Meeting: 6th Pan American Plant Membrane Biology Workshop, Vancouver, Canada, June 24-28, 2018

植物为这个星球提供了我们呼吸的空气和我们吃的食物。我们要么直接食用植物，要么吃以植物为食的动物。因此，没有植物，地球上就不可能有生命。我们身体所需的卡路里、氨基酸、维生素和矿物质离子是由植物从环境中吸收的，或者是在吸收了一些积木后在植物细胞内制造的。植物利用这些营养物质生长和生产可食用器官，如块茎和种子。然而，非生物胁迫，包括土壤矿物质限制、干旱和高温，以及生物胁迫，如病原体和虫害，都对植物的粮食生产构成了威胁。但是，即使在压力下，植物如何实现矿物质离子的吸收？它们如何利用营养物质并生产人类食物供应所需的组织和器官？植物进化出了特定的膜蛋白，可以感知和传递环境信号，识别外部环境中的矿物质离子并将其输送到细胞内。新的科学方法彻底改变了我们对植物膜结构和功能的理解，这次研讨会将讨论膜生物学在信号、养分运输和植物生长方面的重要突破。我们预计，科学互动将促进关于如何应对未来全球社会的挑战的讨论，并将促进对粮食安全至关重要的进展。第六届泛美膜生物学研讨会将于2018年6月24日至28日在加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省温哥华举行。它将集中于涵盖植物膜生物学的重要突破及其对植物生长和适应环境压力的重要性的主题。鉴于膜生物学的重要性及其继续取得突破性发现的潜力，迫切需要有机会进行交流和互动的科学。这次会议既具有启发性，又具有时效性，其具体目标是：(1)组织和支持关于膜生物学研究最新科学进展的知识交流和讨论，包括与植物膜结构、运输、蛋白质运输和信号转导有关的领域；(2)促进科学家和受训者之间的互动，分享与植物生长、发育和营养有关的膜生物学领域的新发现，加强培训和新的合作，以推动该领域的发展；(3)让新的独立科学家和受训者直接参与，重点是多样性和性别问题。研讨会议程将包括在支持性环境中讨论受训人员指导、出版战略和植物膜生物学新兴领域，以促进受训人员和现有研究人员的互动。这次会议的广泛影响是多方面的。它将促进科学界代表性不足的群体的参与，并通过将受训者与资深科学家榜样联系起来，支持植物生物界的多样性。它将进一步提供对植物生产至关重要的尖端科学和先进的膜生物学知识。该研讨会奖项由综合组织系统分部和分子和细胞生物科学部支持。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Plants provide this planet with the air we breathe and the food we eat. We consume plants either directly, or by eating animals that have been fed with plants. Therefore, life on earth would simply not be possible without plants. The calories, amino acids, vitamins and mineral ions our bodies require are taken up by plants from the environment or they are made within plant cells after uptake of some of the building blocks. Plants use these nutrients for growth and the production of edible organs such as tubers and seeds. However, abiotic stresses, including soil mineral limitation, drought and high temperature, and biotic stresses such as pathogen and insect pest attacks provide a threat to plant food production. But how can plants achieve mineral ion uptake, even under stress, and how are they able to use the nutrients and produce the tissues and organs needed for the human food supply? Plants have evolved specific membrane proteins that can sense and transfer environmental signals, as well as recognize and transport mineral ions from the outside environment into the cell. Novel scientific approaches have revolutionized our understanding of the structure and function of plant membranes, and this workshop will address important breakthroughs in membrane biology with respect to signaling, nutrient transport and plant growth. We expect that the scientific interactions will promote discussions on how to meet the challenge of feeding the global community of tomorrow and will facilitate advances essential for food security.The 6th Pan American Membrane Biology Workshop will be held in Vancouver, BC, Canada from June 24-28th, 2018. It will focus on topics covering important breakthroughs in plant membrane biology and their importance for plant growth and adaption to environmental stresses. Given the importance of membrane biology and its potential to continue to make groundbreaking discoveries, there is pressing scientific demand for opportunities to communicate and interact. This meeting will be both stimulating and timely, and specific objectives are (1) to organize and support knowledge exchange and discussions on the latest scientific advances in membrane biology research, including in areas related to plant membrane structure, transport, protein trafficking, and signal transduction, (2) to promote interactions between scientists and trainees to share new discoveries in the field of membrane biology as it relates to plant growth, development and nutrition, and to enhance training and new collaborations that will move the field forward and (3) to directly involve newly independent scientists and trainees, with emphasis on diversity and gender. The workshop agenda will include discussions for trainee mentorship, publication strategies and emerging areas of plant membrane biology in a supportive setting to promote trainee and established researcher interactions. The broader impacts of this meeting are manifold. It will promote participation of groups underrepresented in science and support diversity in the plant biology community by connecting the trainees with senior scientist role models. It will further provide access to cutting edge science and advance knowledge in membrane biology essential for plant production. This workshop award is supported by the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems and the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences.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.