Welcome to IAPB 2010!

The 2006 meeting of the International Association for Plant Tissue Culture and Biotechnology, held in Beijing, China saw a change in the name of our association to the International Association for Plant Biotechnology (IAPB). Since that 2006 meeting, the Executive Committee of the IAPB has worked to create a better flow of information to and between attendees and to plan for the next congress. I am pleased to share some information with you and invite you and your colleagues to attend the upcoming congress.

In 2010, the IAPB will meet in St. Louis, MO—near the heart of the U.S. agriculture industry. It was in St. Louis that many of the early discoveries of plant biotechnology were made. It is also a region that contains outstanding research institutions, private companies, and growers groups that develop and/or employ the products of agriculture. We, the current leadership of the IAPB and the committee members planning the meeting, hope you will join us in St. Louis in the summer of 2010 for an exciting meeting of plant science and biotechnology. Learn the latest advances in plant biotechnology with informative sessions on fundamental and applied aspects of plant sciences presented by leading international scientists. Topics to be addressed through plenary addresses, keynote lectures, and poster presentations include:

• climate change and its effects on agriculture
• advances in plant science: tolerance to heat, droughts, insects, and diseases
• advances in biofuels and other biorenewables from plants
• metabolic engineering of plants/cells for pharmaceuticals and nutriceuticals
• agriculture and biotechnology in developing countries
• biosafety, regulatory structures and commercialization
• advances in tissue culture and transformation
• germplasm preservation