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Advances in Plant Virology, Arnham, the Netherlands 5th – 7th September 2010
The 2010 International Advances in Plant Virology conference was the ideal location to hear about the most recent advances in plant virology as well as providing a beautiful setting to network with academics and students. There were approximately 100 delegates mainly from Europe but a few whom had travelled from further afield to attend the conference.
The conference programme consisted of talks from a wide variety of areas, from discussing mechanisms of resistance to plant viruses right through to possible plant-based recombinant oral vaccines against human diseases . The conference was fast moving and interesting. In addition to the academic presentations I was very impressed with the quality of the student platform presentations and posters. Delegates had ample opportunity to view the posters which was useful and along with being able to chat informally with people about their work.
The most interesting aspect of the conference for me was getting to talk to specialists in the field about my project and hearing first hand about the similar problems that people are encountering.
It is very difficult to find out information about experiments that do not work, as there are no journals for negative results. A conference is the ideal opportunity to talk to people about how their work is going and the methods they are adopting to tackle the problems they face. Hearing about similar work in different crops has provided me with insight into other methods and possible future directions for my own work. Meeting Dr. Carole Caranta, INRA, France, who is a leading expert in the field of recessive resistance to potyvi ruses was enlightening and inspiring. Hearing her speak was very interesting, especially in terms of the amount of work that had been done in my particular area of interest, plant-potyvirus interactions.
As well as focusing on the scientific developments, there was time set aside for an excursion to Burges Zoo. This gave us the perfect chance to stretch our legs, see some of the varied species they have at the zoo. The evening’s entertainment involved moving through the different areas of the zoo to eat different courses of the meal, helping people to network as you sat with different people at each stop.
The conference was a great experience and I learnt a lot in such a short amount of time. It was a great opportunity to discuss interesting concepts and possible future ideas for my work. I would like to thank the BSPP for their financial support and enabling me to attend this conference and present my poster ‘how does broadspectrum resistance to Turnip mosaic virus work in Brassica rapa?’ I plan to use the knowledge and contacts obtained in my BBSRC and Syngenta funded PhD project on ‘Understanding the interaction between the Turnip mosaic virus VPg protein and Brassica eIF4E and eIF(iso)4E proteins and deploying virus resistance in brassicas’.
Charlotte Nellist University of Warwick
