What is Plant Biology? (#plantbiology15)

The following was originally posted on the Quiet Branches Blog. Plant Biology is the name of the annual meeting organized by The American Society of Plant Biologists- ASPB (& sometimes co-organized with partner plant science societies from around the world). This is one gathering of the plant science community, one of the bigger ones that … Read more

Where will a career in plant science take you? Participate in the survey.

From “what do you want to be when you grow up?” to “academia, industry, or something else?” we’ve been asking and answering questions about our careers throughout our entire life. The question “what’s next?” can provoke all sorts of responses and it’s something PhDs and postdocs often aren’t encouraged to explore when the answer isn’t … Read more

#plantbiology14 Day Three

Today was a day for personal connections and actually getting an opportunity to see some science talks. The day began with the second in  series of sessions on the challenges of feeding 9 Billion people, with a focus on not just feeding, but nourishing them successfully. David Jenkins, Alan De Brauw, and Ricardo Uauy all … Read more

#plantbiology14 Day Two

Again, it’s late and I’m tired, so stream of conscious kind of writing that’s quick is happening tonight. I may even be more tired.  Today at the conference there were two major symposia, one on synthetic biology (making drugs from plant processes/engineering cheaper ways to make medicines) and the first in a series of 2: … Read more

Using social media to increase the visibility of your poster

Succinct messages have power.  Share your poster via Twitter, interact over your results, & your research impact will grow #PlantBiology14 See what we did there?  In just 140 characters (equivalent of one whole tweet) you learned a key theme, professional goal, and a practical action item (the hashtag) for connecting at Plant Biology 2014 and … Read more

Communicating Plant Science in the Digital Age

One plant narrative 10,000 years of agriculture has transformed our world. Several thousand years after farming became widespread, people started using papyrus to write on to record information and communicate. Papyrus was displaced by paper and eventually large parts of human endeavor were all communicated on bleached plant fibers; great paintings, doodles and the written … Read more