BSPP2015 – The Impact of Plant Pathogens on Everyday Lives

President: Prof. Gary Foster

The theme of the meeting will be centred around ‘the impact of plant pathology on everyday lives’, be it in the food we eat, the plants we grow in our gardens, to the trees we walk through in the woods. The meeting will not only present outstanding science but also aim to raise the profile of plant pathology to a wide range of policy makers, as well as connecting with various media outlets for coverage of this important area.

This year, the BSPP President, Prof. Gary Foster, has chosen only a few invited speakers on specific diseases, the remainder of the talks will be selected from offered papers.

The President invites submissions for papers on pathogens that have significant impact on people; the pathogens that people can ‘connect’ with, be it in their food production, their environment, or even their gardens or lawns. Clearly some pathogens may be highly ‘regional’, but all suggestions will be considered. The deadline for abstracts for offered papers is 30th April 2015 (the deadline for all other abstracts is the 24th July 2015) and speakers will be selected shortly after this date, with preference given to work that clearly demonstrates the impact and importance of plant pathology. Speakers selected from the offered papers attend the conference at their own expense.

For all abstract submissions you should receive an acknowledgment of receipt within 10 working days of submission. If you do not receive an acknowledgment, then your abstract has not been received and you should resend it.

There will be a poster session at the meeting and participants are encouraged to submit abstracts for posters.

The meeting will incorporate the P H Gregory Prize where Post-graduates and early-stage researchers who have yet to present at a meeting of a learned society are invited to submit an abstract for an oral presentation. Student members of the BSPP are additionally invited to enter the J Colhoun poster competition.

Provisional Programme

Sunday

5.30-6.30 Registration and welcome drinks Life sciences atrium

6.30 James Wong guest speaker – Tyndall lecture theatre Physics Laboratory

Monday 14th Sept. Tyndall Lecture Theatre, H.H Wills Physics Laboratory, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TL

9-9.45: President’s address

9.45-10.45: Cassava session

(1) James Legg – IITA Tanzania

(2) Stephan Winter – Leibniz Institute DSMZ Germany

10.45-11.15: Coffee

11.15-11.45: Cassava session

(3) Maruthi Gowda – Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich

11.45-12.15: Nicola Spence, UK Chief Plant Health Officer: The Plant Health skills pipeline – developing future plant health professionals. Read More about Prof Nicola Spence

12.15-1.15: Lunch

1.15-3.30: PH Gregory Prize Talks

3.30-4: Coffee

4-5.30: Late Blight Session

(1) Bill Fry – Cornell University

(2) Sophien Kamoun – Sainsbury Lab, Norwich

(3) Jonathan Jones – Sainsbury Lab, Norwich

5.30-7.30: Posters and drinks (Life Sciences Building Atrium)

7.45 for 8: Dinner and presentations (Victoria Rooms, Queens Rd, Bristol BS8 1SA)

Tuesday 15th Sept. Tyndall Lecture Theatre, H.H Wills Physics Laboratory, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TL

9-10.30: Rice Blast session,

(1) Sarah Gurr – University of Exeter

(2) Lauren Ryder – University of Exeter

(3) Thomas Kroj – INRA, Montpellier, France

10.30-11: Coffee

11-12.40: Nik Cuniffe: Optimizing control of an established plant disease epidemic using a landscape-scale mathematical model: sudden oak death in California

Kathryn Ford: Investigating the molecular pathogenicity of a tree killer: Armillaria mellea

John Dempsey: Suppression of Microdochium nivale by Phosphite in Amenity Turfgrasses

Rebekah Robinson: Emerging pathogens in UK horticulture: a case study on Puccinia heucherae

Rachel Warmington: The diversity and distribution of Sclerotinia subarctica in the UK and Norway

12.40-1.40: Lunch

1.40-2.10: Seirian Summer: Soapbox Science. Read More about Dr. Seirian Sumner

2.10-3.30: Richard Cooper: Fusarium oxysporum: world travels of a systemic killer.

Katherine Denby: A systems approach to breeding disease resistance in lettuce against necrotrophic fungal pathogens

Gail Preston: Bacterial Blotch: More Than One Way to Eat a Mushroom

Ian Toth: Decisions to be made: How will we protect our crops from pests and diseases in the coming years and how is Europe approaching this compared to the rest of the world?

3.30-4: Closing remarks, coffee and departure