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International Society for Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions (IS-MPMI) Congress 2023
Providence, Rhode Island
16th – 20th July 2023
The 20th ISMPMI (International Society of Molecular Plant Microbe Interactions) Congress was held in the historic city of Providence, the capital of the smallest state of the USA. The ISMPMI congresses have an unenviable history of coinciding with natural disasters. This was the first in person congress since Glasgow in 2019 due to the pandemic. Previous congresses in Mexico (twice) and Japan had been affected by earthquakes and tsumanis. As we gathered for the opening ceremonies in the Convention (previously known as the Dunkin Donuts) Center, the talks were interrupted by phones pinging out a flood alert warning us that we might need to evacuate due to torrential rain. We survived and the rest of the week was hot and humid outside the center and cold and dry inside.
About 700 people were registered for the meeting, down from about 1500 at Glasgow. A busy summer of other meetings (e.g. ICPP and of course hashtagBSPP2023) perhaps accounted for the smaller than expected attendance.
The congress kicked off with a talk from BSPP Honorary member Jonathon Jones receiving the ISMPMI’s Outstanding Achievement Award based on his work over 30 years dissecting the plant immune receptor network. This talk was balanced by Russell Vance, an animal immunologist on what he has learned from plant immunity.
There followed 4 days of plenaries, offered papers and 600 posters. For me the themes that emerged most clearly were all based around the acquisition and exploitation of mass data sets. Genome sequences are just the start. Mass scale protein structure prediction (alphafold) is giving depth insight into the complexity of the molecular communication between host and either pathogen or symbiont. This meeting also saw the coming of age of the resistosome.
As a veteran of the 1988 Acapulco ISMPMI and many since, it is fascinating to reflect on the progress the field has made. However, there is much to be done to see the work applied in the field.
Richard Oliver
The University of Nottingham
The congress featured a diverse range of interesting works across the field. It was very interesting to see the talk on effector triggered immunity concept in animal immunology highlighting the cross-disciplinary principles in immunology and examples of molecular mechanisms. I also enjoyed learning about various aspects of NLR biology from the fundamental side such as structural biology of NLR activation, cell biology of NLR dynamics, downstream signaling mechanisms and evolutionary analyses of NLRs to the applied side such as NLR engineering approaches and deployment of NLR stacks to create resistant crops. Another interesting topic was RNA mediated interactions which include various examples from different organisms that illustrate not only the transfer of extracellular vesicles and small RNAs for cross kingdom RNAi but also the transfer of mRNA. It was also exciting to see recent developments in the field using new technologies such as single cell technologies and Alphafold, which have generated new insights and allowed for a new scale of investigation that provides exciting avenue of research.
Nattapong Sanguankiattichai
University of Oxford
Attending IS-MPMI was an incredible opportunity to interact with the wider field of plant pathology. As my first ‘big’ international conference, I was impressed by the variety of plant pathosystems (and beneficial symbioses) studied globally. Some of my favourite talks were by early career researchers in the concurrent sessions, who are pioneering new technologies such as single cell sequencing, RNA interference and exchange between pathogens and hosts and new bioimaging techniques. I was selected to present a short talk in a concurrent session which allowed me to both share my work but also have experience tailoring my story to a broader audience. I came away with many questions to follow up on! I have met many new friends at IS-MPMI, both through other travel awardees from the BSPP and further afield. I would recommend attending future IS-MPMI conferences and am coming away with renewed energy for the final year of my PhD, with many conference-inspired experiments to run! I am very thankful to the BSPP for allowing me the opportunity to attend this conference.
Victoria Armer
Rothamsted Research
The conference was the first in-person meeting outside of our lab and cooperation partners. Due to COVID 19 everything else since the start of my PhD was done in online meetings. So, for the first time I was now able to experience a big in-person conference. My highlight was being able to present two of the projects that I have worked on during my PhD – one as a talk during the powdery mildew workshop satellite meeting on the first day, and one as a poster during the main conference. For both projects I received great feedback, suggestions and constructive criticism on which aspects to further examine. Thus, the conference gave me really nice leads to follow up during the remaining time of my PhD. On top of that I really enjoyed finally getting to know many people that I have been reading publications from for years now, and see and hear about the amazing projects that they are currently working on. Thanks to the BSPP for supporting my travel to the IS-MPMI!
Matthias Freh
RWTH Aachen University, Germany
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the BSPP for awarding me a travel award, which provided me with the incredible opportunity to attend the conference. The experience has been transformative, contributing significantly to my career path in several ways.
One of the highlights of the conference was the chance to present my poster, titled ‘Traffic control: a conserved Phytophthora effector hijacks a host RabGAP protein to inactivate a Rab GTPase that mediates defense-related secretion’ (pictured below). I received valuable feedback in person, which greatly encouraged me and reinforced the importance of my research. Presenting among colleagues in the plant pathology field allows me to foster potential collaborations.
The conference boasted a lineup of distinguished speakers, including my supervisor Tolga Bozkurt. Engaging with these renowned researchers not only allowed me to gain insights into their cutting-edge research but also exposed me to effective presentation and slide-making techniques. Additionally, interactions with notable PIs like Yong-Hwan Lee, Saskia Hogenhout, Mark Banfield, and Suayib Üstün broadened my perspective on plant pathology, providing me with invaluable knowledge that will undoubtedly shape my future research endeavors.
One of the most enriching aspects of the conference was the opportunity to interact with like-minded fellow young researchers from diverse backgrounds. Engaging with scholars from countries such as South Korea, Philippines, Australia, Thailand, and France opened up new possibilities for international collaborations. The exchange of information on our latest unpublished findings has the potential to significantly advance our shared knowledge, contributing to the progress of the entire field of plant pathology.
Representing BSPP at the conference stall (pictured below) was an honor and a privilege. I thoroughly enjoyed promoting BSPP events to attendees and fostering meaningful connections with other awardees like Bayantes, Nattapong, and Victoria. Such interactions provided a platform for exchanging experiences, insights, and ideas, further enriching the overall conference experience.
In conclusion, the conference has been an immensely rewarding and beneficial experience for my professional growth. I extend my sincere gratitude to BSPP for making this opportunity possible through the Travel Award. The positive experiences encountered, along with the knowledge and connections gained, will undoubtedly have a lasting impact on my academic and research journey.
Enoch Lok Him Yuen
Imperial College London
This was my first IS-MPMI and the first in-person international conference after the pandemic. The conference was very well organised. It was wonderful to listen to a great number of remarkable talks in the field, from which I learned many new findings. Moreover, I caught up with former colleagues and friends, as well as having opportunities to talk with new people. It is true that there is no substitution for meeting with someone in real life, especially in a scientific environment like IS-MPMI.
One of the highlights of the conference for me was a great number of research applying structural biology and Alphafold to tackle some of the most difficult challenges in the field. I was inspired by the plenary talks by Jane Parker, Jijie Chai, Mark Banfield, and fascinated by the concurrent session ‘Alphafold: structural insights into molecular plant-microbe interactions’. For example, in this concurrent session, I was particularly interested in the study done by Megan Outram and colleagues that used Alphafold to group wheat stem rust Avr candidates by their structural homology which led to the discovery of AvrSr33. Another interesting concurrent session was ‘Functions of cellular organelles in plant immunity’. In particular, a talk by Tolga Bozkurt from Imperial College London showed stunning live cell imaging of infected Nicotiana benthamiana cells with Phytophthora infestans that suggests the chloroplast-extrahaustorial membrane complex plays crucial roles in plant immunity. There were many unpublished and exciting talks, mostly by Early Career Researchers.
Another highlight for me was networking and showcasing opportunities over my own research, particularly at poster sessions. Plenty of time was allocated to the poster sessions. I made good use of it by presenting and discussing my research as well as networking and receiving useful feedback that will improve my future research. Overall, I had a very productive and enjoyable MPMI conference, and I am grateful for the BSPP travel grant which made it possible.
Bayantes Dagvadorj
With the generous support of a BSPP travel grant I recently attended the 19th Congress of IS-MPMI. After a four-year hiatus, this meeting provided a fantastic opportunity for international collaboration and immersion in the latest research at the plant-microbe interface. My group has a strong interest in understanding the interactions between fungal effectors and plant immunity receptor that result in disease resistance. The last four years have seen an explosion in our structural understanding of effector-plant immunity receptor complexes. A major highlight of this meeting was seeing how this knowledge is being used in our field to engineer novel immunity receptors. Numerous exciting strategies were discussed including pikobodies (nanobody-immunity receptor fusion), novel integrated decoys (replacing the decoy with effector targets) and direct engineering of receptors-effector interfaces. The use of AI based protein structural prediction is also being embraced by our field, with an exciting session dedicated to the topic. Combining experimental and computational approaches, I sense our MPMI community are on the cusp of generating vast libraries of immunity receptors with novel specificities that could be deployed to protect future crops. It really is an exciting time to work in this field.
Dr Simon Williams
The Australian National University
The opportunity provided by the BSPP to travel to an international conference was excellent for re-energising my research, my enthusiasm and engagement within the community. Opportunities to discuss both my own research and engage with research from many other labs internationally, especially in the poster sessions, really enabled me to make connections, both within my research, and within my scientific network. There were many interesting posters from international labs who worked on adjacent topics to my research who had ideas, methodology and understanding that expanded how I looked at the plant immune signalling network, how it interacted within itself and with bacterial pathogens. These discussions inspired novel experimental designs for my own research, as well as new potential collaboration opportunities. Additionally, experiencing the wide breadth of sessions and focus of the field really helped inform on the research by myself, and colleagues at my home lab. Finally, I had both the opportunity to meet new people in the same research area as me, talk to a range of people from different cultures and institutions, as well as to catch up with old colleagues or friends from previous conferences and learn of their research and career development, which was really useful in forming my own decisions for my future career as my PhD is near completion.
Megan Lewis
A highlight of IS-MPMI was Mary Mwangi’s talk about the CLISMABAN, Climate Smart Banana Project. The multinational, interdisciplinary team took a systems-based approach to help shift banana production in Uganda and Kenya towards climate-resilient, sustainable production. I was impressed by the scope, impact, and outcomes of the project and thought it was a great example of how to integrate agricultural science with local social and cultural factors to create clear, on the ground changes in production and livelihoods. Similarly, Laura Okalebo’s presentation on the Cassava Virus Action Project was an inspiring look at how to take molecular plant sciences to real, impactful change for growers and communities. Another excellent example of translating molecular science into effective climate and disease resilient solutions was Alessandra De Souza’s presentation on translating her group’s work on the Xylella fastidiosa rpfF gene into disease resistant great-tasting transgenic citrus fruit. Another topic I really enjoyed at this year’s conference were the several talks and posters about how plants regulate arbuscular mycorrhiza symbiosis as well as those on how microbiome composition and diversity is linked to domestic vs wild species and biotic and abiotic stress resistance.
Morgan Wade
University of Oxford
