1. PlantLink Day “New plant products”, 5 October

Please, remember the upcoming PlantLink Day on the 5^th of October held at SLU Alnarp with the theme “New plant products”. The Full program is ready now! It features Robert Brummer (Örebo University, Sweden), with the topic of Plant-based Proteins for Health and Wellbeing – the PAN Sweden Approach; Heiko Rischer (VTT, Finland), with Plant Cell Factories for Food Applications; Morten Ambye-Jenson (Aarhus University, Denmark) with Protein Extraction from Grasses and Herbaceous Legumes; Mariette Andersson (SLU) covering Potato Innovations by Genome Editing;  Alice Grønhøj (Aarhus University) on Barriers and Opportunities for the Uptake of More Plant-based Diets: Insights from the PlantPro Project; Kristian Holst Laursen with High-quality Crops for Plant-based Diets, and Karin Petersson who will update us on Oatly activities. The PlantLink Day starts at 10:30 am with a Plant Protein Factory tour! Make sure to sign up for the event here!

2. Centennial anniversary of the ecotype concept: the legacy of Göte Turesson, 29 November

This year is the centennial anniversary of the ecotype concept, which was coined by the Swedish geneticist Göte Turesson in 1922. Since then, the ecotype has served – and is still serving – as a focal concept in evolutionary ecology, especially in studies of the interaction between plants and their environment. The concept and methods introduced by Turesson have also had a large impact on the assessment of phenotypic variation for crop improvement, in its modern form known as ”envirotyping”.

Turesson got his basic education in Biology at the University of Washington, USA. He returned to Sweden and received his PhD from Lund University in 1923.

A celebration symposium will be held on 29th November together with the annual NordPlant meeting on “Envirotyping for plant breeding and precision agriculture”, which takes place the day after, 30th November. Both meetings are located at Blå Hallen, Ecology Building, Lund University. The symposium will be in a hybrid format.

The programme includes a presentation of the historical context of the ecotype concept by Anna Tunlid (Lund University). Confirmed specialists presenting different aspects of present-day applications of the ecotype concept. Confirmed speakers include Timo van der Niet (University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa), Hans Jaqcuemyn (KU Leuven, The Netherlands), Sophie Karrenberg (Uppsala University), Marie Branderud (Oslo University), Honor C. Prentice (Lund University) and Björn Widén (Lund University). 

There here are open slots for contributed talks. Please, contact  Magne Friberg if you would like to contribute! If you are interested to attend the meeting, sign up here already now!

3. NordPlant annual meeting, 30 November

This year we will be in Lund, Sweden 30 November with the theme “Envirotyping for plant breeding and precision agriculture”. The meeting is the day after the Göte Turesson seminar commemorating 100 years since the term Ecotype was coined.

Program

Venue: Blue Hall, Ecology Building, Lund, Sweden (Sölvegatan 37)

We are happy to have the following speakers during the day:

• Antoine Harfouche (UNITUS): “Leveraging Explainable Artificial Intelligence to Advance Plant Phenomics Research and Decisions
• Jose Luis Araus Ortega (University of Barcelona): “On-farm crop phenotyping”
• Fred Stoddard (University of Helsinki): “Fitting faba bean for high-latitude farming”
• Therese Bengtsson (SLU): “Pre-breeding for adaptation of spring barley to Northern latitudes”
• Nasir Uddin (Husqvarna group) “AI and data science in a forest, green space and garden outdoor equipment company”
• Florent Abdelghafour (INRAE)

4. 3rd PlantEd Conference – Germany, 5-7 September

There are still some places left for the 3^rd PlantEd Conference in Düsseldorf Germany on the 5^th – 7^th of September! There will be open scientific sessions on genome editing technology in plants, followed by PlantEd Working Group sessions and a Management Committee meeting. The conference will be a hybrid event with a limited number of participants physically present. Sessions on three main questions will be featured: What do we know about genome editing in plants? What can we achieve with genome editing? What do we think about the application of genome editing in plants? Register and read more here.

5. The first Annual Nordic Food Forum, 21-22 September

The Nordic Food Forum is organizing the first Annual Nordic Food Forum meeting in Trondheim on the 21-22^nd of September. The aim is to exchange knowledge and expertise in the broad field of food science. Presented topics include circular food systems for less food loss and waste, unexplored resources and novel technologies for sustainable food systems, sustainable food systems for a healthy planet and people, and education and capacity building for sustainable food systems. More information here!

6. Still some spaces Post-graduate courses in Life Sciences in Alnarp and Lund apply now!

These short hands on PhD courses have now run for over 20 years – they are classic! Some courses still have places left read more and register here.

7. NordPlant-NOVA PhD course – Deadline to apply 15 October

It is a high time to apply for the NordPlant supported NOVA PhD course at SLU Alnarp/Lund on “Common data standards and integrative analytic methods for plant phenotyping” 28 Nov-2 Dec. Deadline for application in on the 15^th of October. More information.

8. KSLA Bertebos Prize Seminar, 26 October

In honour of the 2022 Bertebos Prize Laureate, Professor Rodomiro Ortiz, the Royal Swedish Academy of
Agriculture and Forestry (KSLA) and the Bertebos Foundation arrange this conference on advances in plant
breeding to meet the United Nation´s Sustainable Development Goals. More information and registration here.

9. Fascination of Plants Day blog post

The company Chart Biotech published a blog post about the Fascination of Plants Day organized by PlantLink on the 18^th of May. The blog’s author, Sancha Salgueiro, concludes: “Thank you, PlantLink, the panel and the moderator for a thought-provoking afternoon. The future is challenging, and we and “our” plants have a lot to do”. Read the post here!

10. SuS Crop ERA-net video contest, 18 November

National funders in the European Research Area Network on Sustainable Crop Production (SusCrop ERA-net) opened a video contest to reflect, communicate and inspire on ‘what sustainable crop production means to you?’ on the occasion of the Fascination of Plants Day. The competition is open to everybody from school children to researchers and farmers! The submission deadline is on the 18^th of November. More information can be found here. For additional questions, please contact the contest coordinator Nikki De Clercq.

11. Watch the new Nordic Public Private Partnership Plant Phenotyping Project video!

The Nordic Plant Phenotyping Network facilitates and promotes information exchange between Nordic research institutions, Nordic plant breeding companies and industry technology providers. The Nordic Public Private Partnership Plant Phenotyping Project – Phase 3 (6P3) aims at improving decision-making and breeding choices for crops with better climate change resilience based on data analysis and modelling. For more information, watch the video with Nordic reasearchers including our Deputy Director giving an insight into the project!

12. New academic positions

Uppsala University has announced an open position for Associate Professor in Biology with specialization in Plant Physiology. Last application day: 15^th of September. More information. 
The Department of Plant Breeding at SLU has an open position for a PhD student in biology, specialized in plant lipid metabolism. Last application day: 15^th of September. More information. The same department has an open position for a Postdoc in genetic regulation of flowering induction in faba bean. More information.

13. PlantLink getting social!

The PlantLink audience on LinkedIn is growing! We regularly update the page with news, events, job positions and calls for grants. Make sure to keep in touch! Both Twitter and Facebook pages are getting more active too, please follow us there.

14. Researcher in the spotlight is Alfredo Zambrano

Alfredo Zambrano is a researcher at the Department of Applied Biochemistry at Lund University and works as a senior molecular biologist at OlsAro biotech. Is it hard to combine both academic and industrial careers? Read the interview here!