Keynote Speakers
The organizing committee has invited and confirmed an outstanding group of keynote speakers for the conference, covering all conference session themes.
Each scientific session will have up to three keynote talks followed by up to six voluntary talks selected from the submitted abstracts. In the list below you can check some brief biographical data about these world renown experts, together with the titles of their talks. Abstracts for their talks will be posted closer to the conference date.
 |
Dr. Ronald Sederoff - North Carolina State University - USA
Ron Sederoff is a Distinguished University Professor and Edwin F. Conger Professor of Forestry and Environmental Resources at North Carolina State University (NCSU). His most significant distinction is as a Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He is also a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Member of the International Academy of Wood Science. In 2004, he received an honorary degree (Doctor Honoris Causa) from the Swedish Agricultural University in Forestry. His recent work has focused on the sequence variation within and between related species of forest trees to investigate the nature of quantitative traits and to advance breeding in hybrids. Genera of interest have been pines, eucalypts and chestnuts. Integration of sequencing, proteomics and metabolite profiling form the basis for a systems approach in forest trees, particularly for lignin biosynthesis as part of a larger program in the Forest Biotechnology Group. |
 |
Dr. Gerald (Jerry) A. Tuskan - Oak Ridge National Laboratory - U.S. Department of Energy - USA Jerry Tuskan is a Distinguished Scientist, BioSciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has over 20 years experience leading and working with DOE on the development of bioenergy feedstocks. Dr. Tuskan is currently the co-lead for the Joint Genome Institute Plant Genomics effort and the Activity Lead for the DOE BioEnergy Science Center Populus team. In addition, he is the co-lead PI on DOE related to Populus genomics and plant-microbe interactions. His research focuses on the accelerated domestication of Populus through direct genetic manipulation of targeted genes and gene families, with focus on cell wall biosynthesis. |
 |
Dr. Steven H. Strauss - Oregon State University - USA Steven H. Strauss is a Distinguished Professor of Forest Biotechnology in the Department of Forest Science at Oregon State University, and has a joint appointments in the Molecular and Cellular Biology Program. He is Director of the Tree Biosafety and Genomics Research Cooperative at OSU, a university-public agency-industry consortium formed in 1994. It conducts research on the biosafety and physiology of genetically engineered trees used in plantation forestry and horticulture. Strauss directs the OSU Program for Outreach in Resource Biotechnology, aimed at promoting public understanding, and facilitating science-based public debates, in food and natural resources biotechnology (http://agsci.oregonstate.edu/orb/). He was the Forest Biotechnology Partners Forest Biotechnologist of the Year in 2009 recognizing his outstanding contributions to science, dialogue, and stewardship. He was a 2005 Leopold Leadership Fellow, part of a program aimed at training environmental scientists to be more effective at influencing public policy and presenting science to news media. |
 |
Dr. Chung-Jui (CJ) Tsai - University of Georgia - USA C.J. Tsai received her Ph.D. from the Michigan Technological University in 1995. She is now W.N. Haynes Professor and a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar at the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, and the Department of Genetics at the University of Georgia. Research projects in her lab center around the theme of dissecting molecular mechanisms underpinning tree growth and fitness, stress responses and lignocellulosic wood properties, using both naturally occurring hybrid as well as transgenic Populus species (poplars, cottonwoods and aspens) as the primary experimental systems. Secondary metabolism in many tree species is dominated by the phenylpropanoid pathway. The molecular regulation of phenylpropanoid composition and overall abundance is important for tree growth, fitness and biomass value. Metabolite profiling, whole genome transcriptome analysis and bioinformatics tools are employed in conjunction with transgenic manipulation and whole plant physiology in addressing these issues. Better understanding of gene networks at the interface of growth, wood formation and stress response is expected to contribute toward sustainable tree productivity, and is also expected to contribute to ecological investigation using genomic approaches. |
 |
Dr. Wout Boerjan - University of Gent - Belgium Wout Boerjan received a PhD in Plant Biotechnology at Ghent University, Belgium, in 1993 and in the same year he became group leader of the Tree Biotechnology Group in the Department of Plant Genetics. Since 2003, he is a Professor in Genetics at the University of Gent and group leader at the VIB Department of Plant Systems Biology in Gent, Belgium, where he leads the Bio-energy Group. His major area of research is lignin biosynthesis. His group has engineered poplar to improve paper making and biofuel production, which has resulted in the first field trial with biotech plants in 7 years in Belgium. His group uses systems biology in Arabidopsis as a tool to identify candidate genes for cell wall improvement, and transgenic poplar for translational research. He is member of the International Academy of Wood Science, associate editor of ‘Tree Genetics and Genomes’ and ‘Bioenergy Research’, advisory board member of several international projects and regular organizer of international biotechnology congresses. |
 |
Dr. Victor Busov - Michigan Technological University - USA Victor Busov is an Associate Professor at the Biotechnology Research Center, School of Forest Resources & Environmental Science at the Michigan Technological University. His major area of research include functional genomics of tree development, gibberellins metabolism and signal transduction pathways, molecular biology of adventitious and lateral root formation and small RNA regulation of tree development. Ongoing work in his laboratory employs genomics and genetics approaches to more thoroughly understand poplar growth and development under stress conditions including nitrogen and water limitations. |
 |
Dr. Christophe Plomion - INRA Bordeaux - France Christophe Plomion received his PhD in molecular genetics (1995, Rennes, France). Since then, researcher at INRA Bordeaux “Biodiversity gene and Community” research unit. Since 2008, deputy head of the “Forest, Grassland and Fresh Water Ecology” Division of INRA, and board member of EPSO, the European Plant Science Organization. Research Interest: I use a forward genetics approach in forest trees to study the genetic basis of adaptation, understand genome evolution and identify the genes/proteins that underlie important complex traits such as biomass production, wood properties and abiotic stress response. |
 |
Dr. Fikret Isik - North Carolina State University - USA and "Genomic Selection in tree breeding - Mini-course" Fikret Isik, Research Associate Professor, is a quantitative geneticist with the North Carolina State University Cooperative Tree Improvement Program, USA. He is serving as the statistical consultant for the College of Natural Resources at NCSU and the associate editor of Forest Science journal for genetics. His research interests include best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) of breeding values using generalized linear mixed models, genetic basis of disease resistance and improvement in trees, and marker assisted selection in tree breeding. His recent research focused on statistical analysis of large number of DNA markers for genomic selection in forest trees. He is also working on systems biology, particularly statistical analysis of complex and large-scale data to understand pathways and regulation of lignin quantity and structures in poplar. Dr. Isik teaches quantitative forest genetics and introduction to data analysis graduate courses at NCSU. He has been awarded with NATO post-doctoral fellowships, the British Council scholarships and the Turkish Higher Education Council honorary Associate Professor of genetics. |
 |
Dr. Amy Brunner - Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University - USA Amy Brunner received her Ph.D. in Forest Science and Genetics from Oregon State University in 1998. She is currently Associate Professor of Molecular Genetics in the Department of Forest Resources and Conservation at Virginia Tech. She has studied developmental processes in Populus for 16 years by using genomics, molecular biology and transgenic techniques to understand the genetic control of traits important for forest tree adaptation and domestication. Her current work focuses on (1) understanding the regulation of shoot-system traits, including sylleptic branching, timing of seasonal transitions and flowering and (2) building a protein-protein interaction map for wood development. Goals of her work include the identification of poplar regulatory genes that act as major genetic control points for tree growth, development and responses to the environment, and demonstrate how this information can be used to produce trees with modified qualities important to carbon sequestration, such as root and shoot architecture, root-shoot biomass ratio, and cell wall chemistry. |
 |
Dr. Magnus Hertzberg - SweTree Technologies AB- Sweden Magnus Hertzberg obtained his PhD in “Forest cell- and molecular biology” at Umeå Plant Science Centre, UPSC in 2001. After that he was awarded a Marie Curie Research fellowship and joined the group of Dr Jane Langdale in Oxford working with developmental biology in maize and Arabidopsis. By joining the company SweTree Technologies and starting up their internal research program on genes important for forest biotechnology in 2002, he went back to working with trees and functional genomics. Magnus has held different positions at SweTree and is now Program Project Manager responsible for the Forest biotechnology R&D. SweTree Technologies is a plant and forest biotechnology company providing products and technologies to improve the productivity and performance properties of plants, wood and fiber for forestry and fiber related industries. Since 2002 more than 1000 genes have passed SweTree’s research program on genes and their functions in order to develop improved trees for the future. Magnus has published papers in journals such as Plant Cell, PNAS, Plant Journal, and Nature Biotechnology and is the inventor/ co-inventor on a number of pending patents. |
 |
Dr. Matias Kirst - University of Florida - USA Matias Kirst is an Associate Professor in Quantitative Genetics and Genomics at the School of Forest Resources and Conservation at the University of Florida, and co-director of the Cooperative Forest Genetics Research Program. He has a M.Sc. in Genetics and Improvement from the University of Viçosa (Brazil) and a Ph.D. in Genetics and Genomics Sciences from North Carolina State University. After a short postdoc at Cornell University, Dr. Kirst joined the faculty at the University of Florida where he is the lead investigator of the Quantitative Genomics Laboratory at UF’s Genetics Institute. Research efforts are focused on the genetic regulation of gene expression and gene expression networks; and discovery of genes, metabolic and regulatory networks that control variation in growth and developmental traits in eucalypts, poplar and pines. These studies are supported by the implementation and development of new genomic tools for genome sequencing, polymorphism discovery and genotyping in these species. |
 |
Dr. Simon Southerton - CSIRO Plant Industry - Australia Simon Southerton has a science degree and a PhD from the University of Sydney. For the last 12 years he has worked in CSIRO where he now leads the Forest Genetics group in the Plant Industry Division. His primary research interest is in understanding the molecular basis of wood development in eucalypts and radiata pine and its influence on commercial wood properties. Recent examples of the research includes the discovery of a subset of fasciclin-like arabinogalactan proteins that play a major role in controlling stem strength properties in plants (MacMillan et al. 2010 The Plant Journal 62: 689–703). In other research his group were able to demonstrate that a SNP in the eucalypt cobra-like gene influences allelic expression and cellulose content through its impact on the binding of regulatory proteins (Thumma et al. 2009 Genetics 183: 1153-1164). |
 |
Dr. Vincent Chiang - North Carolina State University - USA Vincent Chiang is the Jordan Family Distinguished Professor for Natural Resources Innovation, and Co-Director of the Forest Biotechnology Group at North Carolina State University. He is also the Director of the NCSU Forest Biotechnology Industrial Research Consortium. Dr. Chiang received his MS (1980) and PhD (1983) in Lignin Chemistry/Biochemistry from University of Washington. He is recognized for his research in providing biochemical insights into mechanisms of lignin biosynthesis and pioneering in metabolic engineering of cell wall structures in tree species. His years’ fundamental research has led to the first demonstration of genetic manipulation of lignin and cellulose, and of the involvement of regulatory RNAs in wood formation (Nature Biotech., 17:808; 20:557; Plant Cell 13:1567; 17:2186). His current research focuses on a systems biology approach to understand how the entire lignin biosynthesis is organized and regulated, and its co-regulated associations with polysaccharide biosynthesis in wood formation. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the International Academy of Wood Science. He received the Distinguished Faculty Research Award from Michigan Technological University and Distinguished Faculty ward of the Michigan Association of State Universities prior to joining NCSU. He also received the NCSU Outstanding Research Award. |
 |
Dr. Rosane Garcia Collevatti – Universidade Federal de Goiás - Brazil Rosane Collevatti is an evolutionary geneticist and professor in the Department of Biology at the Federal University of Goiás, Goiânia, Brazil. Rosane got her Forest Engineering degree at the Federal University of Viçosa in 1993 and her Ph.D. in Ecology at University of Brasilia in 2000. She focuses her research on the phylogeography and population genetics of plant populations in the Brazilian Cerrado. Currently, she is addressing the origin and evolution of Neotropical savannas and seasonally dry forests based on comparative phylogeography of tree species, using the woody genus Tabebuia (Bignoniaceae) as an experimental model. Her work has been showing that the effect of the Last Glacial Maximum in the origin and evolution of Neotropical dry forests has been overestimated. Current activities also include the development of SNP genotyping systems from next-generation sequencing to address population genomics of local adaptation in natural populations of Neotropical trees. |
|
Dr. John B. Schoper - Monsanto Co - USA To be completed |
|
 |
Dr. Armand Seguin - Natural Resources Canada - Canada Armand Séguin has been a research scientist at the Canadian Forest Service’s Laurentian Forestry Centre since 1995. He holds a B.Sc. degree in microbiology from U of Sherbrooke; an M.Sc. in molecular biology from U of Montreal (Montreal Cancer Institute) and a Ph.D. in forest sciences from Laval U. He received a postdoctoral fellowship from NSERC and went to San Diego CA for training in plant molecular biology at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies with Chris Lamb. His research program centres on increasing current understanding of the molecular mechanisms of stress responses in trees, forest genomics and the potential impacts of transgenic trees on the environment. The studies conducted in his laboratory have helped to advance knowledge in tree genomics and supported scientific expertise in the field of regulation of genetically modified trees in Canada. |
 |
Dr. Alexander (Zander) Myburg - University of Pretoria - South Africa Zander Myburg is an Associate Professor in the Department of Genetics at the University of Pretoria. His research program in the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI) focuses on the genomics and molecular genetics of wood formation in Eucalyptus trees. In particular, his research has focused on the transcriptional regulation of cellulose biosynthesis. By analyzing the promoters of primary and secondary cell wall associated cellulose synthase (CesA) genes of Eucalyptus with orthologous promoters in Arabidopsis and Populus his group has identified conserved cis-regulatory elements that may underlie the tissue-specific expression of the CesA genes (Creux et al. 2008). This work has been expanded to include other upstream components of the transcriptional network controlling cellulose biosynthesis (Creux, Hussey et al. unpublished), genomics analysis of diurnal variation in gene expression during wood formation (Solomon et al. 2010) and whole-transcriptome sequencing of a range of xylogenic and non-xylogenic tissues using Illumina mRNA-Seq analysis (Mizrachi et al. submitted). Zander is currently serving as President of the South African Genetics Society (SAGS) and he coordinates the International Eucalyptus Genome Network (EUCAGEN). He is also the lead investigator of the US Department of Energy (DOE) - Joint Genome Institute (JGI) project to sequence the Eucalyptus grandis genome. |
 |
Dr. Antoine Kremer - INRA Bordeaux - France Antoine Kremer is a Senior Research Fellow at INRA “Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique”. Director of the Joint Research Unit BIOGECO « Biodiversity, Genes & Communities », INRA and University of Bordeaux 1; Coordinator of the European Network of Excellence EVOLTREE “Evolution of Trees as drivers of terrestrial biodiversity”. Antoine got his Forestry Engineer Degree at the Ecole Nationale des Ingénieurs des Travaux des Eaux et Forêts (ENITEF) in 1976 and his Ph.D. in Quantitative Genetics at University of Paris XI-Orsay in 1992. In 1995 he received a Scientific Achievement Award of IUFRO (International Union of Forest Research Organizations); in 2003 he received the European Forest Research Award by the Foundation for European Forest Research and in 2006 he was awarded the most distinguished honor prize in Forest Science, the Marcus Wallenberg Prize. |
 |
Dr. Maud A. W. Hinchee - Arborgen - USA Maud Hinchee holds a Ph.D. in botany from the University of California at Davis. She is Chief Science Officer at ArborGen, a leading developer of biotechnology tree seedling products and one of the largest providers of conventional and technology enhanced seedlings to the forestry industry. Maud Hinchee joined ArborGen in September 2000 following an 18 year career at Monsanto. Hinchee built ArborGen's technical platforms and has overseen the development of key technical breakthroughs, enabling the commercial application of biotechnology toward the genetic improvements of several tree species, including pine and eucalyptus. She has authored more than 40 scientific research articles in the area of plant biotechnology, culture and morphogenesis, and is credited as inventor on seven patent applications. |
 |
Dr. John MacKay - University of Laval - Canada John MacKay (professor, department of wood and forest sciences, Laval University) trained in forest resource management (Laval Univ.) and obtained a Ph.D. in genetics under R. Sederoff (N. Carolina State Univ.). Since 2002, he has led Arborea phases I and II, large-scale multidisciplinary research projects aimed at identifying genes that control growth and wood quality traits forest trees using genomic tools. He also co-directs the “Québec Intensive Silviculture Network”, dedicated to applied research and knowledge translation related to wood fibre production. He is a member of the Center for Forest Research, and founding member of IBIS, Institute for Systems and Integrative Biology. His research focuses on the molecular regulation of wood formation and the genetics of wood properties in softwood (spruce, pine) and hardwood trees (poplars), through investigations that encompass gene discovery, functional genomics, association studies and quantitative genetics. Current activities also include genome sequence exploration with next generation sequencers. Research outcomes include applications in tree breeding (gene-base selection) and biotechnology. Between 2005 and 2010, he authored 27 peer-reviewed publications, one book chapter and numerous scientific presentations in forest genomics, and supervised or co-supervised a total of 30 graduate students, postdoctoral scientists and research assistants. |
 |
Dr. Shawn Mansfield - University of British Columbia - Canada Shawn Mansfield is a Canada Research Chair and Professor of Forest Biotechnology in the Department of Wood Science at the University of British Columbia. He is a Fellow of the International Academy of Wood Science, a Sir Frederick McMaster Fellow, and was recently awarded with the IUFRO Scientific Achievement Award for his work in the field of forest biotechnology and tree cell wall biosynthesis. Mansfield’s current research program is aimed at understanding the fundamental genetic and molecular underpinnings of cell wall biosynthesis. The laboratory uses a combination of molecular biology, biochemistry, analytical chemistry and plant cell wall characterization techniques to elucidate the influence of various biosynthetic pathways on the development, growth, chemistry and ultrastructure of secondary xylem formation in trees. The laboratory has also contributed to our understanding of the inherent links between the basic plant fibre traits to processing and end-product quality, and as such attempts to link genotypic traits to phenotypic properties. |
 |
Dr. Bjorn Sundberg - Umeå Plant Science Center, SLU - Sweden Björn Sundberg is Professor at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, and holds a Forestry faculty chair in Wood Biology. He is working within Umeå Plant Science Center where he is directing/co-directing several national excellence centers in wood science, forest biotechnology and biorefining (FuncFiber/BioImprove, Berzelii center, Bio4Energy, Swedish spruce genome project). His has a research interest is the biology of secondary xylem (wood) formation, with a track record on hormonal control and biosynthesis and function of wood polymers. Current research program includes the physiological function and downstream signaling of endogenous ethylene and the discovery and functional studies of genes and proteins in wood formation. His lab also develop novel tools for wood chemotyping such as chemical imaging by FT-IR microscopy and Pyrolysis-GC/MS combined with chemometric analysis to be used in e.g. mutant screening and association genetics. |
 |
Teotonio de Assis - Assistech - Breeding and propagation technology Teotonio de Assis is a Forest Engineer and MSc in Genetics and Plant Breeding from the Federal University of Viçosa. During 11 years he was in charge of a Eucalyptus breeding programs at Acesita Energetica, a steel industry, when he developed novel Eucalyptus hybrid combinations for high wood density. After a passage at Bioplanta, where he started working on mini-cutting technologies, he joined Riocell, where he consolidated his innovative developments of hybrid combinations and propagation technologies. He pioneered the micro-cutting propagation system an intensive cloning method that revolutionized commercial scale Eucalyptus clonal forestry worldwide.At Klabin and Aracruz he optimized indoor Eucalyptus orchards, early flower induction methods, super-intensive controlled pollination techniques and clonal propagation systems for loblolly pine. Since 2005, he is an independent consultant for companies in Brazil, Chile and Uruguay working with Eucalyptus, Pinus, and Acacia mearnsii. Since 2006 he teaches in the International Course of Forest Tree Breeding and Biotechnology held by the University of Concepcion and NC State University. Besides being the "father" of the micro-cutting technology, he is also recognized as the "architect" of the introgression of E. globulus in tropical eucalypts, a trend that is currently reshaping industrial forests in Brazil with a new wave of clones displaying radically improved wood quality for pulp, paper and energy. |
 |
Dr. Andrew Eckert - University of California Davis - USA Andrew J. Eckert is an evolutionary geneticist and Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Evolution and Ecology and the Center for Population Biology at the University of California, Davis. He focuses his research on the genetics and genomics of adaptation within natural plant populations. Recently, he has addressed the genomics of local adaptation in natural populations of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.). His work established that the molecular signatures of positive natural selection are often strongly confounded with patterns of neutral population structure in forest trees, yet inroads to identification of the genes underlying adaptive traits within natural plant populations can be made with the appropriate genomic, spatial and statistical approaches (Eckert et al. 2010. Patterns of population structure and environmental associations to aridity across the range of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L., Pinaceae). Genetics 185: 969-982; Eckert AJ et al. (2010b). Back to nature: ecological genomics of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda,Pinaceae). Molecular Ecology 19: 3789-3805). Such approaches are necessary to help answer many of the fundamental questions in conservation and evolutionary biology. |
 |
Dr. Ziv Shani - FuturaGene Ltd. Ziv Shani joined CBD Technologies in 1999 and was responsible for building and directing the AgBio research group. Following the merger of CBD Technologies with FuturaGene PLC, Dr. Shani was promoted to Group R&D Director. Subsequent to the acquisition of Futuragene by Suzano Papel e Celulose, Dr. Shani was promoted to SVP R&D of FuturaGene Ltd, the parent company of Futuragene. In this role, Dr. Shani is responsible for all of the company’s research and development activities at its facilities in Brazil, China and Israel, as well as third party research relationships. Dr. Shani received his B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is a leading contributor to research and development in the field of agricultural biotechnology. Amongst his accomplishments, he isolated the cel1 gene and promoter, and is a co-inventor of the company’s proprietary cell wall modification technology. He has published extensively in journals and books and is the co-inventor of multiple patents. |
 |
Dr. Ross Whetten - North Carolina State University, USA "Genomic Selection in tree breeding - MIni-course" Ross Whetten received a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Vanderbilt University in 1988, and conducted post-doctoral research at Utah State University and North Carolina State University, and is now Associate Professor in the Department of Forestry & Environmental Resources at North Carolina State University. His research has covered the range from basic plant molecular biology and biochemistry of processes in wood formation to genomics and transcriptomics of conifers, and is now focused on the intersection of molecular biology, quantitative genetics, and applied breeding of conifers. He has active research projects underway with loblolly pine and Fraser fir, both native species in North Carolina and commercially important in breeding programs, as well as collaborations with researchers working with Pinus sylvestris and Pinus radiata in applied breeding programs. |
 |
Dr. David Neale - University of California Davis - USA "Sequencing of the 24Gb Loblolly Pine genome" David Neale received a Ph.D. in Forest Genetics in 1984 from Oregon State University. He is a Professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of California, Davis, and adjunct USDA Forest Service scientist at the Pacific Southwest Research Station. The primary research interest of his laboratory is in the discovery and understanding of function of genes in forest trees, especially those controlling complex traits, through genetic mapping and genomic science technologies. He is focusing on SNP discovery within candidate genes and association mapping to identify alleles useful in tree breeding. He has led several major research projects focusing on loblolly pine genetic diversity, development of conifer genetic and genomic resources, development of molecular markers for complex traits, development of the bioinformatics and database infrastructure widely used by conifer genetics researchers, development and extension of marker-informed conifer breeding, and development of many of the bioinformatics data display, analysis, and storage software and algorithms currently in use. Currently he leads the project that aims at the development of a high quality reference sequence for the mega genome of loblolly pine. |
