PMB Seminars

The Department of Plant & Microbial Biology hosts an outstanding Seminar Series during the academic year. Speakers come from across the nation and throughout the world to make presentations about their ongoing research, and also meet and collaborate with UC Berkeley faculty, students and fellow researchers.
 

PMB Seminars Spring 2012

All seminars are from noon to 1PM at 101 Barker Hall, UC Berkeley.
*(p)=plant; (m)=micro
 
DateSpeaker / TopicHost
1/18
Jian-Kang Zhu, Purdue University (p)
"Dynamic Regulation of DNA Methylation in Arabidopsis"
Renee Sung
1/25
Sarah Stanley, University of California, Berkeley (m)
Cancelled
Daniel Portnoy
2/1
Daniel S. Rokhsar, University of California, Berkeley (JGI) (p)
"Old Fashioned Genetics with New Fangled Tools"
Peggy Lemaux
2/8
Derek Lovley, University of Massachusetts Amherst (m)
"Artificial Photosynthesis and Other Electromicrobiology Strategies for Producing Biofuels"
John Coates
2/10
Jennifer D. Lewis (p)
Plant Gene Expression Center
Special Seminar Friday, Feb. 10, 2012, 101 Barker, noon
"Arabidopsis innate immunity and the HopZ family of effector proteins"
Special Seminar
2/15
Alice Barkan, University of Oregon (p)
"Toward a Mechanistic Understanding of the Roles of Pentatricopeptide Repeat Proteins in Organellar Gene Expression"
Sheila McCormick
2/22
D. Lee Taylor, University of Alaska Fairbanks (m)
"6 Million Species of Fungi?  Evidence for Fine-Scale
Niche Partitioning and Plant-Driven Partner Choice Underlying Microbial Hyper-Diversity in Interior Alaska."
Tom Bruns
2/29
Cyril Zipfel, Sainsbury Laboratory at Norwich, UK (p)
"Receptor Kinase-Mediated Immunity in Plants"
Buchanan Lecture
Becky Bart
3/7
Don Bryant, Pennsylvania State University (m)
"The phylum Chlorobi: Unexpected diversity among the green chlorophototropic bacteria revealed by Genomics, Metagenomics, and Metatranscriptomics"
Arnon Lecture
Bob Buchanan
3/14
Doris Wagner, University of Pennsylvania (p)
"Regulation of Reproductive Development in Arabidopsis Thaliana"
Jennifer Fletcher
3/21
Edward F. DeLong, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (m) 
"Structure and Function in Natural Microbial Communities : A Transcriptomic Perspective"
Cancelled
Kimmen Sjolander
4/4
Katie Dehesh, University of California, Davis (p)
"From oxylipins to Retrograde Signaling"
Renee Sung
4/11
Scott C. Dawson, University of California, Davis (m)
"Molecular Architecture and Functioning of Ventral Disc, a Complex Microtubule Structure, in the parasite Giardia Lamblia"
Michi Taga
 4/18
Marilyn Roossinck, Pennsylvania State University (p)
"Virus Ecology from Pathogens to Mutualists"
Chelsea Specht
4/25
Peter Sarnow, Stanford University (m)
"Subversion of a Liver-Specific MicroRNA by Hepatitis C Virus"
Britt Glaunsinger

Download a Spring 2012 seminar poster (8.5 x 14 PDF).

 

Plant Gene Expression Center Seminars Spring 2012

The Plant Gene Expression Center hosts seminars throughout the year. The schedule is below and can also be found at pgec.usda.gov

DateSpeaker
Lab Affiliation/
Host
1/12
Mona Monfared
Fletcher Lab
1/19
Devin O'Connor
Hake Lab
1/26
Hua Jiang
McCormick Lab
2/2
Yu Zhang
Quail Lab
2/9
Weimin Ni
Quail Lab
2/16
Dr. Matthew Hudson, University of Illinois 
Peter Quail
2/23
Feng Li
Baker Lab
2/23
Nathalie Bolduc
Hake Lab
3/1
Jutta Roesler
Quail Lab
3/8
Dale Aromdee
Hake Lab
3/22
Brandon Celaya
Harmon Lab
4/5
Anne Pfeiffer
Quail Lab
 4/19
Aaron Sluis
Hake Lab
4/26
Claire Bendix
Harmon Lab
5/3
Jennifer Nemhauser, University of Washington
Jennifer Fletcher

 

Graduate Student & Postdoc Seminars

In addition, students and postdocs host regular seminars to share research and information. Please check the PMB home page for regular updates.

Special Seminars, Endowed Lectures

The department hosts several seminars and endowed lectures throughout the academic year. Endowed lectures are paid for with private funds invested and held by the Regents of the University. The Daniel I. Arnon Lecture was established with resources from the Charles F. Kettering Foundation. The endowment also supports graduate students who are designated Arnon Fellows. The Bob B. Buchanan and Harry Tsujimoto Lectures were established with a generous gift from the K/T Foundation of San Francisco.

Arnon Lecture

The Arnon Lecture honors the late Professor Daniel I. Arnon (1910-1994). Arnon spent his career at Berkeley, obtaining his Ph.D. in plant nutrition with Dennis R. Hoagland and later joining the faculty. He is best known for his pioneering research in the fields of photosynthesis and plant nutrition. His career is recounted in a memoir written for the National Academy of Sciences. The lecture is held annually in early March. Speakers have made distinguished contributions to photosynthesis or a related field and are selected by the Arnon Lecture Committee. 

Arnon Lectures
2000Paul D. Boyer2001George H. Lorimer
2002Bob B. Buchanan2003Jan M. Anderson
2004*Jean-David Rochaix2004*F.R. Whatley
2005Joanne Chory2006William A. Cramer
2007Achim Trebst2008James Barber
2009Elisabeth Gantt2010Arnon Centennial Symposium at Asilomar**
2011Jürgen Soll2012Don Bryant
* Two lectures held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the discovery of photophospphorylation
** No lecturer chosen this year
Buchanan Lecture

The Bob. B. Buchanan Lecture honors Professor Bob B. Buchanan, a longtime faculty member in the department, who also serves as Executive Associate Dean of the College of Natural Resources. Professor Buchanan did undergraduate work at Emory and Henry College and obtained a Ph.D. in Microbiology from Duke University. After completing postdoctoral research with the late Professor Jesse C. Rabinowitz in the Department of Biochemistry, Buchanan joined the UC Berkeley faculty in 1963. He is known for his contributions to microbiology, photosynthesis and plant biochemistry.

Speakers are typically young investigators on the way to achieving prominence in plant biology. They are selected by postdoctoral scholars in the Department of Plant & Microbial Biology.

Buchanan Lectures
2001Peter Schrümann2001Kenneth Cline
2002Henry Daniell2003Julian Schroeder
2005Jim Carrington2005Steve Kay
2007Savithramma Dinesh-Kumar2008Jen Sheen
2009Steve Jacobsen2010Dominique Bergmann
2011Xuemei Chen2012Cyril Zipfel

 

Tsujimoto Lecture

The Tsujimoto Lecture honors Harry Y. Tsujimoto, an accomplished former Berkeley staff member. He did undergraduate work at Cornell University and obtained an M.S. in plant nutrition from UC Berkeley. Daniel Arnon was his thesis advisor. Tsujimoto spent 25 years as a member of the Arnon research group where he participated in major discoveries on photophosphorylation and ferredoxin. Graduate students select the speaker, a recognized individual in plant biology or microbial biology.

Tsujimoto Lectures
2001Christine Foyer2002Jen Sheen
2002Kelly Dawe2003Rob Martienssen
2004Massimo Pigliucci2005Luca Comai
2007Craig Pikaard2007Brandon Gaut
2009Elizabeth Arnold2010Mary Rumpho
2010Nicolas Money2011Patrick Keeling

Other Seminars on Campus:

Nutritional Science and Toxicology

Integrative Biology

Molecular and Cell Biology

Structural Biology Series, College of Chemistry

Henry Wheeler Center for Emerging and Neglected Diseases

Environmental Science and Policy Management, College of Natural Resources