Day 1: August 26th 2025
| Time | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM | Symposium Welcome Reception/Dinner/Check-In | Creature Comforts, 271 W Hancock Ave |
Day 2: August 27th 2025
| Time | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00 AM – 8:45 AM | Check In/Breakfast | Special Collections Library – Exhibition Hallway |
| 8:45 AM – 9:00 AM | Opening Remarks Dr. Anna Stenport, Dean of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, UGA Dr Harshavardhan Thippareddi, CAES Associate Dean for Research, UGA | Special Collections Library – Auditorium Room 271 |
Session 1: Engineering Regulation: Single Genes to Multi-Gene Networks
| Time | Speaker/Session | Room |
|---|---|---|
| 9:00 AM – 9:30 AM | Expanding the plant genetic engineering toolkit via nanomaterials and synthetic biology Gözde Demirer, Caltech | Special Collections Library – Auditorium Room 271 |
| 9:30 AM – 9:50 AM | Targeted genome engineering in poplar: Mapping safe harbors for landing pad insertion Fiorella Spies, IPBGG, UGA | |
| 9:50 AM – 10:10 AM | Reprogramming the plant cell: Where can we go from here? Brad Nelms, Plant Biology, UGA | |
| 10:10 AM – 10:30 AM | Synthetic Apomixis: Blind Alley for Evolution but Holy Grail for Plant Breeding Peggy Ozias-Akins, Horticulture, UGA | |
| 10:30 AM – 10:45 AM | Coffee Break | Special Collections Library – Exhibition Hallway and Banquet Room 285 |
| 10:45 AM – 11:15 AM | Use of AI enabled Predictive Design in improving Yield Outcomes in Soybeans’ Sonali Quantius, Inari | |
| 11:15 AM – 11:35 AM | Karyotype engineering using synthetic centromeres Kelly Dawe, UGA | |
| 11:35 AM – 12:05 PM | Trainee Lightning Talks | |
| 12:05 PM – 1:30 PM | Networking Lunch | Special Collections Library – Exhibition Hallway and Banquet Room 285 |
Session 2: Functional Molecules and Metabolisms
| Time | Speaker/Session | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 1:30 PM – 2:00 PM | Engineering Plants for Carbon Removal, Soil Improvement and Resilience Wolfgang Busch, HPI, Salk Inst. | Special Collections Library – Auditorium Room 271 |
| 2:00 PM – 2:20 PM | Synthetic Control of Trichome Density for Tunable Triterpene Engineering in Poplar CJ Tsai, Forestry, UGA | |
| 2:20 PM – 2:40 PM | Engineering an Acetate Overflow-Responsive Biosensor for Balancing Redox Ratio and Optimizing Microbial Production Jianli Zhang, BEBL, UGA | |
| 2:40 PM – 2:55 PM | Coffee Break | Special Collections Library – Exhibition Hallway and Banquet Room 285 |
| 2:55 PM – 3:25 PM | Uncovering the chemistry and organization of plant metabolism Ryan Nett, MCB, Harvard University | |
| 3:25 PM – 3:45 PM | Regulation of monoterpene indole alkaloid biosynthesis by cell type Chenxin Li, Plant Biology, Michigan State University | |
| 3:45 PM – 4:05 PM | Developing a cell free synthesis platform for improved characterization of plant cell wall glycosyltransferases Bree Urbanowicz, CCRC, UGA | |
| 3:45 PM – 4:15 PM | Panel Discussion: Innovating Bioproducts – Food, Feed, Fuel, Fibers and Beyond Moderator: Anumantha Kanthasamy Panelist: Wolfgang Busch, CJ Tsai, and Ryan Nett | |
| 4:05 PM – 5:00 PM | Student Poster Setup | Special Collections Library – Exhibition Hallway |
| 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM | Dinner | Special Collections Library – Exhibition Hallway and Banquet Room 285 |
| 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM | Student Poster Presentation and Evening Social | Special Collections Library – Exhibition Hallway |
Day 3: August 28th 2025
| Time | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00 AM – 8:45 AM | Breakfast | Special Collections Library – Exhibition Hallway and Banquet Room 285 |
Session 3: Designing Organism-Environment Interactions and Resiliency
| Time | Speaker/Session | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 8:45 AM – 9:15 AM | Harnessing plant synthetic biology for solutions to global climate and bioenergy challenges Yumin Tao, CSO, Living Carbon | Special Collections Library – Auditorium Room 271 |
| 9:15 AM – 9:35 AM | Engineering tomato for production of high value terpenes Robin Buell, CAGT, UGA | |
| 9:35 AM – 9:55 AM | An X-linked sex determination mechanism in cannabis and hop Dr. Sarah Carey, HudsonAlpha, introduced by David Neuman, Twist Bioscience | |
| 9:55 AM – 10:10 AM | Coffee Break | Special Collections Library – Exhibition Hallway and Banquet Room 285 |
| 10:10 AM – 10:40 AM | Directed evolution of plant proteins for broad-spectrum disease resistance Ellen Rim, Stanford University | Special Collections Library – Auditorium Room 271 |
| 10:40 AM – 11:00 AM | Engineering crop plants for nematode resistance: challenges and opportunities Melissa Mitchum, Plant Pathology, UGA | |
| 11:00 AM – 11:30 AM | Facility-Enabled Science at the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute Yasuo Yoshikuni, JGI, LBL, DOE | |
| 11:30 AM – 12:00 PM | Panel Discussion: Emerging Global Challenges and Synthetic Biology Solutions Moderator: Marshall Shepard Panelist: Yumin Tao, Robin Buell, and Ellen Rim | |
| 12:00 PM – 12:05 PM | Concluding Remarks |