preliminary program

Preliminary Program Topics

Program is subject to change. Check back for updates as they become available.

Sessions marked with an asterisk (*) are planned to be part of the On-Demand Limited Access

Keynote speaker

One Health: From Plague & Pestilence to Pharmaceuticals,
Pesticides & Public Health*

S. Eliza Lockwood, MD, FACMT

Medical Affairs Lead, Senior Science Fellow
Bayer U.S. Crop Science

Dr. S. Eliza Lockwood is an emergency medicine physician and medical toxicologist with a long-standing interest in global health.  After completing her toxicology fellowship at NYU in 2006, Dr. Lockwood returned to Washington University in St. Louis and started an ACGME accredited fellowship in Medical Toxicology. Over the following ten years, Dr. Lockwood became increasingly involved with global health and humanitarian relief projects.  She organized a relief mission to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, started the scholar track in Global Health for the Washington University Division of Emergency Medicine, and was one of the Global Health Scholars for the Department of Internal Medicine. Over the years, Dr. Lockwood began to realize that in order to have a sustainable impact in global health, she needed to find creative ways of addressing malnutrition and insect-borne illness, two of the most commonly encountered public health problems in developing countries.  With that in mind, Dr. Lockwood started working as the Medical Affairs Lead for Bayer, a global seed and chemical company with innovative technology that has great potential to remediate malnutrition. Dr. Lockwood has lectured nationally and internationally on a diverse range of topics in medical toxicology and global health.

Plenary and Joint symposia

      • Biotechnology Approaches for Animal and Crop Improvement and Environmental Risk Assessment of Genetically Engineered Organisms*
        Conveners: Hong Luo, Clemson University, and Addy Alt-Holland, Tufts University

      • Engineering/Preparing for Extreme Environments Including Climate Change Solutions*
        Conveners: Nathan Vo, Wilfrid Laurier University, and Allan Wenck
      • Michael E. Horn Emerging Technologies Symposium: AI Technological Applications within Design, Discovery, and In Vitro Implementation*
        Conveners: Yurong Chen, Bayer Crop Science, and Zoe Zhu, Tufts University
      • The Culture Club: Unraveling the Complexities of Media Formulations*
        Conveners: Piero Barone, Corteva Agriscience, and Vaibhav Tiwari, Midwestern University

Animal 
symposia and workshops

    • Host-Pathogen Interactions (Including Animal Pathogens, Zoonotic)
      Conveners: Sarah Kralicek, Midwestern University, Vaibhav Tiwari, Midwestern University, and Suja Aarattuthodi, USDA/ARS
    • Human Diseases and Immunity
      Conveners: Sarah Poytner, University of Waterloo, Vaibhav Tiwari, Midwestern University, and Jasmyn Hoeger, University of Iowa
    • Innovations in Drug and Vaccine Development and Delivery
      Conveners: Suja Aarattuthodi, USDA/ARS, Julie Swartzendruber, Midwestern University, and Aileen Qi, Columbia University
    • Revolutionizing In Vitro Biology: Advanced Technological Applications Across Academia and Industry
      Conveners: Nathan Vo, University of Waterloo, Kolla Kristjansdottir, Midwestern University, and Ava Vaillant, University of Iowa

    Education symposia and workshops

      • Student Networking Luncheon: Tips and Tricks on Orally Presenting Your Research
        Conveners: Easter David, University of Missouri – Columbia, Eudald Illa-Berenguer, University of Georgia, Hannah Levengood, Purdue University, Giovanna Teixeira Sandoval Moreira, Kansas State University, Ava Vaillant, University of Iowa, Prasanna Valavanur Shekar, Clemson University, and Christina Yevtushenko, McGill University
      • Student Workshop: Synthetic Biology: Bottom-up Molecular Engineering of Unique Biosystems*
        Conveners: Easter David, University of Missouri – Columbia, Eudald Illa-Berenguer, University of Georgia, Hannah Levengood, Purdue University, Giovanna Teixeira Sandoval Moreira, Kansas State University, Ava Vaillant, University of Iowa, Prasanna Valavanur Shekar, Clemson University, and Christina Yevtushenko, McGill University
      • Student and Post Doctoral Oral Presentation Competitions
        TBA
      • Student Poster Competitions

    Plant symposia and workshops

      • Advances in Cellular Agriculture / Plant Molecular Farming
        Convener: Luisa Bermudez, GALY

      • Commercial Micropropagation of Specialty Crops
        Convener: David Lawson, Agristarts
      • From Cells to Crops: Harnessing Direct DNA Delivery and Nanotechnology, Protoplasts, and Transgene Free Genome Editing for Plant Enhancement
        Convener: Omar Zayed, University of California – Riverside
      • Fundamentals of Modular Cloning
        Conveners: PlantGENE

      • Harnessing Synthetic Biology for Metabolic Engineering in Plants and Other Organisms
        Convener: TBD
      • In Vitro Propagation and Biotechnology Applications in the Cannabis Industry
        Convener: Max Jones, University of Guelph

      • Molecular Mechanisms for Genotype-independent Plant Regeneration and Gene Editing
        Conveners: Matthew Willmann, Terrana Bioscience, and Eva Konecna, Ball Horticultural Company
      • Optimizing Plant Tissue Culture Media Formulation: Modern Problems Require Modern Solutions
        Conveners: Piero Barone, Corteva Agriscience, Max Jones, University of Guelph, and Micah Stevens, Sierra Gold Nurseries
      • Reshaping African Research Opportunities for Genome Editing through Local Scientific Leadership and Investments*
        Conveners: Marceline Egnin, Tuskegee University, Jim Gaffney, USAID, and Todd Jones, Corteva Agriscience

      • The Power of New Breeding Technologies in Trait Discovery for Regenerative Agriculture*
        Convener: Peizhen Yang, Bayer Crop Science
      • Transformation and Engineering of Bioenergy Crops*
        Convener:  Alvar Carlson, Vestaron, and Veena Veena, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center