Conference: The 18th Penn State Plant Biology Symposium: Plant Evolutionary Genetics and Genomics to be held May 19-21, 2011 in University Park, PA

智力价值：技术的快速进步正在从根本上改变生物科学。大型基因组的测序、组装和注释，例如那些在植物中发现的基因组，曾经被降级为极其昂贵和缓慢的“大科学”项目，现在正日益成为规模较小、成本较低的财团的专属领域。现在，任何生物体都可以以非常低的成本获得完整的表达基因清单。这场“基因组学革命”正在触及生物学的方方面面，尤其是植物生物学的研究。随着获得基因组数据变得越来越容易，现在的重点必须转向从数据中产生信息，以及从历史上分开运作的子学科中合成方法。特别是，对基因组进化的详细了解，而不仅仅是单个基因，正在成为一个可以实现的目标。将这些分子数据与生理反应、生态系统相互作用和作物生产力相关联是一个主要的科学目标。为此，第18届宾夕法尼亚州立大学植物生物学研讨会：植物进化遗传学和基因组学将于2011年5月18日至21日在宾夕法尼亚州立大学园区举行。这次会议将把领先的科学家和职业生涯早期的研究人员聚集在一起，交流成果，并在这个快速发展的领域开展合作。这次研讨会是自1986年以来在宾夕法尼亚州立大学举办的一系列非常成功的植物生理学/植物生物学研讨会中的第18次。更广泛的影响：这次会议将通过以下方式为本科生、研究生、博士后研究人员和职业生涯早期的教职员工提供重要的教育机会：1)将邀请几位演讲者根据提交的海报摘要的质量发表简短演讲。这些决定将强调将职业生涯早期的教职员工和在美国科学界代表性不足的群体成员包括在内。2)将根据证明的需要和其他因素，向选定的与会者发放旅费奖励，以抵消出席会议的费用，并优先考虑小型、非研究密集型学院/大学的本科生。3)研讨会日程安排的充裕时间将是海报会议和茶点附近的“非结构化”时间。这一安排允许学生和担任全体演讲者的杰出科学家干部之间进行最大限度的互动。此外，值得注意的是，我们研讨会的主题是当前科学的一个关键领域：对植物遗传学和基因组学的更多了解可能在美国和世界范围内可持续生物燃料行业的发展中发挥关键作用。

Intellectual Merit: Rapid advances in technology are fundamentally altering the biological sciences. Once relegated to extremely expensive and ponderously slow "Big Science" projects, the sequencing, assembly, and annotation of large genomes, such as those found in plants, is increasingly becoming the province of smaller, less expensive consortia. Full inventories of expressed genes can now be obtained for any organism at very modest cost. This "genomics revolution" is touching all aspects of biology, not the least, the study of plant biology. With the increasing ease of obtaining genomic data, the focus must now turn to producing information from the data and synthesizing approaches from sub-disciplines which have historically operated separately. In particular, a detailed understanding of genome evolution, not just individual genes, is becoming an attainable goal. Correlating these molecular data with physiological responses, ecosystem interactions, and crop productivity is a major scientific goal. Towards this end, the 18th Penn State Symposium in Plant Biology: Plant Evolutionary Genetics and Genomics will be held May 18-21, 2011 at Penn State's University Park campus. This meeting will bring together both leading scientists and early-career researchers to exchange results and develop collaborations in this rapidly evolving field. The symposium is the 18th in a very successful series of Plant Physiology / Plant Biology Symposia, which have been held at Penn State since 1986. Broader Impacts: This meeting will provide critical educational opportunities to undergraduate students, graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, and to early-career faculty members in the following ways: 1) Several speakers will be invited to deliver short talks based upon the quality of submitted poster abstracts. These decisions will emphasize inclusion of early-career faculty members and members of groups under-represented in American science. 2) Travel awards to offset costs of attendance to the meeting will be distributed to select attendees, based upon demonstrated need and upon other factors, with a preference towards undergraduates at small, non-research intensive colleges/universities. 3) Ample time in the symposium schedule will be "unstructured" time at poster sessions and in proximity to refreshments. This arrangement allows maximum interaction between students and the cadre of distinguished scientists serving as plenary speakers. In addition, it is important to note that the topic of our symposium is in a critical area of current science: Increased understanding of plant genetics and genomics may play a key role in the development of a sustainable biofuels industry in the United States and world-wide.