm Metabolite Database (GMD) and MapMan”
• P. Armengaud: “Transcriptional profiling to unravel (JA-mediated) potassium signalling and adaptation responses”
• Oral presentation – A. Ludwików: “An insight into the Arabidopsis thaliana transcriptional profile changes initiated by ozone and drought”
• Oral presentation – M. Łuczak: “Modulators of protein glycosytation and secretion change the pattern of wall (glycol)proteins and affect the functioning of plant cell walls”
• Oral presentation – A. Kulma: “Metabolic profile and transgen stability evaluation”.

Session 6: Mechanisms of stress tolerance

Organizers: A. Tukiendorf, Z. Miszalski:

• Plenary lecture – Stanisław Karpiński: “On the role of excess excitation energy in regulation of plant defence responses; Holistic analysis of plants’ stress signalling network”
• Paweł Sowiński: “Thermophilic plants at sub-optimal temperatures. Is the tolerance possible?”
• Jacek Hennig: “Plant-microbe-interactions – a unique type of the stress”
• Elżbieta Kuźniak: “The ascorbate – and glutathione-dependent redox systems in controlling oxidative stress in plants”
• Małgorzata Wójcik: “Molecular bases of heavy metal tolerance in plants”
• Oral presentation – M. Kopyra: “Effects of nitric oxide in cadmium treated soybean cell suspension”
• Closing ceremony and poster awards.

Session 7: Biotechnology

Organizers: J. Rybczyński, J. Szopa:

• Peter Dörmann: “Biotechnological strategies to alter lipid and vitamin composition in chloroplasts of higher plants”
• Peter Geigenberger: “Signals and mechanisms regulating carbon storage in plants and biotechnological applications for crop improvement”
• Malcolm J. Hawkesford: “Improving plant sulfur nutrition: from sulfate transporters to the transcriptome”
• Oral presentation – Ewa Łojkowska: “Cytotoxic activity of secondary metabolites from Drosera, Ruta and Salvia plants”
• Oral presentation – Jolanta Kamińska: “Using yeast two-hybrid system for identification of the proteins interacting with the product of a novel plant gene induced by sulphur deficiency stress”.