Meeting Proposal: 3rd International Brassinosteroid Conference, Aug 1-4, 2018, San Diego, CA, USA

类甾醇（BRs）是一类重要的植物激素，不仅能调节植物的生长发育，还能调节植物对各种环境胁迫的反应。据报道，BR的应用可提高作物产量和胁迫耐受性，并且BR生物合成基因的转基因过表达已显示可提高作物产量。因此，充分了解BR的功能，信号传导及其与其他信号传导途径的相互作用对于获得BR在农业中的益处至关重要。第三届国际类固醇大会由BR激素研究社区在美国植物生物学家协会（ASPB）会议管理服务的帮助下组织。会议的目标是：（a）弥合传统方法与系统生物学/新技术之间的差距;（B）设想检验BR信号假说的新方法;（c）评估该领域的现状，阐明仍然悬而未决的重要问题;（d）促进互动，促进新的合作;（e）激励年轻科学家从事BR相关研究。美国国家科学基金会的赠款将用于确保会议场地，并支持学生，博士后研究员和初级教师参加美国机构的会议。将发表一份会议报告，该报告将在国际组委会成员的监督下由研究生和博士后研究员撰写。过去几十年的分子遗传学研究已经确定和表征了BR生物合成和信号通路。最近，该领域利用新技术并通过与其他科学学科的合作取得了重大进展。新的BR信号成分已经被发现，BR感知和信号转导的机制已经在分子水平和在少数情况下在原子水平上被描述。与此同时，基因组学、蛋白质组学和系统生物学方法揭示了复杂的调控网络，通过这些网络，BR调节数千个基因，并与其他信号通路相互作用，调节植物生长以及对非生物（如干旱、寒冷、高温）和生物（细菌、真菌和病毒）胁迫的响应。会议将汇集一些顶尖科学家，包括一些年轻和新的科学家到该领域，分享他们令人兴奋的新发现，并促进进一步的进展。该会议将促进不同团体和不同学科之间的新合作，以促进未来的发现，并探索将现有知识转化为农产品的方法。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Brassinosteroids (BRs) are critical plant hormones that not only regulate plant growth and development, but also plant responses to various environmental stresses. Application of BRs has been reported to improve crop yield and stress tolerance and transgenic overexpression of BR biosynthesis genes have been shown to increase crop yield. A full understanding of BR functions, signaling and its cross-talk with other signaling pathways is therefore crucial to reap the benefits of BRs in agriculture. The 3rd International Brassinosteroid Conference is organized by the BR hormone research community with help from the American Society of Plant Biologists' (ASPB) Meeting Management Services. The goals of the conferences are: (a) to bridge the gap between traditional approaches and systems biology/novel techniques; (b) to visualize new ways to test hypotheses regarding BR signaling; (c) to assess the current status of the field and articulate important questions that remain outstanding; (d) to promote interactions and facilitate new collaborations and (e) to inspire young scientists to pursue BR-related research. The NSF grant will be used to secure the conference venue and to support students, postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty members to attend the conference from US Institutions. A meeting report will be published, which will be written by graduate students and postdoctoral fellows under the supervision of international organizing committee members.Molecular genetic studies in the past decades have determined and characterized both BR biosynthesis and signaling pathways. Recently the field has made significant progress using new technologies and through collaborations with other scientific disciplines. New BR signaling components have been discovered and the mechanisms of BR perception and signal transduction have been depicted at the molecular and in a few cases at the atomic levels. At the same time, genomics, proteomics and systems biology approaches are revealing complex regulatory networks through which BRs regulate thousands of genes and crosstalk with other signaling pathways in the regulation of plant growth and responses to both abiotic (such as drought, cold, heat) and biotic (bacterial, fungal and viral) stresses. The conference will bring together some of the top scientists, including some young and new scientists to the field, to share their exciting new findings and promote further progress. The meeting will foster new collaborations between different groups, and different disciplines to facilitate future discoveries and to explore ways to transform current knowledge into agricultural products.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.