Symposium: A New Look at Transgenic Crop Plants

Wednesday, October 21, 2009　　　　　　 

Life Science Building,Peking University Campus

Organizers: Timothy C. Hall　  Texas A&M University

John Z. Yu　　　  USDA-ARS

Hongya Gu　　  Peking University

Moderator: Tim Hall

8:30-8:45　 Introductory remarks

Zhihong Xu, Professor & Former President, Peking University

Jeffrey R. Seemann, Vice President for Research, Texas A&M University

8:45-9:00　 Demographics and population stress

Huqu Zhai, President, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences

9:00-9:15　 Achievements, Problems and Outlook - On 60 years of China’s Rural Development

 　　　　　　　　　　  Ming Lu, Former Vice Minister, Chinese Ministry of Agriculture

9:15-9:30　 The application of Agriobiotechnology in Guangxi

　　　　　　　　　　　  Zhangliang Chen, Vice-Chairman of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

9:30-9:45　 Current Challenges and Directions for Rice Cultivar Development

Ted Wilson, Director, Texas A&M University System, Agrilife Research & Extension Center at Beaumont

9:45-10:00　 Engineering RNA interference for insect-proof plants

Xiaoya Chen, President, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences,Chinese Academy of Sciences

10:00-10:15　 Transgenic approaches for nutrition improvement of crop plants

Samuel Sun, Head, Science Center, Chinese University of Hong Kong

10:15-10:30　 Coffee break

Moderator: Hongya Gu

10:30-10:45　 The development and economic impacts of biotech in China

Jikung Huang, Director, Center for China Agricultural Policy, Chinese Academy of Sciences

10:45-11:00　 Transgenic Crops: Social Issues and Social Marketing

Brian Shmaefsky, Professor, Biology & Service Learning Coordinator, Lone Star College - Kingwood, TX

11:00-11:15　 The Current Status of the China National Rice Molecular Breeding Network

　　　　　　　　　　　　　  Zhikang Li, Leader, the International Rice Molecular Breeding Program, International Rice Research Institute and Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences

11:15-11:30　 Industrial pipeline to meet future needs

John McLean, General Manager, Monsanto Biotechnology Research, China

11:30-11:45　 Vertical Agriculture, new niche for transgenics?

David Ow, Principal Investigator, Plant Gene Expression Center, USDA-UC Berkeley

11:45-12:00　 Maize improvement in China: Chances and challenges for biotechnology

Guoying Wang, Professor, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences

12:00-13:15　 Lunch break

Moderator: John Yu

13:15-13:30　 Molecular mechanisms controlling cotton fiber cell elongation

Yuxian Zhu, Director, National Key Lab for Plant Genetic Engineering, Peking University

13:30-13:45　 The development of biotechnology in cotton production in China

Shuxun Yu, Director General, China National Cotton Research Institute

13:45-14:00　 Transgenic Cotton and the Mission of the U.S. Land Grant Universities

Steve Hague, Cotton Breeder, Texas A&M University

14:00-14:15　 The Transgenic cotton with herbicide resistance in China

Shuijin Zhu, Professor and Director, Institute of Crop Sciences, Zhejiang 　　 University

14:15-14:30　 

14:15-14:30　 Crop disease resistance, promises and challenges

Yulin Jia, Research Molecular Pathologist, USDA-ARS Dale BumpersNational Rice Research Center

14:30-14:45　 Improvement of tropical fruits with biotechnology - Papayaas an example

Peng Zhou, Professor, Institute of Tropical Bioscience and Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences

14:45-15:00　 Detrimental effects of current regulations on release of 　  transgenics in developing nations

　　　　　　　　　　　  Maria Mercedes Roca, Visiting Scientist (Honduras) to Borlaug 　　  Institute, Texas A&M University

15:00-15:15　 Transforming plants – transforming global agriculture

Tim Hall, Distinguished Professor & Director, Texas A&M University

15:15-15:30　 Coffee break

15:30-17:30　 Panel Discussion, Recommendations, and Summation

　　　　　　 Moderators: Tim Hall, John Yu, Hongya Gu, David Ow, & Yulin Jia