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 Crop disease resistance, promises and challenges

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

14:30-14:45 Improvement of tropical fruits with biotechnology - Papaya as 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