Joint with: Future of Agriculture for Sustainability
Genetic Engineering for a Sustainable Future

Jan 20–23, 2025 | Keystone Resort, Keystone, CO, United States
Scientific Organizers: Carrie Eckert, Jennifer Charlotte Mortimer and Mark Blenner

  In Person
  On Demand

Jan 20–23, 2025 | Keystone Resort, Keystone, CO, United States
Scientific Organizers: Carrie Eckert, Jennifer Charlotte Mortimer and Mark Blenner

Supported by the  Directors' Fund
Available Formats:   = In Person     = On Demand
Monday, January 20, 2025
Registration
4:00–8:00 PM
 Longs Peak Foyer
Welcome Mixer
6:00–8:00 PM
 Longs Peak Foyer
Tuesday, January 21, 2025
Breakfast
7:00–8:00 AM
 Longs Peak
Welcome and Keynote Address (Joint)
8:00–9:30 AM
 Grays Peak 1-2
* Christopher Voigt, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
* Jennifer Charlotte Mortimer, University of Adelaide
Elizabeth Sattely, Stanford University
Engineering Plant Chemistry for Plant and Human Health
Anne E. Osbourn, John Innes Centre
Engineering Synthetic Pathways Towards Natural Products
Coffee Break
9:30–9:50 AM
 Longs Peak Foyer
Engineering Microbial-Plant Interactions (Joint)
9:50–11:15 AM
 Grays Peak 1-2
Jean-Michel Ane, University of Wisconsin - Madison
The Complex Communications Between Plants and their Microbiota
Christopher Voigt, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Tracking Engineered Microbiomes from Space and Over Decades
* Gozde S Demirer, Caltech
Sustainable Agriculture Through Persistent Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria
Poster Setup
11:15–1:00 PM
 Longs Peak
On Own for Lunch
11:15–2:30 PM
Poster Viewing
1:00–10:00 PM
 Longs Peak
Symposia Spotlight: Late-breaking Research Presentations Selected from Abstract Submissions
2:15–4:30 PM
 Quandary Peak 1-2
Lee J Conneely, La Trobe University
A Single Nucleus Multiomic Atlas of Cannabis sativa Glandular Trichomes Lays the Foundation for Cell Type Specific Heterologous Expression Systems
* Ryan A Edwards, University of Adelaide
Improving the Nutritional Quality of Duckweeds
Yoo-Sun Noh, Seoul National University
Induced Reprogramming of Protoplasts and Regeneration into Transgene-Free Whole Plants by EppTec
* Andrea M Garza Elizondo, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Domestication of Non-Model, Gram-Positive Bacteria
Tressa Smalley, UC Davis
Identification of potential integration sites in transgenic Lemna japonica for use with site-directed gene insertion
Jin Ching-Yi Liao, University of California, Davis
Engineering small peptide transcriptional regulation for plant growth improvement by genome editing
Fredy Altpeter, University of Florida
Production of Biomass-Oil in Energycane by Metabolic Engineering
Alexander Howard, University of California, Davis
Directed Evolution and Machine Learning Identifies Rice Immune Receptor Variants With Enhanced Recognition of a Key Pathogen Ligand
Clifford S Morrison, UCR
Versatile Split-T7 RNA Polymerase Biosensors for Precision Detection in Prokaryotes
Coffee Available
4:30–5:00 PM
 Longs Peak Foyer
Preparing for Climate Change with Plant Engineering (Joint)
5:00–7:00 PM
 Grays Peak 1-2
Pamela C Ronald, University of California, Davis
Engineering Rice for Climate Change
* Jenn Brophy, Stanford University
Genetic Circuits to Control Root Development
June I. Medford, Colorado State University
Towards Plants to Address Food, Water and Climate Needs
* Arjun Khakhar, Colorado State University
Using Synthetic Biology to Open New Avenues for Sustainable Agriculture
Subah Soni, University of California, Davis
Short Talk: Engineering Rice Root Exudation for Reduced Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Social Hour with Lite Bites
7:00–8:00 PM
 Longs Peak
Poster Session 1
7:30–10:00 PM
 Longs Peak
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Breakfast
7:00–8:00 AM
 Longs Peak
Defeating Haber-Bosch; Low Energy Routes to Fertilizer (Joint)
8:00–11:00 AM
 Grays Peak 1-2
* Henrik V Scheller, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Session Chair
Giles E.D. Oldroyd, University of Cambridge
Engineering Nitrogen Fixing Cereal Crops
Min-Hyung Ryu, Pivot Bio
Deployment of Bacteria that Deliver Fixed Nitrogen to Cereals
Cathie Martin, John Innes Centre
Healthy Plants; Healthy People - Fortifying Vitamins and Phytonutrients in Tomato
Haven Baker, Pairwise Plants
Tools for Plant Engineering to Accelerate Plant-based Production Systems
Solène LY Moulin, Stanford School of Medicine
Short Talk: Cell Evolution of Nitrogen-Fixing Endosymbioses: A Blueprint for Synthetic Self-Fertilizing Plant
Coffee Break
9:00–9:20 AM
 Longs Peak Foyer
Poster Setup
11:00–1:00 PM
 Longs Peak
On Own for Lunch
11:00–5:00 PM
Poster Viewing
1:00–10:00 PM
 Longs Peak
Career Roundtable (Joint)
3:30–4:30 PM
 Grays Peak 1-2
Jenn Brophy, Stanford University
Assistant Professor
Matt DiLeo, Elo Life Systems
Vice President, R&D
Pablo D. Rabinowicz, U.S. Department of Energy
Program Manager, Biological and Environmental Research
Coffee Available
4:30–5:00 PM
 Longs Peak Foyer
Waste Upcycling and Bioremediation
5:00–7:30 PM
 Quandary Peak 1-2
Mark Blenner, University of Delaware
Addressing the Plastics Problem with Microbial Upcycling
Michael Jewett, Stanford University
Establishing Cell-Free Systems for Carbon Negative Biomanufacturing
Adam M Deutschbauer, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Implementing High Throughput Tools to Study Microbes Involved in Bioremediation
* Yonatan Chemla, MIT
Long-term Fate of Recombinant Genes Released to the Environment 35 Years Ago to Degrade Oil Shale Fire Pollutants
* Natalie G Farny, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Application of liquid soil models to study the survival, persistence, and function of engineered bacteria
Nidhi N Patil, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi India
Short Talk: An enzymatic process for asphaltene biotransformation
Ian Wheeldon, University of California, Riverside
Short Talk: Data-driven design of biosensors for environmental contaminants
Social Hour with Lite Bites
7:00–8:00 PM
 Longs Peak
Poster Session 2
7:30–10:00 PM
 Longs Peak
Thursday, January 23, 2025
Breakfast
7:00–8:00 AM
 Longs Peak
Bioproduction and Commercialization
8:00–11:00 AM
 Quandary Peak 1-2
Andrea Hodgson, Schmidt Sciences
Enabling Biomanufacturing through a Philanthropic Lens
Lyle Ralston, Bayer Crop Science
Engineering Crops Towards Agricultural Solutions
J. Christopher Love, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Engineering Economical Fermentation at Scale for Protein Production
Alain Marty, Carbios
Talk Title to be Announced
George Chen, Tsinghua University
Next Generation Industrial Biotechnology based on Extremophiles
Matt DiLeo, Elo Life Systems
Short Talk: Molecular farming at Elo Life Systems: Metabolic engineering of the monk fruit sweetener biosynthetic pathway into heterologous crops for commercial production
Evan W Cory, UPSIDE Foods
Short Talk: Development of a Bovine Heat Shock Inducible Gene Expression System for Cultivated Meat
Coffee Break
9:00–9:20 AM
 Longs Peak Foyer
On Own for Lunch
11:00–2:30 PM
Preparing for Climate Change with Plant Engineering 2
2:30–4:30 PM
 Quandary Peak 1-2
* Lee J Conneely, La Trobe University
Session Chair
* Jin Ching-Yi Liao, University of California, Davis
Session Chair
Jennifer Charlotte Mortimer, University of Adelaide
Redesigning Plants for Long-Distance Space Exploration and on Earth Sustainability
Guotian Li, Huazhong Agricultural University
CRISPR/Cas Genome Editing and Precision Plant Breeding for Disease Resistance
Chung-Jui Tsai, University of Georgia
From Promoters to Flowers: Synthetic Biology Tools and Design-Build-Test-Learn Chassis for Reproductive Trait Engineering in Poplar
Coffee Available
4:30–5:00 PM
 Longs Peak Foyer
Engineering Next Generation Microbial Chassis
5:00–7:00 PM
 Quandary Peak 1-2
* Ilenne Dirce Del Valle Kessra, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Session Chair
* Komal Sharma, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Session Chair
Marilene Pavan, LanzaTech
Engineering Microbial Systems for the Upgrading of Gaseous Waste Feedstocks to Commodity and Specialty Products
Karsten Zengler, University of California, San Diego
Engineering Microbial Consortia in Soil Ecosystems
Carrie Eckert, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Synthetic Biology Tools for Functional Genomics in Bioenergy Relevant Microbes
Claudia Vickers, Queensland University of Technology
Choosing The Right Problems: How Can Synthetic Biology And Metabolic Engineering Meaningfully Contribute To Sustainability
Meeting Wrap-Up: Outcomes and Future Directions (Organizers)
6:45–7:00 PM
 Quandary Peak 1-2
Social Hour with Lite Bites
7:00–8:00 PM
 Longs Peak
Entertainment
8:00–9:00 PM
 Grays Peak 1-2
Cash Bar
8:00–9:00 PM
 Longs Peak
Friday, January 24, 2025
Departure
12:00–11:59 PM

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