Umeå Plant Science Centre (UPSC) invites promising young scientists for a postdoc project symposium. The aim of the symposium is to bring together postdoc candidates and UPSC group leaders to identify common research interests to develop a project together.
Welcome to interesting talks of young applicants for the UPSC postdoctoral programme!
Monday 2 June 2014, 9.00-12.00, Stora hörsalen, KBC
Five applicants will visit UPSC and present their research topics:
- Envel Kerdaffrec, Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology (GMI), Vienna, Austria
- Sunita Kushwah, National Institute for Plant Genome Research (NIPGR), New Delhi, India
- Simon Law, Australian Research Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, Western University Australia, Perth
- Julia Wind, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm
- Lin Zu, Australian Research Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, Western University Australia, Perth
See the programme and title of the talks in the UPSC calendar
Conference Venue: Umeå Arts Campus
The Lignin 2014 conference is organised by UPSC and Bio4Energy. It aims to strengthen our knowledge on the various aspects of lignin biosynthesis and utilization, from the basic cell biology, molecular biology to pre-treatment of plant biomass and utilization of lignin. The conference is supported of the Formas-financed strong research environment BioImprove, the strategic research environment Bio4Energy, and the Swedish government.
Deadlines:
Early registration and abstract submission: 12 June 2014
Late registration: 8 August
Conference webpage: www.lignin2014.se
Programme
Invited speakers
Registration
Abstract submission
Contact: For questions regarding the scientific programme of the conference, please contact us at UPSC:
Marlene Karlsson,
Edouard Pesquet,
Hannele Tuominen,
It is well known that inorganic carbon in the form of CO2 (carbon dioxide) is reduced in a light driven process (photosynthesis) to organic compounds in the chloroplasts. Less known is the fact that inorganic carbon also affects the rate of the photosynthetic electron transport, as was published by the Nobel Prize winner Otto Warburg and his collaborator in the late 50's (Warburg and Krippdahl 1958).
Their explanation for the stimulating effect was logical at that time since they proposed that CO2 was the source of oxygen that plants produce. Their idea was proven to be incorrect many years later and instead we now know that H2O (water) is the source of oxygen in the atmosphere. The observed stimulating effect by inorganic carbon on photosynthetic electron transport, also observed by others later, has ever since Warburgs publication continued to cause an inflammatory debate among researchers around the world up till these days as indicated by the hundreds of papers published.
Our results will now put an end to this debate.
Ivo Frébort, dean of the Faculty of Science mentioned in his laudatio the very fruitful collaboration between the UPSC-professor and the Palacký University during almost twenty years. Sandberg had supported the faculty with his knowledge and experience during the build up of their new research centre for plant biotechnology and agriculture, the Center of the Region Haná for Biotechnological and Agricultural Research. In connection with the doctorate ceremony the centre organised an extra mini-symposium on Auxin and Cytokinin to honour Göran Sandberg.
"I regard the honorary doctorate of this university as one of the top things in my career, because it is built on true science and true collaboration", Göran Sandberg said in his speech during the ceremony.
Annika Jagander, Swedish Ambassador in the Czech Republic, participated also in the ceremony.
The Palacký University of Olomouc was founded 1566 and is the second oldest university in the Czech lands.
The University has about 24, 000 students and over 1,800 employees.
Watch the ceremony in English on Video (YouTube)
Press release of the Palacký University in Olomouc
När: 1 april 2014, kl 18.00-20.00
Var: Entrén vid KBC-huset, Umeå universitet
Efter informationen bjuds eleverna på tilltugg och mingel.
Anmälan via formulär eller genom email till Theres Lasses (
Mer information om det nya programmet.
On 1 April, 18.00-20.00, UPSC and the department will organise an open house with a lot of exciting information about the new programme "Bioresource technology" in civil engineering. The programme will start in fall 2014. Researchers and teachers from UPSC and the department of chemistry will inform about the programme and guide the visitors around in laboratories and green houses. Contact:
(2014-02-26) Olivier Keech, PhD, scientist at UPSC and supervisor in the engineering course "Design-Build-Test", presented last Tuesday the result of the students' project. Together with the students Alberto Ferreira and Beatrice Lif, Olivier Keech informed the media representatives, staff at KBC and people from the university's administration about the "Oasis" in the cafeteria at Chemical Biological Centre, KBC. Several vertical farming solutions have been designed with organically-grown culinary herbs which could be used by the cafeteria to flourish the food of students and staff.
Two groups have been involved in the "Green Corner Project": A visualisation group and a construction group. Both groups worked very interdisciplinary on the design of a better place to meet and study in the KBC cafeteria. Besides Olivier Keech the students also had Mette Harder, teacher at the Umeå School of Architecture, as supervisor, who supported the groups in visualisation and architecture problems,
Download the poster
Read more about the course
Contact Olivier Keech
Stefan Jansson, professor at UPSC, was elected as new member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. At the General Meeting on 15 January 2014, The Academy elected six new members, one of them is the scientist at the department of plant physiology at Umeå University.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is an independent organisation whose overall objective is to promote the sciences and strengthen their influence in society. The Academy awards every year the Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, the Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, and the Crafoord Prize
Read the news on The Academy's webpage (in Swedish)
and has in recent years been very active in the GMO debate." Furthermore the committee mentions in it's laudatio that Stefan Jansson has internationally a strong research position especially in the area of regulation of photosynthetic light harvesting in plants. Especially Jansson's field studies are of very high-quality and internationally widely recognised.
Stefan Jansson's research group:
http://www.upsc.se/stefan_jansson
UmUs press release (in Swedish only):
http://www.teknat.umu.se/pressinformation/nyhetsvisning/vaxtforskare-far-pris-i-botanik.cid225847
Kungliga Fysiografiska Sällskapet i Lund (in Swedish):
http://www.fysiografen.se/pristagare/default.asp
SVT Play interview
Article at UMU
Article at Nature
The UPSC Berzelii Centre for Forest Biotechnology has recently been assessed for the second time by an international evaluation team. The centre receives funding from the Swedish Research Council (VR) and the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems (VINNOVA).
The Centre's success is due to many contributing causes, but the investigators stress that the most important reason is "an exceptional leadership" that has the vision, focus, commitment and skill that is necessary to make success possible.