This August, Kaitlyn Tsuyuki ’18 attended the 2019 meeting of the American Society of Plant Biology (ASPB) in San Jose, CA on behalf of the Jeong Lab. Thousands of plant scientists—students, academicians, and career scientists alike—gathered in the South Bay to attend an extensive series of talks by scientists from all over.
Topics ranged widely, from designing monitoring technologies for farmers to maximize output to creating plant-based meat look-a-likes to using synthetic biology to increase the efficiency of carbon fixation in plants. While cutting-edge research was at the forefront of the talks presented, there was also a focus on improving the state of introductory education, mentoring in academia and industry, and elevating plant science in the minds of the public.
Kaitlyn presented a poster on newly published research from the Jeong Lab regarding the involvement of chromatin remodeling in repressing the iron deficiency response (https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2019.00627/full). The conference was also an opportunity to meet people whose research has had an indelible effect on the Jeong Lab’s research. Kaitlyn was able to meet and speak with Dartmouth Professors Mary Lou Guerinot and C. Robertson McClung, both of whom served as mentors to Prof. Jeong during her graduate studies at Dartmouth. Mary Lou Guerinot, once ASPB’s president, won the 2018 Stephen Hales Prize which celebrated her contributions to plant nutrition science, and she presented a talk on iron acquisition from soil and distribution in the seed at the conference in honor of her award.
Kaitlyn would like to personally thank their parents for the free lodging, meals, and occasional chauffeur service.
