We invite you to the yearly Theme 4- scientific day exploring genome biology and gene regulation in plants.
Understanding the remarkable phenotypic complexity in plants requires insight into how genomes are organized and regulated. From transcription factors and non-coding RNAs to chromatin structure and epigenetic modifications, a diverse array of mechanisms control gene expression and genome stability.
Join us to discuss the interplay between genetic and epigenetic regulation, molecular networks, and evolutionary processes shaping plant development.
PhD students and postdoctoral researchers are especially encouraged to contribute. Are you interested in giving a presentation? Please contact the theme day coordinators, Maike Stam (UvA) and/or Aalt-Jan van Dijk (UvA), before 15 October 2025.
Date: 24.11.2025
Time: 09:30 -17:00
Location: Room B9010, Aurora Building (nr 127), Campus Wageningen University & Research
Fee: EPS member free (by no show a fee of € 100 will be charged). Fee for Participants from the industry €150
Registration: closed
Coordinators: Maike Stam (UvA), Aalt-Jan van Dijk (UvA)
Programme (download link below)
9.00-9.30 registration
9.30-9.40 opening
9.40-10.20 Keynote Rebecca Mosher (University of Oxford) RNA-directed DNA methylation: a maternal influence during seed development
10.20-10.40 Yingying Gao (WUR) Rapid evolution concomitant with DNA-hypomethylation status: potential from activated endogenous transposons
10.40-11.00 Juliette Aubert (UvA) Single-Molecule Methylation Profiling at the repetitive b1 Paramutation Locus in Maize
11.00-11.30 break
11.30-11.50 Marlot Westera (UvA) Don’t shoot the messenger: Cross kingdom RNA interference in the thrips-tospovirus-tomato interaction
11.50-12.10 Yiyun Li (WUR) Transcriptional networks guiding root branching under salt stress
12.10-12.30 Elmar van der Wijk (Radboud University) Self-organization of auxin transport through dose-dependent PIN regulation
12.30-14.00 lunch
14.00-14.40 Keynote Charles Underwood (Radboud University) Forever hybrid: natural and engineered propagation of hybrid genomes through seeds
14.40-15.00 Christina Papastolopoulou (WUR) Pangenomics to unlock, understand and use genetic variation in the Capsicum genus
15.00-15.20 Peter Polacek (WUR) GWAS and candidate gene discovery in a unified, user-friendly web interface
15.20-15.50 break
15.50-16.10 David Meijer (WUR) Generating metabolite structures for biosynthetic gene clusters
16.10-16.40 Isabella Sanders (WUR) + Alex Sánchez Cano (UvA)
Prediction of protein-protein interaction specificity of MADS domains transcription factors from a molecular biology and machine learning perspective
16.40-16.45 closure
16.45-17.45 drinks