2012 Plant Molecular Biology Gordon Research Conference, Holderness School, New Hampshire, July 15-20, 2012

该奖项资助戈登植物分子生物学研究会议将于2012年7月15日至20日在新罕布什尔州的霍尔顿学校举行。本次会议的一个重要方面是，它为多达36位受邀演讲者提供了一个机会，与大约140名参与者进行为期五天的密切互动，其中包括来自美国和世界各地大学的研究生，博士后培训生和年轻教师，包括私营和公共部门的科学家。 今年会议的一个独特之处在于包括了植物信号的基因组方法这一主题，该主题突出了植物生物学中一些最重要的最新发现。例如，发现激素脱落酸受体蛋白的科学家将展示他们的最新工作。这一发现被《科学》杂志称为2009年科学界第二大发现，为提高植物的耐旱性提供了许多新的机会。这一目标极其重要，因为随着世界人口的增加以及水和可耕地供应的减少，世界农业在为其人口生产粮食和纤维方面的能力面临越来越大的压力。此外，最近发现的新方法育种植物的这一特点和许多其他重要和有用的特点将提出。这次会议有许多更广泛的影响。例如，合作在植物科学中越来越重要，会议旨在促进促进合作的互动。 会议还寻求培养年轻科学家，我国未来的科学领导人，在分子上了解整个植物的基本机制，而不是一两个专门的研究领域。因此，这次会议满足了提供基础植物生物学更广泛观点的重要需求，以便我们未来的植物科学家不会过于专业化，以至于他们不能“只见树木不见森林”。'

This award funds the Gordon Research Conference on Plant Molecular Biology to be held at the Holderness School in New Hampshire on July 15-20, 2012. An important aspect of this conference is that it provides an opportunity for up to 36 invited speakers to interact closely for five days with about 140 participants that include graduate students, postdoctoral trainees, and young faculty from universities all over the USA and the world, including scientists in the private and public sector. A unique aspect of this year's meeting involves the inclusion of the topic, Genomic Approaches to Plant Signaling, which highlights some of the most important recent discoveries in plant biology. For example, the scientists that discovered the receptor protein for the hormone abscisic acid will be presenting their latest work. This discovery, which Science magazine described as the second most important discovery in all of science in 2009, offers many new opportunities for improving the drought tolerance of plants. This goal is extremely important since with an increasing world population and a diminished supply of water and arable land, there are increasing pressures on the world's agricultural capabilites in terms of producing food and fiber for its population. In addition, recent discoveries of new ways of breeding plants for this trait and many other important and useful traits will be presented. There are a great many broader impacts of this conference. For example, collaboration is increasingly important in plant science and the sessions have been designed to foster interactions that nurture collaboration. The conference also seeks to train young scientists, our country's future scientific leaders, in a molecular understanding of the whole plant's basic mechanisms rather than one or two specialized areas of study. The conference thus meets the important need of providing a broader view of basic plant biology so that our future plant scientists are not so overly specialized that they cannot 'see the forest for the trees.'