Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY
June 29- July 19, 2012
This course provides an intensive overview of topics in plant physiology, biochemistry and development, focusing on genomic, analytical, computational and other high throughput approaches to understanding plant biology. It emphasizes recent results from model organisms including Arabidopsis, maize and tomato as well as a variety of other plants and provides an introduction to current methods used in basic and applied plant biology. It is designed for scientists with some experience in molecular techniques or in plant biology who wish to work with plants using the latest molecular, genomic, and computational technologies. The course consists of a vigorous lecture series, a hands-on laboratory, and informal discussions. The instructors and a stellar group of invited speakers, acknowledged leaders in their fields, will present up-to-the-moment research on a wide range of topics in plant research. These seminars will include plant evolution, morphology and anatomy; various topics in plant development (including development of meristems, gametophytes, and roots); light perception and photomorphogenesis; cell wall biosynthesis and biofuels, function and perception of hormones; small RNAs; biotic and abiotic interactions; and applications addressing current agronomic problems. Lectures describing bioinformatics tools available to the plant community and the resources provided by plant genome projects are also included. Speakers will provide expert overviews of their fields, followed by in-depth discussions of their own work. The laboratory sessions will provide exposure to cutting edge techniques currently used in plant research. These include studies of plant development and genome evolution, transient gene expression, applications of fluorescent proteins, automated phenotyping, analysis of polysomal mRNA, analysis of global gene expression data (microarray and short-read sequencing), construction of genetic networks, and metabolome analysis. Students will be introduced to leading computational environments and programs including R, Bioconductor, and ImageJ. The course also includes several short workshops on important themes in plant research.
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