Conference: 26th International Symposium on Plant Lipids

The project will broaden the participation of early career researchers at the 26th International Symposium on Plant Lipids (ISPL) that will be held at the University of Nebraska Student Union on July 14-19, 2024 in Lincoln, NE. Lipids are central to the ability of plants to survive in an ever-changing world and to capture sunlight and carbon dioxide to create the building blocks of food, feed, fibers, and fuels.

The 26th ISPL will bring together researchers from across the world to share knowledge on how plants make and regulate the production of the diverse forms of lipids found in their cells. The effects of changing temperatures, precipitation, and microbial and insect pathogens on lipid production will also be explored during this five-day conference. Knowledge shared during the 26th ISPL will provide the basis for strategies to improve crop environmental resilience and to enhance the content and quality of high-value lipids such as vegetable oils and carotenoids, which collectively will promote food security, human and livestock health, and the bioeconomy.

The project will provide travel funding to 20 early career attendees, with emphasis on attracting participants from underrepresented groups and creating an inclusive, welcoming environment for research presentations and professional interactions. Through this approach, our project will advance the training and professional development of the next generation of scientists needed to address global grand challenges facing agriculture and society.

The 26th ISPL will provide a forum for the international plant lipid community, both senior and junior scientists, to come together in a collegial atmosphere for the exchange of ideas about the structure, function, and metabolism of plant lipids. The 26th ISPL will be organized into ten topics over five days, covering a broad continuum of research from fundamental aspects of lipid biology to applications in agricultural biotechnology and synthetic biology.

The convergence of researchers and invited speakers working in these different areas will also be a catalyst for scientific progress that will serve as a basis for future translation of discoveries and technologies to support the bioeconomy. The project will broaden participation beyond the audience that normally attends ISPL through funding to support registration and partial travel expenses of 20 early career attendees.

We will advertise the conference through established research coordination networks that are focused on underrepresented groups—including Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Minority-Serving Institutions, and Native Hawaiian Institutions. Travel awardees will share their research through oral or poster presentations and “lightning talks”.

Additionally, accessibility to ISPL content will be expanded by recording selected talks to be distributed virtually post-conference and in the form of short papers in a special edition of a journal.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.