Event Schedule
Sunday,
July 6th
Afternoon
Registration & Opening Reception // 6pm – 8pm University Centre, 6331 Crescent Rd.
Monday,
July 7th
Morning
Registration & Breakfast // 8am – 8:30am Earth Sciences Building, 2207 Main Mall
Session 1: Primary Cell Wall // 8:30am – 10:30am Room 1013, Earth Sciences Building, 2207 Main Mall
- Darragh Kelleher: Investigating the Recalcitrant Nature of Sphagnum Moss Cell Walls
- Justin Nichol: Multiple Novel Cellulase and Mannanase Genes Drive Dehiscence Zone Degradation
- Valentina Nunez-Pascual: Exploring the role of pectin metabolism in nitrate-induced cell expansion in Arabidopsis thaliana cotyledons.
- Charlie Anderson: Cell wall architecture and turgor pressure influence stomatal dynamics in unexpected ways in Brachypodium distachyon
- Breenana Urbanowicz: From Duckweeds to Data: Characterizing Plant Glycosyltransferases for Predictive Biology
- Nicholas Carpita: Rhamnogalacturonan-I in the compound middle lamella functions in fiber cell-cell adhesion in sorghum and poplar
Coffee Break // 10:30am – 11am Lobby, Earth Sciences Building, 2207 Main Mall
Session 2: Generative HI for Cell Wall Discovery // 11am – 12:30pm Room 1013, Earth Sciences Building, 2207 Main Mall
- Interactive Session
Afternoon
Lunch // 12:30pm – 2pm Jack Poole Hall, 6163 University Boulevard
Session 3: Pectin // 2pm – 3:50pm Room 1013, Earth Sciences Building, 2207 Main Mall
- Clifford Okoye: Identification of the First Glycosyltransferases that Extend Pectic Rhamnogalacturonan I backbone with Homogalacturonan: Moving from Single to Multiple Domain Pectic Polymers
- Josephine LoRicco: Pectin sculpting by the streptophyte alga, Penium margaritaceum, in response to stress
- Ariel Orellana: Characterization of Golgi UDP-Arap Transporters Reveals an Unorthodox Nucleotide Sugar Exchange Mechanism in Plants
- Robert Schaffer: The role of apple POLYGALACTURONASE 1 (MdPG1) in apple fruit ripening and texture
- Debra Mohnen: Phylogenetic Analysis of Pectin Homogalacturonan Biosynthetic GAUT Family Reveals Structural/Functional Expansion from Cyanobacteria to Green Algae and Higher Plants – Connecting Phylogeny with Biochemical/Biological Function
Poster Session 1 // 4pm – 6pm Lobby, Earth Sciences Building, 2207 Main Mall
Tuesday,
July 8th
Morning
Registration & Breakfast // 8am – 8:30am Earth Sciences Building, 2207 Main Mall
Session 4: Cellulose // 8:30am – 10:30am Room 1013, Earth Sciences Building, 2207 Main Mall
- Leonard Blaschek: KORRIGAN1 Phosphorylation by FERONIA Modulates Cellulose Synthase Endocytosis in Response to Cell Surface Signaling
- Alison Roberts: Evolution of the rosette cellulose synthesis complex
- Jan Xue: Coordinated Trafficking of Xylan and Cellulose Synthases Directs Secondary Cell Wall Assembly
- Simon Turner: Identifying robust protein interaction networks through multiple-bait proximity labelling
- Jan Lyczakowski: Structural diversity and importance of plant cell wall macrofibrils.
- Erik Nielsen: Regulation of CSLD5 protein accumulation during Cytokinesis
Coffee Break // 10:30am – 11am Lobby, Earth Sciences Building, 2207 Main Mall
Session 5: Development 1 // 11am – 12:30pm Room 1013, Earth Sciences Building, 2207 Main Mall
- Pavel Krupař: Beneath the Surface: The Complexity of Cell Wall pH and Root Elongation
- Anja Geitmann: Cell Wall-Mediated Control of Complex Tissue Morphogenesis
- Kim Johnson: Uncovering functions for Wall-associated kinases (WAKs) during secondary wall development
- Laura Bacete for Nancy Soni: From Integrity to Division: How Cell Wall Status Controls the Cell Cycle in Plants
- Bal Govind Yadav: Interdependency between cell cycle progression and cell wall integrity in Physcomitrium patens
- Niharika Nonavinakere Chandrakanth: Multi-omics of the elongating rice internode reveals putative regulatory mechanisms for cell wall phenylpropanoid biosynthesis
Afternoon
Lunch // 12:30pm – 2:00pm Jack Poole Hall, 6163 University Boulevard
Session 6: Arabinogalactan Proteins // 2pm – 3:50pm Room 1013, Earth Sciences Building, 2207 Main Mall
- Lukas Pfeifer: Convergent fine-tuning of seagrass arabinogalactan-proteins to maintain calcium homeostasis?
- Ian Black for Li Tan: Exploring the Key Structural Functions of Type II Arabinogalactan
- Kim-Kristine Mueller: New insights into bryophyte arabinogalactan-proteins from a hornwort and a moss model organism
- Damilola Ayorinde: Elucidating the Molecular Mechanism of Action of Arabinogalactan-Proteins by Transcriptomic and Genetic Suppressor Analyses
- Georg Seifert: Cellular trafficking, functional conservation and physical interactions of Fasciclin-like arabinogalactan protein 4
Poster Session 2 // 4pm – 6pm Lobby, Earth Sciences Building, 2207 Main Mall
Wednesday,
July 9th
Morning
Registration & Breakfast // 8am – 8:30am Earth Sciences Building, 2207 Main Mall
Session 7: Hemicelluloses // 8:30am – 10:30am Room 1013, Earth Sciences Building, 2207 Main Mall
- Alberto Echevarria-Poza: Xylan connects cellulose and lignin for a normal cell wall architecture
- Catalin Voiniciuc: Intracellular Mannanases Sustain Matrix Polysaccharide Biosynthesis
- Sydne Guevara Rozo: Unraveling mannan biosynthesis in poplar and spruce: Functional characterization of Cellulose Synthase-Like Family A (CSLA) genes
- Hsin-Tzu Wang: Biochemical characterization, structural basis, and protein engineering of glycosyltransferase family 61 reveal a key determinant of sugar donor specificity
- Olga Zabotina: New insights into the formation and trafficking of XXT2-XXT5 heterodimer, which is essential for synthesizing the regular patterns in xyloglucan.
- Monika Doblin: Modulating mixed linkage (1,3;1,4)-β-glucan (MLG) in barley
Coffee Break // 10:30am – 11am Lobby, Earth Sciences Building, 2207 Main Mall
Session 8: Development 2 // 11am – 12:30pm Room 1013, Earth Sciences Building, 2207 Main Mall
- Silvia Coimbra: AGP-Ca2+ binding is essential for pollen development and pollen tube growth
- Rholee Xu: Measuring the spatial distribution of cell wall elastic moduli in tip-growing cells
- Tian Zhang: Polar Pectin Stiffness: A Chemo-Mechanical Determinant of Grass Stomatal Dynamics
- Mariko Asaoka: The localization of differentiated fiber tissues plays a key role in determining the mechanical behavior of the stem in Arabidopsis thaliana
- Hyun Kyung Lee: AGP-Ca2+ binding is essential for pollen development and pollen tube growth
- Sebastian Wolf: Cell Wall Interaction of the Evolutionarily Conserved Receptor-like Protein 44 Instructs Signaling
Afternoon
Lunch Box Pickup // 12:30pm – 1:00pm Jack Poole Hall, 6163 University Boulevard
Bus Pickup to Grouse Mountain // 1:00pm – 2:15pm UBC Bookstore, 6200 University Boulevard
- 1:00pm: First bus pickup for excursion to Grouse Mountain
- 2:00pm: Second bus pickup for excursion to Grouse Mountain
Return to UBC // 8pm – 9pm
Thursday, July 10th
Morning
Breakfast // 8am – 8:30am Earth Sciences Building, 2207 Main Mall
Session 9: Applications // 8:30am – 10:30am Room 1013, Earth Sciences Building, 2207 Main Mall
- Anuleka Dutta: Bioinspiration for reforestation: structural and biomechanical insights into cell wall-based mucilage to augment seed dispersal and survival
- Liangcai Peng: Insights into trace arabinoxylan entrapment with cellulose nanofibrils assembly for biomass saccharification and CO2 capture
- Solmaz Hossein Khani: Predicting Plant Cell Wall Conversion Efficiency Through Autofluorescence Intensity
- Mathias Schuetz: Uncovering Variation in Xylem Lignification in Hop (Humulus lupulus) Stems
- Alisa Chernikova: Build better with cell walls: unveiling cell wall diversity in hardwood trees for sustainable construction materials
- Nette De Ridder: Increasing processing efficiency of the biomass crop poplar
Coffee Break // 10:30am – 11am Lobby, Earth Sciences Building, 2207 Main Mall
Session 10: CW & Environment // 11am – 12:15pm Room 1013, Earth Sciences Building, 2207 Main Mall
- Sara Morghen: Unraveling the role of the cell wall integrity maintenance mechanism in osmotic stress induced ABA production
- Antonio Molina: Novel insights into plant mechanisms of glycan perception and immune activation: deciphering the function of Leucine Rich Repeat-Malectin Receptor Kinases
- Heather McFarlane: A specific role for the extension domain of a ubiquitin-like protein in cell wall stress responses
- Richard Sibout: Comparative transcriptomics in ferns reveals key innovations and divergent evolution of the secondary cell walls
- Peter Ulvskov: Cryocampsis, the freezebending response of certain arctic shrub species
Afternoon
Business Meeting // 12:15pm – 12:45pm Room 1013, Earth Sciences Building, 2207 Main Mall
Lunch // 12:45pm – 2pm Jack Poole Hall, 6163 University Boulevard
Session 11: Lignin // 2pm – 3:50pm Room 1013, Earth Sciences Building, 2207 Main Mall
- Richard Sibout for Elina Raad: Novel Insights into the Interplay of Fungal Redox Enzymes: towards an understanding ofmicrobial Lignin Degradation
- Chang-Jun Liu: Engineering dicarboxylic acid production reveals cell wall biosynthetic plasticity of poplars.
- Peng Xiao: Emergence of Lignin-Carbohydrate Interactions During Plant Stem Maturation Visualized by Solid-State NMR
- Wenyan Zhang: The Genetic Architecture of Lignification and Plant Architecture in Tomato
- Lydia Pui Ying Lam: Cell wall analyses of rice mutants with dicot-like lignin lacking tricin and p-coumarate decorations
- Yunjun Zhao: A Bacterial Tyrosinase Acts as a Novel 4-Coumarate 3- Hydroxylase in Rice Lignin Biosynthesis
Closing // 3:50pm Room 1013, Earth Sciences Building, 2207 Main Mall
Questions?
Please contact the organizers by email
Upcoming Dates
Submission Opens: February 11, 2025
Submission Closes: March 31, 2025 (midnight Pacific Time)
Oral Talk Notification: April 11, 2025
Early Bird Registration Deadline: April 14, 2025
Author Registration Deadline: April 21, 2025
Online Registration Closes: June 29, 2025