Danforth Center Partners with Missouri Botanical Garden for the First Joint Fall Symposium

    ST. LOUIS, MO, October 09, 2015 /24-7PressRelease/ -- For the first time, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and Missouri Botanical Garden are partnering to host the annual Fall Symposium, From Darwin to Borlaug: Biocomplexity in Natural and Agricultural Systems. The three-day event starting tomorrow, will welcome nearly 300 attendees for discussions, panels and poster sessions around the topic. The Symposium will be held at the Danforth Center Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. It will continue at the Missouri Botanical Garden Friday afternoon and all day Saturday.

"It is very exciting to offer a symposium involving two of St. Louis' leading plant biology institutions," said Elizabeth Kellogg, Ph.D., member, Danforth Center. "The boundaries between basic and applied research are becoming ever more permeable. Agricultural research has a lot to learn from studies of natural diversity and conversely understanding evolutionary diversity requires insights gleaned from agricultural research.

Research aimed at finding solutions to global agricultural challenges will be addressed during presentations on a variety of adaptive strategies in plants; from the implications of Darwinian evolution - plant evolution, domestication and natural selection - to Norman Borlaug - who applied advanced breeding and genetic diversity to improve yield and disease resistance in crops.

"Ultimately, domesticated crops originated from natural variation found within the world's abundant diversity of plant species," said Dan Chitwood, Ph.D., assistant member, Danforth Center. "Just as knowledge of plant biodiversity led to the agricultural revolution thousands of years ago, evolutionary and ecological insights into the complexity of biological systems will inform the design of the next generation of crops and our efforts to feed the world sustainably. It is therefore appropriate that this year's Symposium invokes Darwin and Borlaug, symbols of evolution and agriculture, in this year's fall symposium bringing together the Danforth Plant Science Center and the Missouri Botanical Garden."

In addition to scientific talks, participants will have the opportunity to tour the core facilities at the Danforth Center and the Missouri Botanical Garden. Poster sessions will be held at both venues highlighting research projects to explore plant responses to salt, drought, cold, insect attack and ozone pollution.

"Collaborative research between the Danforth Center and Missouri Botanical Garden has grown considerably in recent years as our missions have converged on efforts to understand and slow the loss of both natural and agricultural biodiversity," said Peter Hoch, curator and director of the graduate program, Missouri Botanical Garden. "Conserving and sustainably using biodiversity is critical to the world's food security, especially as we struggle to address the growing impacts of climate change. The team effort to host this first joint symposium is a wonderful way to enhance this collaboration."

The symposium is free to graduate students and the content is geared toward an audience of advanced interests with an independent research program but welcomes students. 

About The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
Founded in 1998, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is a not-for-profit research institute with a mission to improve the human condition through plant science. Research aims to feed the hungry and improve human health, preserve and renew the environment and position the St. Louis region as a world center for plant science. The Center's work is funded through competitive grants and contract revenue from many sources, including the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Agency for International Development, the Bill & Melinda Gates and Howard G. Buffett Foundations.

To keep up to date with Danforth Center's current operations and areas of research, please visit, http://www.danforthcenter.org, featuring information on Center scientists, news, and the "Roots & Shoots" blog. Follow us on Twitter at @DanforthCenter.

About the Missouri Botanical Garden
Founded in 1859, the Missouri Botanical Garden is the nation's oldest botanical garden in continuous operation and a National Historic Landmark. The mission of the Missouri Botanical Garden is "To discover and share knowledge about plants and their environment in order to preserve and enrich life." The Science and Conservation Division (staff 115, including 60 research scientists) supports this mission by working to name and describe the patterns of plant diversity (134 species new to science described in 2014, from 24 countries) and to build tools that allow us to communicate about them (MBG Press ; TROPICOS  database with 1.3 million names and 4.5 million specimens; BOTANICUS database with 2.5 million pages of botanical literature online). New programs in Conservation Genetics and Ecological Restoration complement the Garden's established systematic, ecological, and ethnobotanical research programs, utilizing the world-class Library and Herbarium (with 6.5 million specimens, one of the largest in the world), with the goal of cataloging and comprehending plant biodiversity and developing ways to protect and conserve species and the ecosystems they inhabit.

# # #