EPSO at ESOF2008< COMMUNICATIONS < EPSO   

EPSO News, the EPSO Newsletter Issue 7 (June 2007)    - Full content for EPSO members    - First two pages for non-members Previous issues About EPSO News Junior scientists input EPSO session at ESOF2008 (21 July 08) "The Heat is on. Are crops and algae our future source of energy?" EPSO workshop on Biofuels (London, UK) - Report from Mike Bevan (June 08) EPSO - Strengthening European plant science - SEB bulletin (March 08) Open Letter to EPSO representatives, supporting scientists and personal members (Jan 2008) An invitation to join EPSO - GARNET Newsletter (Dec 2007) Introducing EPSO - SOL newletter (Nov 2007) EPSO position paper on bioenergy (21 Sept 2007) and two related talks at the Venice conference on energy (20/21 Sept 2007):  - Michael Bevan's talk  - Dianna Bowles' talk Strategic research Agenda (June 2007)    - Part I: Summary    - Part II: SRA A joint paper from EPSO and European Federation of Biotechnology, Section of Applied Biocatalysis (ESAB) "Investing in green and white biotech" Nature Biotechnology (July 2006) EPSO publication "European Plant Science: A Field of Opportunities" Journal of Experimental Botany (June 2005) EPSO brochure “Creating a future for plant research in Europe” (Nov 2004) "Plants for the future - A European vision for plant biotechnology towards 2025" (June 2004) EPSO statement on Plant Science in Europe (Oct 2002)   Open Letter to Politicians (July 2000) EPSO response to the European Research Area: "Securing the future of plant science in Europe - 10 year vision for plant science in Europe" (June 2000)		EPSO @ ESOF 2008   The Heat is on. Are crops and algae our future source of energy? On 21 July 2008, EPSO organised a session at the Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF2008) in Barcelona, Spain. The session was chaired by Karin Metzlaff, Executive Director of the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO) and Chiara Tonelli, Department of Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Milan, Italy. Summary Plants and plant science can play an important role in providing bio-based energy supplies. Interest in plants as a source of biofuels has lead to considerable debate on which plants will be most suitable as energy crops, and which process technologies will need to be developed to use plant-based raw materials for biofuel generation. Significant opportunities to produce large quantities of biofuels exist in many regions of the world. However, suitable species are undomesticated. There are many examples of marine algae with massive oil content that might be of interest in developing alternative biofuel sources with the additional benefit that they will not consume agricultural land. Talks “Plant Genomics for bioenergy crop improvement” , Prof. Mike Bevan, Head of the Cell and Developmental Biology Department, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK “Biomass and crops – An Industry Perspective” , Prof. Markwart Kunz, Südzucker AG Mannheim/Ochsenfurt, Ochsenfurt, Germany “Bioenergy from algae and carbon sequestration in the ocean” , Prof. Chris Bowler, Biologie Moléculaire des Organismes Photosynthétiques, Département de Biologie, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France For a PPT version of these talks, please contact the speakers.