Remember to sign up !
- Deadline for abstract submissions : 23 October
- General registration will be open through : 31 October
For more details about how to participate and how to register to attend, please visit the ARBRE PhD & Postdoc Day homepage.
Author Archives: pklett
ARBRE Conference — Philippe Delavault
Philippe Delavault, a professor of plant biology and pathology at the University of Nantes, will give a conference this coming Friday entitled :
“Unveiling the wonders of parasitic plants — Biology and Genetics of Orobanche”
Friday 23 October
13h30 — Main conference room
INRA Nancy-Lorraine Center
Champenoux
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Abstract : Due to their forms and colors, parasitic plants are most often considered to be botanical curiosities. However, in some cases, these are proved to be also deadly pests with the capacity to exploit other plants. Among the obligate root parasitic weeds, the holoparasites that are devoid of chlorophyll and thus unable to carry out photosynthesis totally rely on their hosts for their water, mineral, and carbohydrate supplies. Members of the genus Orobanche and Phelipanche, belonging to the Orobanchaceae family (the broomrape family), are thus the final result of this evolutionary transition from autotrophism to heterotrophism. The underlying process of this trophic exploitation, governed by a finely-tuned molecular dialogue between both partners, is an extraordinary example of adaptive plant biology operated by these parasitic organisms in the course of evolution. This transition is associated with remarkable morphological and physiological adaptations, such as the requirement for the seeds to germinate to perceive molecules produced by host roots, the development of a novel organ, the haustorium, which invades host tissues and establishes a physiological continuum between the parasite and the host, the establishment of a sink strength required for translocation of host resources, the loss of photosynthesis, and a reduced leaf and root architecture.
ARBRE Conference — Pierre Vollenweider (WSL)
Dr. Pierre Vollenweider
13 November — 14h30
Main conference room, INRA Champenoux
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Dr. Pierre Vollenweider is a research scientist at WSL (Switzerland) and will be visiting the INRA Nancy Center for two days on 12-13 November. On Friday, 13 November, Dr. Vollenweider will present a talk on the following topic:
“Contribution of structural changes to stress and tolerance responses in foliage of vascular plants under abiotic stress »
Dr. Vollenweider’s presentation will include an overview of ongoing research at the Swiss Federal Research Institute in Birmensdorf. He will be addressing three specific points: the allocation of heavy metals and other contaminants to leaves, structural changes induced by drought, and responses to ozone.
Third Edition — a cycle of seminars sponsored by INRA Nancy-Lorraine and LabEx ARBRE
The third edition of the INRA-LabEx ARBRE seminars cycle began earlier this month and will go through to December. Joining the INRA Nancy-Lorraine Center and ARBRE in organization are partner institutes, the University of Lorraine and AgroParis Tech.
These seminars are an important addition to INRA’s scientific animation. On Friday afternoons (continuing on 16 October going through 4 December), each research unit will present their laboratory in an open forum for all agents, technicians, researchers and students alike. The subjects of these seminars relate directly to the research themes of both the INRA Nancy-Lorraine center and LabEx ARBRE: the forest, ecology and agriculture. These seminars have been planned grouping two seminars per location (the Faculty of Science Vandoevre, ENSAIA Vandoeuvre, AgroParis Tech Nancy and the INRA site in Champenoux).
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The seminar cycle continues — on site at INRA Champenoux
Friday 16 October – Main conference room
- the LERFoB Unit (Cyrille Rathgeber) Influence of climate on xylem cell differentiation and resulting tree-ring structure in temperate conifer forests 13h15 – 14h00
- The EEF Unit (Stéphane Ponton) Que “disent” les cernes du bois sur les variations infra-saisonnières du fonctionnement de l’arbre ? Etude de la “voix” isotopique (chez le hêtre) 14h15 – 15h00
For full details about these seminars, follow this link — Program Seminar Cycle
UPRA becomes INUPRAG
The joint French-Swedish virtual laboratory “UPRA” has opened its doors to welcome a new partner, the CRAG research center in Spain.
In 2005, increasing connections between research projects at the Umeå Plant Science Center in Umeå, Sweden (UPSC) and the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) on biology and plant genomics lead to the creation of a “European Open Laboratory” called UPRA. In the continuity of this virtual laboratory, a new partner has just been added, the Center for Agricultural Genomics Research in Barcelona, Spain (CRAG).
This past week on 7 October at the INRA Nancy-Lorraine Center in Champenoux, representatives from UPSC together with those from two INRA research departments (Plant Biology and Breeding – BAP, and Forest, Grassland and Freshwater Ecology Division – EFPA) and CRAG signed a new cooperation agreement. UPRA has now been renamed INURPRAG — combining INRA, UPSC and CRAG. These three research institutions conduct highly complimentary work in the areas of integrative biology and plant genomics. This extension of UPRA to include Spain is an excellent opportunity to promote exchanges across Europe by providing a framework to coordinate future European projects.
The signing of this convention took place in the framework of the first trilateral symposium for Integrative Plant Biology which gathered scientists from the three institutions with support from LabEx ARBRE, Saclay Plant Sciences and the University of Lorraine.
First joint call for project proposals with WSL — 2 awarded projects
To learn more about these two winning projects, INTERDROUGHT and BLACKSECRET, follow the links below —
Experimentarium — last rehearsals before the big day
There are easier things in life than preparing a 20 minute workshop to explain the scientific approach and what it means to be a researcher to an audience of middle school students. But this is the challenge five new PhD students from the University of Lorraine signed up for — and they are ready. Three of these young researchers are working on thesis topics in joint research labs run by INRA within the LabEx ARBRE cluster. This past Monday, 5 October, they spent a day together for one last dry run and presented to each their individual workshops. The exercise proved valuable — this was a chance to share advice and make last minute adjustments to meet the exacting standards of their upcoming young critics (to capture their imagination and keep them interested!).
It all begins this Friday, 9 October, when the 5 doctoral candidates will visit a school in the Meuse and present their science to 9 groups of students. Emeline, Lucie, Mathilde and Pierre-Antoine will leave Nancy the night before to spend a final evening in a gîte close-by, to gather one last time before a very big day.
Experimentarium in Lorraine – meet this year’s PhD students
Learn more about some of the PhD students participating this year in the Experimentarium program —
- Maxime Burst — Ecology of Plant Communities
Doctoral school : RP2E - Pierre-Antoine Chuste — Forest Biology
Doctoral school : RP2E - Mathilde Guibert — Cellular Biology
Doctoral school : BioSE - Emeline Hily — Environmental Economics
Doctoral school : SJPEG - Lucie Speyer — Solid State Chemistry
Doctoral school : EMMA
The Annual LabEx ARBRE Meeting
ARBRE Seminar — Lee Kalcsits
Monday, 5 October
INRA Nancy-Lorraine (Champenoux)
14h — Main conference room
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Lee Kalcsits, assistant professor with the Department of Horticulture at Washington State University, will present a seminar entitled:
“Ecophysiological approaches to understand calcium uptake and distribution in tree fruit”
For more information ..
Lee Kalcsits — Assistant Professor, Tree Fruit Physiology, Washington State University
