Speaker: Dr. Shih Chang Lee (Research Fellow of Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica)
Moderator: Vice President Chao-Han Liu
Time: July 28, 2009 (Tuesday)

Venue: 2F, Center of Academic Activities, Academia Sinica
--Dinner: 6:00~7:00 pm at Lecture Hall

--Lecture: 7:00~9:00 pm at Conference Room 1

Venue:

July 24 (Friday): Room 312, Department of Physics, National Taiwan University, Taipei

July 27-28 (Monday & Tuesday): Auditorium, 1F, Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica

Sponsors:

National Center for Theoretical Sciences (Critical Phenomena and Complex Systems focus group)

Institute of Physics of Academia Sinica (Taipei)

Department of Physics, National Taiwan University

Venue: B1C Auditorium, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica 

Time: August 3-4 (Monday to Tuesday)

Venue: Conference Room, 1F, Institute of Mathematics, Academia Sinica

Description:

This workshop provides an opportunity for the researchers in various directions of complex geometry to interact and exchange ideas toward prospering future work.

Organized by: Institute of Mathematics, Academia Sinica

Dr. Paul Verslues

Assistant Research Fellow

Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology

Summary

The combination of plant breeding and increased use of irrigation and fertilizer that dramatically boosted agricultural production over the last half century is often referred to as the “Green Revolution”.  However, limitations on water and land availability demand that we find ways to use these resources more efficiently to ensure that the gains of the Green Revolution can be sustainable in the long term.  There is great interest in using genomics and biotechnology to produce drought-resistant plants that can be productive using less water.  Many hope that this will bring forth a “Blue revolution” in agriculture to build on the “Green Revolution”.  However, we still lack the comprehensive understanding needed to rationally design stress-tolerant plants.  Here I briefly discuss plant responses to water limitation and our work on proline metabolism in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana to illustrate both the challenges and the research tools we have in working toward the Blue Revolution in plant science.