The joint French-Swedish virtual laboratory “UPRA” has opened its doors to welcome a new partner, the CRAG research center in Spain.

In 2005, increasing connections between research projects at the Umeå Plant Science Center in Umeå, Sweden (UPSC) and the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) on biology and plant genomics lead to the creation of a “European Open Laboratory” called UPRA. In the continuity of this virtual laboratory, a new partner has just been added, the Center for Agricultural Genomics Research in Barcelona, Spain (CRAG).

This past week on 7 October at the INRA Nancy-Lorraine Center in Champenoux, representatives from UPSC together with those from two INRA research departments (Plant Biology and Breeding – BAP, and Forest, Grassland and Freshwater Ecology Division – EFPA) and CRAG signed a new cooperation agreement. UPRA has now been renamed INURPRAG — combining INRA, UPSC and CRAG. These three research institutions conduct highly complimentary work in the areas of integrative biology and plant genomics. This extension of UPRA to include Spain is an excellent opportunity to promote exchanges across Europe by providing a framework to coordinate future European projects.

The signing of this convention took place in the framework of the first trilateral symposium for Integrative Plant Biology which gathered scientists from the three institutions with support from LabEx ARBRE, Saclay Plant Sciences and the University of Lorraine.

To learn more about these two winning projects, INTERDROUGHT and BLACKSECRET, follow the links below —

• INTERDROUGHT
• BLACKSECRET

There are easier things in life than preparing a 20 minute workshop to explain the scientific approach and what it means to be a researcher to an audience of middle school students. But this is the challenge five new PhD students from the University of Lorraine signed up for — and they are ready. Three of these young researchers are working on thesis topics in joint research labs run by INRA within the LabEx ARBRE cluster. This past Monday, 5 October, they spent a day together for one last dry run and presented to each their individual workshops. The exercise proved valuable — this was a chance to share advice and make last minute adjustments to meet the exacting standards of their upcoming young critics (to capture their imagination and keep them interested!).

It all begins this Friday, 9 October, when the 5 doctoral candidates will visit a school in the Meuse and present their science to 9 groups of students. Emeline, Lucie, Mathilde and Pierre-Antoine will leave Nancy the night before to spend a final evening in a gîte close-by, to gather one last time before a very big day.

Learn more about some of the PhD students participating this year in the Experimentarium program —

• Maxime Burst — Ecology of Plant Communities
  Doctoral school : RP2E
• Pierre-Antoine Chuste  — Forest Biology
  Doctoral school : RP2E
• Mathilde Guibert  —  Cellular Biology
  Doctoral school : BioSE
• Emeline Hily  — Environmental Economics
  Doctoral school : SJPEG
• Lucie Speyer — Solid State Chemistry
  Doctoral school : EMMA
  

Monday, 5 October
INRA Nancy-Lorraine (Champenoux)
14h — Main conference room
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Lee Kalcsits, assistant professor with the Department of Horticulture at Washington State University, will present a seminar entitled:

“Ecophysiological approaches to understand calcium uptake and distribution in tree fruit”

For more information ..
Lee Kalcsits — Assistant Professor, Tree Fruit Physiology, Washington State University

LabEx ARBRE aims to study the functioning and productivity of forest ecosystems. The main objectives are understanding their mechanisms, predicting their responses to global changes and identifying new approaches for assessing and preserving these complex interconnected systems. One of the principle strengths of LabEx ARBRE is that it is structured to bring together a wide range of interdisciplinary expertise to meet these objectives, from the molecular level to the landscape level.

The annual ARBRE PhD & Postdoc Day is designed to highlight the work of young and upcoming researchers; doctoral and postdoctoral students currently working within eight LabEx partner research units. Organized by the PhD and postdoctoral students themselves, this event aims to give those working in different disciplines and research areas a chance to share the focus and dynamics of their own projects and to learn about projects happening in other labs — to set the stage for a constructive and creative exchange of ideas via a series of presentations, discussions, and a scientific poster exhibit!

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Save the date ! — This year’s PhD& Postdoc Day will take place on 16 November 2015 at the INRA center in Champenoux.  For more details about how to participate and how to register to attend, please visit the ARBRE PhD & Postdoc Day homepage.

• Deadline for abstract submissions : 18 October
• General registration will be open through : 31 October

For PhD and postdoc students interested in participating, please prepare an abstract in English (300 words maximum). A number of participants will be selected for oral presentations (15 minutes + 5 minutes for questions). Others will present posters. Selected presentations and the full conference program will be available at the end of October.

It is that time of year once again to get back to school and back to work – the famous ‘rentrée’ has arrived ! The beginning of this month also marked a fresh start for doctoral students participating this year in the Experimentarium. In early September, Pascale Frey-Klett and Annick Brun-Jacob (LabEx ARBRE, UMR IAM 1136 INRA-University of Lorraine) were ready to greet the five young researchers taking part in the second session of Experimentarium in Lorraine.

What is this training about? Experimentarium, originally launched by the University of Burgundy, has been active in Lorraine since 2008 and is managed by the association La Vigie de l’eau, with additional support from INRA, the University of Lorraine and LabEx ARBRE. The aim lies in bridging the link between science and society. Through a series of open-forum discussions and workshops, participating doctoral students present their work and specific areas of research to primary and middle school students. The first phase has started with  laboratory presentations which will be followed shortly by a meeting on October 5 when the doctoral students will visit the Sampigny school and present their research to a dozen or so young school kids anxious to let the discovery begin!

PhD students participating this year represent no less than four doctoral schools — RP2E (Science and Engineering, Processes, Resources, Products, Environment), BioSE (Biology, Health, Environment), SJPEG (Political science, Policy, Economics and Management), and EMMA (Mechanical, Energy and Materials Sciences). The theme common to all – the forest!

The PhD students and their research topics —

• Maxime Burst  (RP2E)
  Forest-grassland interfaces as conservation elements for plant diversity in terrtories undergoing changes
• Pierre-Antoine Chuste  (RP2E)
  Study of the sensitivity of Lorraine populations of beech in response to climatic events — What roles does carbon and nitrogen metabolism play in the death of trees?
• Mathilde Guibert  (BioSE)
  Alterations to chondrogenic phenotypes and pathological mineralization of articular cartilage during osteoarthritis: the role of deregulated Pi/PPi balance.
• Emeline Hily  (SJPEG)
  Incentive payments for biodiversity conservation — dynamic and spatial  analyses
• Lucie Speyer  (EMMA)
  Preparation and characterization of macroscopic quantities of graphene.
  

Trilateral symposium for Integrative Plant Biology

INRA — UPSC — CRAG

6-8 October 2015

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On October 6-8, the first trilateral European symposium on integrative plant biology will take place at the INRA Nancy-Lorraine center in Champenoux. This meeting will bring together scientists from three institutions: the Umeå Plant Science Center in Umeå, Sweden (UPSC), the Center for Agricultural Genomics Research in Barcelona, Spain (CRAG) and the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA). This symposium is part of a cooperation agreement between UPSC and INRA who together have created a “European Open Laboratory”, or UPRA.

In 2005, increasing connections between research projects at UPSC and INRA on biology and plant genomics lead to the creation of this virtual European laboratory. The objectives of this French-Swedish partnership were twofold. It aimed to bring together researchers to work jointly on projects on plant biology, principally by facilitating knowledge transfer and facilitating the use of common tools for modeling species such as Arabiodopsis thaliana, and even poplar. A parallel objective was to promote training programs for young scientists by organizing regular exchanges between laboratories in France and Sweden, ultimately to enable them to expand their networks.

As 2015 marks the end of the commitment period for the framework convention signed in 2005, a new convention will be signed at this upcoming symposium. This cooperation agreement will welcome CRAG as a new partner. The extension of UPRA to include Spain is an excellent opportunity to promote exchanges across Europe by providing a framework to coordinate future European projects such as those requested by the directorate of INRA.

Registation for the symposium is open until September 15, 2015.

• Link to the symposium website (online pre-registration is mandatory)