The European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO) presents
The Plant Science Conference in Europe!
4th EPSO Conference: “Plants for Life”
Toulon (Côte d’Azur), France, 22-26 June, 2008
www.epsoweb.org/catalog/conf2008.htm

AIM: The fourth EPSO Conference – which will explore the theme ‘Plants for life’ – will be held on the beautiful French Côte d’Azur, near Toulon, from 22 to 26 June 2008. The conference will address many of the challenges faced by the plant research community in an evolving world: climate change, preservation of the environment and of natural biodiversity, as well as the food and feed demands of a growing world population. Non-food crops for energy, biomaterials, biopharmaceuticals and other new products will also be an important focus of the conference.

The fourth EPSO Conference will bring together international scientists and experts who will provide insights into the most recent breakthroughs in the fields of genome structure and evolution, evolutionary biology, developmental biology, ecophysiology, system biology, economics, plant breeding and the challenges facing developing countries.

TOPICS: Plant science in Europe: Science policy <> Science and society: The challenges for tomorrow’s agriculture <> Understanding, preserving and using plant diversity: Genome structure and evolution, Plant adaptation, domestication and conservation, Climate change and challenges for the next decades <> Preserving our future by reducing the inputs in agriculture: Reducing water input, Reducing fertilizers, Reducing pesticides <> Improving plant product quantity and quality: Developmental biology, Improving yield, Food and feed <> New products: Plant based biofuels: how to improve them?, Biomaterials, biopharmaceuticals and other new products

PROGRAMME at www.epsoweb.org/catalog/conf2008/4CF_Programme_web.pdf

LIST OF CONFIRMED SPEAKERS: Anne-Françoise Adam-Blondon, Birgitte K. Ahring, Ian Bancroft, Michael Bevan, Dirk Bosch, Inge Broer, Enrico Coen, Catherine Feuillet, Chris Field, Richard B. Flavell, Andrew D. Friend, Yuri Gleba, Wilhelm Gruissem, Marion Guillou, Timothy Hall, Luis Herrera Estrella, Simon Hiscock, Stephen Hopper, Jonathan Jones, Sophien Kamoun, Jay D. Keasling, Tim Lang, Peter Langridge, Ottoline Leyser, Hélène Lucas, Joachim Messing, Karin Metzlaff, Franco Miglietta, Graham Moore, Javier Paz-Ares, Kaisa Poutanen, Matin Qaim, Rudy Rabbinge, Roberto Ranieri, Søren K. Rasmussen, Babis Savakis, Thomas Städler, Mark Stitt, Björn Sundberg, Frank Takken, François Tardieu, Wim Van Camp, Nicolaus von Wirén, Lothar Willmitzer, Jian-Kang Zhu

REGISTRATION: The number of participants is limited to 400. A reduced registration fee applies to EPSO Personal Members. Registration deadlines: 29 February 2008 (early), 11 May 2008 (late)
Online registration application at www.epsoweb.org/catalog/conf2008/register.htm.

POSTER AVAILABILITY AND SELECTION OF ORAL PRESENTATIONS: There will be a permanent poster exhibition. Two poster sessions will be held, the three best posters will be awarded. For each session one speaker will be selected from the poster abstracts. Deadlines abstract submission: 25 April 2008 (for oral presentation selection); 11 May 2008 (for posters only).