Germany
November 25, 2015

Scientists and internationally renowned experts joined together to discuss the developments and key issues faced by the plant phenotyping industry. The event featured a packed agenda of talks, workshops and networking opportunities for more than 200 delegates, hailing from US, Europe and Asia.

New for this year was the launch of the “Innovation Hub” which brings together like-minded scientists, academics and commercial organisations to discuss new technology and design concepts to drive the development of future products and phenotyping techniques.

Key speakers included Dr Argelia Lorence, Professor of Metabolic Engineering at Arkansas State University, who was part of the team that in 2004 published the discovery of a new biosynthetic pathway for vitamin C in plants.

Another highlight was the fascinating talk from Dr Sebastien Carpentier, professor at the division of Crop Biotechnics at KU Leuven University. Carpentier discussed his recent work on the integration of -omics techniques to understand stress in non-model crops, using banana water stress as an example.

The final keynote speaker was Dr Malcolm Hawkesford, the Head of Plant Science at Rothamsted Research Center, based in Harpenden, UK. Rothamsted has the world’s first LemnaTec Field Scanalyzer, which is playing a vital part in the research centre’s evaluation of wheat yield by delivering deep phenotyping data throughout the life of plants.

Over the three days, the conference offered a diverse range of additional activities including workshops, poster sessions, academic partner sessions, supplier exhibitions and trips to the nearby Bavarian State Research Centre for Agriculture. Phenodays has become an important date in the scientific calendar, providing an exclusive insight into all aspects of plant based phenotyping, as well as being a great place for scientists to network and collaborate. 

Website: http://www.lemnatec.de

Published: November 25, 2015