| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08:30 | 11:30 | Maize Crop Germplasm Committee | Missouri History Museum | ||
| 13:00 | 18:00 | Corn Breeding Meeting | Midway 1&2 |
Schedule of Events
Wednesday, March 5, 2025
Optional Pre-Conference Workshops (1/2)
Thursday, March 6, 2025
Optional Pre-Conference Workshops (2/2)
| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08:00 | 17:00 | Corn Breeding Meeting | Midway 3&4 | ||
| 09:00 | 16:00 | Maize Development Workshop | Midway 1&2 | ||
| 09:30 | 15:00 | Bayer Tour | Bayer | ||
| 12:00 | 14:00 | 39N Lunch and Danforth Center Tour | Danforth Center | ||
| 14:00 | 17:00 | Computational Resources Workshop | Conductor Room | ||
| 15:00 | 21:30 | Registration | Depot Registration Office | ||
| 15:00 | 18:00 | Poster Hanging | Midway West | ||
| 17:00 | 17:45 | Travel Awardees and Mentors Meet & Greet | Jeffersonian/Knickerbocker | ||
| 18:00 | 19:00 | Dinner | Midway West & Pegram | ||
| 19:00 | Welcome and Announcements | Grand Ballroom | |||
| 19:20 | KS1 | Jonathan Wendel, Iowa State University, Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology Department | Genes, jeans, genomes, and the wonders of polyploidy in plants | Grand Ballroom | |
| 20:00 | Poster Lightning Talks | Grand Ballroom | |||
| 20:00 | L1 | Yue Liu, Iowa State University | Candidate Genes Underlying a Major QTL qshgd1 Causing Spontaneous Haploid Genome Doubling in Maize A427 | Grand Ballroom | |
| 20:02 | L2 | Vladimir Torres-Rodriguez, University of Nebraska-Lincoln | Multi-species transcriptome-wide association studies identify additional genes controlling flowering | Grand Ballroom | |
| 20:04 | L3 | Andrea Sama, University of California, San Diego | Chemical Imaging Reveals Metabolic Responses to Salt-Stress in Maize Roots | Grand Ballroom | |
| 20:06 | L4 | Xiaosa Xu, University of California, Davis | A high-resolution, meristem stage-specific single-cell gene expression atlas resolving developmental dynamics in maize inflorescence architecture | Grand Ballroom | |
| 20:08 | L5 | Sebastian Mueller, Oregon State University | Predictive Modeling of Pollen Fitness Phenotypes from Genome Scale Data Identifies Expression Specificity As a Critically Informative Parameter | Grand Ballroom | |
| 20:10 | L6 | Huan Chen, Michigan State University | Archaeological Bolivian maize genomes suggest Inca cultural expansion augmented maize diversity in South America | Grand Ballroom | |
| 20:12 | L7 | Lukas Würstl, Technical University Munich | Natural alleles of the gene lhcb6 shape photosynthesis and key agronomic traits in maize (Zea mays L.) landraces | Grand Ballroom | |
| 20:14 | L8 | Hannah Pil, North Carolina State University | BZea: A diverse teosinte introgression population for improving modern maize sustainability | Grand Ballroom | |
| 20:20 | T1 | Maike Stam, University of Amsterdam | Vgt1 as enhancer of ZmRap2.7 impacts flowering time and gene regulatory networks involved in jasmonate signaling in maize | Grand Ballroom | |
| 20:40 | T2 | Ankush Sangra, University of Georgia | Decoding a complex distal non-coding QTL at TEOSINTE BRANCHED 1 | Grand Ballroom | |
| 21:00 | Informal Poster Viewing & Hospitality | Midway West | |||
| 21:00 | 22:30 | Informal Corn Hole Play | Prefunction Space Grand Ballroom |
Session 1 – Welcome / Keynote / Gene Regulation
Sherry Flint-Garcia
| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19:00 | Welcome and Announcements | Grand Ballroom | |||
| 19:20 | KS1 | Jonathan Wendel, Iowa State University, Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology Department | Genes, jeans, genomes, and the wonders of polyploidy in plants | Grand Ballroom | |
| 20:00 | Poster Lightning Talks | Grand Ballroom | |||
| 20:00 | L1 | Yue Liu, Iowa State University | Candidate Genes Underlying a Major QTL qshgd1 Causing Spontaneous Haploid Genome Doubling in Maize A427 | Grand Ballroom | |
| 20:02 | L2 | Vladimir Torres-Rodriguez, University of Nebraska-Lincoln | Multi-species transcriptome-wide association studies identify additional genes controlling flowering | Grand Ballroom | |
| 20:04 | L3 | Andrea Sama, University of California, San Diego | Chemical Imaging Reveals Metabolic Responses to Salt-Stress in Maize Roots | Grand Ballroom | |
| 20:06 | L4 | Xiaosa Xu, University of California, Davis | A high-resolution, meristem stage-specific single-cell gene expression atlas resolving developmental dynamics in maize inflorescence architecture | Grand Ballroom | |
| 20:08 | L5 | Sebastian Mueller, Oregon State University | Predictive Modeling of Pollen Fitness Phenotypes from Genome Scale Data Identifies Expression Specificity As a Critically Informative Parameter | Grand Ballroom | |
| 20:10 | L6 | Huan Chen, Michigan State University | Archaeological Bolivian maize genomes suggest Inca cultural expansion augmented maize diversity in South America | Grand Ballroom | |
| 20:12 | L7 | Lukas Würstl, Technical University Munich | Natural alleles of the gene lhcb6 shape photosynthesis and key agronomic traits in maize (Zea mays L.) landraces | Grand Ballroom | |
| 20:14 | L8 | Hannah Pil, North Carolina State University | BZea: A diverse teosinte introgression population for improving modern maize sustainability | Grand Ballroom | |
| 20:20 | T1 | Maike Stam, University of Amsterdam | Vgt1 as enhancer of ZmRap2.7 impacts flowering time and gene regulatory networks involved in jasmonate signaling in maize | Grand Ballroom | |
| 20:40 | T2 | Ankush Sangra, University of Georgia | Decoding a complex distal non-coding QTL at TEOSINTE BRANCHED 1 | Grand Ballroom | |
| 21:00 | Informal Poster Viewing & Hospitality | Midway West | |||
| 21:00 | 22:30 | Informal Corn Hole Play | Prefunction Space Grand Ballroom |
Friday, March 7, 2025
| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 07:00 | 08:00 | Breakfast | Midway West & Pegram | ||
| 07:30 | 12:30 | Registration | Depot Registration Office |
Session 2 – Modeling Corn
Hank Bass
| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08:15 | 08:30 | Announcements | Grand Ballroom | ||
| 08:30 | 08:50 | T3 | Jingjing Zhai, Cornell University | Cross-species modeling of plant genomes at single nucleotide resolution using a pre-trained DNA language model | Grand Ballroom |
| 08:50 | 09:10 | T4 | Diana Ruggiero, Oregon State University | Quantitative genetics of leaf vascular density in maize | Grand Ballroom |
| 09:10 | 09:30 | T5 | Erin Farmer, Cornell University | Integrating Proximal Sensing Modalities for Enhanced Prediction of Agronomically Important Crop Traits | Grand Ballroom |
| 09:30 | 09:50 | T6 | Lucas Batista & Jacob Washburn, Kansas State University & USDA-ARS | Crowdsourcing phenotype prediction: Results from the 2024 G2F prediction competition. | Grand Ballroom |
| 09:50 | Poster Lightning Talks | Grand Ballroom | |||
| 09:50 | 09:52 | L9 | Jacob Kelly, University of Missouri | Speed Breeding Fast-Flowering Mini-Maize | Grand Ballroom |
| 09:52 | 09:54 | L10 | Thanduanlung Kamei, University of Delaware | SBP mutants have an expanded competence zone for brace root initiation | Grand Ballroom |
| 09:54 | 09:56 | L11 | Katy Guthrie, University of Minnesota | Teaching Scientific Writing Alongside the Scientific Method in an Introductory Plant Biology Lab | Grand Ballroom |
| 09:56 | 09:58 | L12 | Joseph DeTemple, Iowa State University | Gene expression and circadian rhythm differences between temperate and tropical maize inbreds in response to photoperiod | Grand Ballroom |
| 09:58 | 10:00 | L13 | Manisha Munasinghe, University of Minnesota | Structural Variation has a Limited Role in Influencing Genome-Wide Differential Gene Expression Patterns in Maize | Grand Ballroom |
| 10:00 | 10:02 | L14 | Mohamed El-Walid, Cornell University | Genomic Assembly and Analysis of Fast-Flowering Mini-Maize | Grand Ballroom |
| 10:02 | 10:04 | L15 | Christopher Benson, Ohio State University | Resolving Maize Domestication and Subpopulation Divergence Using Long Terminal Repeat Retrotransposons | Grand Ballroom |
| 10:04 | 10:15 | L16 | Xuelian Du, University of Bonn | BonnMu – A resource for functional genomics in maize (Zea mays L.) | Grand Ballroom |
| 10:15 | 10:45 | Break | Prefunction Space Grand Ballroom |
Session 3 – Education, Community, & Outreach
Brandi Sigmon
| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10:45 | 10:55 | Acknowledge Travel Awardees | Grand Ballroom | ||
| 10:55 | Poster Lightning Talks | Grand Ballroom | |||
| 10:55 | 10:57 | L17 | Jason Lynn, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory | AGO2 and AGO3 regulate RNAi fidelity by suppressing RNA-directed DNA methylation | Grand Ballroom |
| 10:57 | 10:59 | L18 | Dafang Wang, Hofstra University | Mechanisms of Small RNA-Induced Epigenetic Silencing of Ac Transposons in Maize | Grand Ballroom |
| 10:59 | 11:01 | L19 | Vinay Chaudhari, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center | Predicting end-of-season Sorghum biomass from seedling-stage traits | Grand Ballroom |
| 11:01 | 11:03 | L20 | Olivia Haley, USDA-ARS, ORISE | Comparing the performance of protein folding models AlphaFold, ESMFold, and Boltz for classical genes in maize | Grand Ballroom |
| 11:03 | 11:05 | L21 | Zong-Yan Liu, Cornell University | ReelGene2: A Large Language Model for Single Base Pair Precision Gene Annotation in Diverse Plant Genomes | Grand Ballroom |
| 11:10 | 11:30 | T7 | Vivian Bernau, USDA Plant Introduction | Ensuring the Future of Maize: A Call for Collaborative Action | Grand Ballroom |
| 11:30 | 12:15 | KS2 | Helen Anne Curry, Georgia Tech | Input, Insurance, Objective: Reflections on diversity from the history of crop science | Grand Ballroom |
Lunch and Poster Session
| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12:15 | 13:15 | Lunch | Midway West & Pegram | ||
| 12:15 | 13:15 | Special table at lunch to continue conversation with Helen Anne Curry | Midway West & Pegram | ||
| 12:15 | 13:15 | Travel Awardee/Mentor Networking Lunch | Midway Suites 1&2 | ||
| 12:15 | 13:15 | MGC BoD and MGAC Lunch | Midway Suites 3&4 | ||
| 13:30 | 15:00 | Odd Posters | Midway West | ||
| 15:00 | 16:30 | Even posters | Midway West | ||
| 14:30 | 16:00 | Beverages will be available from 2:30 to 4:00 PM | Midway West |
Session 4 – Maize Under Stress
Melissa Draves
| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16:40 | 17:00 | T8 | Veronica Perez, Cornell University | Translational and Proteomic Analysis of Cold-Stressed Maize Reveals Ribosomal Protein Families Involved in Cold Response and Tolerance | Grand Ballroom |
| 17:00 | 17:20 | T9 | Fausto Rodríguez-Zapata, North Carolina State University | Introgression of a Mexican highland chromosomal inversion into temperate maize accelerates flowering, promotes growth, and modulates a cell proliferation gene network. | Grand Ballroom |
| 17:20 | 17:40 | T10 | Marie-Laure Martin, INRAE | Integration of phenomic, proteomic, and genomic data into a multi-scale network unravels missing heritability for maize response to water deficit | Grand Ballroom |
| 17:40 | 18:00 | T11 | Rita Hayford, MaizeGDB | Transcriptional Regulation of Stress Adaptation in Maize: Identification and Functional Annotation | Grand Ballroom |
| 18:00 | 19:00 | Dinner | Midway West & Pegram | ||
| 18:00 | 19:00 | Bayer Student/Postdoc Dinner | Midway Suites 1&2 |
Session 5 – Awards
Andrea Eveland
| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19:00 | 19:10 | Andrea Eveland | Introduction to Awards | Grand Ballroom | |
| 19:10 | 19:30 | Natalia de Leon | Cooperator and Leadership Awards | Grand Ballroom | |
| 19:30 | 19:50 | Andrea Eveland | M. Rhoades Early-Career, L. Stadler Mid-Career Awards | Grand Ballroom | |
| 19:50 | 20:10 | Andrea Eveland and Wojtek Pawlowski | R. Emerson Lifetime Awards | Grand Ballroom | |
| 20:10 | 20:20 | Marna Yandeau-Nelson | McClintock Prize Presentation Introduction | Grand Ballroom | |
| 20:20 | 21:00 | KS3 | Edward Buckler IV, USDA Agricultural Research Service | Why do we do maize genetics? | Grand Ballroom |
| 21:00 | 23:59 | Informal Poster Viewing & Hospitality | Midway West | ||
| 21:30 | 22:00 | Opera Bell Band | Pegram | ||
| 21:00 | 22:30 | Early Brackets of the Corn Hole Tournament | Prefunction Space Grand Ballroom |
Saturday, March 8, 2025
| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 07:00 | 08:00 | Breakfast | Midway West & Pegram | ||
| 08:00 | 12:00 | Registration | Depot Registration Office |
Session 6 – Roots & Nutrient Uptake / Keynote
Rubén Rellán Álvarez
| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08:15 | 08:20 | Announcements | Grand Ballroom | ||
| 08:20 | 08:40 | T12 | Alexander Liu, Washington University in Saint Louis, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center | A Rootless1 knockdown allele affects maize nodal root development, increasing rooting depth, nitrogen uptake efficiency, and grain production in the field | Grand Ballroom |
| 08:40 | 09:00 | T13 | Sylvia Morais de Sousa Tinoco, Embrapa | Overexpression of PSTOL1-like genes increases maize root surface area and biomass under low and high phosphorus conditions | Grand Ballroom |
| 09:00 | 09:40 | KS4 | Ivan Baxter, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center | You need a real maize geneticist | Grand Ballroom |
| 09:40 | Poster Lightning Talks | Grand Ballroom | |||
| 09:40 | 09:42 | L23 | Forrest Li, University of California, Davis | Sequencing a seed bank: Assessing the utility of environmental data from CIMMYT traditional varieties for climate-adaptive maize breeding | Grand Ballroom |
| 09:42 | 09:44 | L24 | Aimee Schulz, University of Minnesota | The molecular evolution of perenniality across the grasses | Grand Ballroom |
| 09:44 | 09:46 | L25 | Matthew Wendt, Iowa State University | Environmental and Genetic Factors Underlying Maize Cuticular Wax Accumulation Under Drought Stress | Grand Ballroom |
| 09:46 | 09:48 | L26 | Wen-Yu Liu, North Carolina State University | ZmCER9-Mediated Regulation of Autoactive NLR Proteins and Effector-Triggered Immunity via ERAD Pathway | Grand Ballroom |
| 09:48 | 09:50 | L27 | Huda Ansaf, University of Missouri-Columbia | Understanding the Role of TOR Signaling and Translational Machinery in Regulating Protein-bound Amino Acid Homeostasis in Maize Kernels | Grand Ballroom |
| 09:50 | 09:52 | L28 | Gwonjin Lee, West Virginia State University | Sex-specific patterns of meiotic recombination are determined by maize lines from different climate zones. | Grand Ballroom |
| 09:52 | 09:54 | L29 | Michelle Stitzer, Cornell University | Comparative grass genomics reveals explosive genome evolution in maize and its wild relatives | Grand Ballroom |
| 09:54 | 10:00 | L30 | Mohammad Mahmood Hasan, University of Florida | mop1 reshapes recombination landscapes by altering DNA methylation and chromatin states at MITEs | Grand Ballroom |
| 10:00 | 10:30 | Break | Prefunction Space Grand Ballroom |
Session 7 – Keynote / Cell Division & Meristems
Sarah Jensen
| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10:30 | 11:10 | KS5 | Sióbhan Brady, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California Davis | Environmental integration with root cell type development | Grand Ballroom |
| 11:10 | 11:30 | T14 | Stephanie Martinez, University of California, Riverside | Delayed divisions and cell elongation defects influence plant growth in katanin mutants | Grand Ballroom |
| 11:30 | 11:50 | T15 | Fang Xu, Shandong University | The EPF-ERECTA ligand-receptor pairs regulate maize shoot and inflorescence architecture in coordination with CLAVATA pathway in maize. | Grand Ballroom |
| 11:50 | 12:10 | T16 | Thu Tran, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory | Catalytic and non-catalytic TREHALOSE-6-PHOSPHATE SYNTHASES (TPSs) interact with RAMOSA3 to control maize development | Grand Ballroom |
| 12:10 | 12:30 | T17 | Alejandro Aragon Raygoza, Iowa State University | Exploring the effects of ethylene-related transcription factors during maize shoot development | Grand Ballroom |
Lunch, Poster Session, & Community Session
| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12:30 | 13:30 | Lunch | Midway West & Pegram | ||
| 12:30 | 13:30 | Travel Awardee Lunch with Keynote Speakers | Midway 1&2 | ||
| 12:30 | 13:30 | Maize Genetics Mentoring and Speed Networking Lunch | Midway 3 | ||
| 12:30 | 13:30 | MGMSC Lunch | Midway 4 | ||
| 13:30 | 15:00 | Even posters | Midway West | ||
| 15:00 | 16:30 | Odd Posters | Midway West | ||
| 14:30 | 16:00 | Beverages will be available from 2:30 to 4:00 PM | Midway West | ||
| 16:30 | 18:00 | Community Session - Maize Genetics Cooperative | Grand Ballroom | ||
| 18:00 | 19:00 | Dinner | Midway West & Pegram | ||
| 18:00 | 19:00 | Corteva Student/Postdoc Dinner | Midway Suites 1&2 |
Session 8 – Reproduction / Keynote
Cinta Romay
| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19:00 | 19:05 | Announcements | Grand Ballroom | ||
| 19:05 | 19:25 | T18 | Xixi Zheng, University of Regensburg | Understanding the Molecular Mechanism of Parthenogenesis in Cereals | Grand Ballroom |
| 19:25 | 19:45 | T19 | Rachel Egger, Syngenta | Heat treatment and UBA2 fusions enhance LbCas12a genome editing activity during haploid induction | Grand Ballroom |
| 19:45 | 20:05 | T20 | Elli Cryan, University of California Davis | Molecular evolution of the Ga reproductive barriers in maize and related species | Grand Ballroom |
| 20:05 | 21:00 | KS6 | Doreen Ware, USDA Agricultural Research Service | Plant genomes: Understanding their past and managing their future | Grand Ballroom |
| 21:00 | 23:59 | Informal Poster Viewing & Hospitality | Midway West | ||
| 22:00 | 23:59 | Game Night/Corn Hole Tournament Finals | Midway West |
Sunday, March 9, 2025
| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 07:00 | 08:20 | Breakfast | Midway West & Pegram |
Session 9 – Epigenetics
Katie Murphy
| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08:25 | 08:30 | Announcements | Grand Ballroom | ||
| 08:30 | 08:50 | T21 | Qi Li, University of Tuebingen, Germany | Long-distance retrotransposons direct variable gene imprinting in maize | Grand Ballroom |
| 08:50 | 09:10 | T22 | Xi Cheng, University of Florida | Deciphering Epigenetic and Genetic Alterations in a DNA Methylation Mutant through Successive Generations of Self-fertilization in Maize | Grand Ballroom |
| 09:10 | 09:30 | T23 | Hafiza Sara Akram, Florida State University | Replication Timing Uncovers a Novel Two-Compartment Arrangement of Maize Interphase Euchromatin | Grand Ballroom |
| 09:30 | 09:50 | T24 | Akwasi Yeboah, University of Florida | Determination of Genetic and Epigenetic Regulations of Meiotic Recombination during Domestication in Maize | Grand Ballroom |
| 09:50 | 10:20 | Break | Prefunction Space Grand Ballroom |
Session 10 - Building a Stronger Maize Plant
Frank Hochholdinger
| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10:20 | 10:40 | T25 | Bharath Kunduru, Clemson University | Deciphering Genetic Architecture of Stalk Lodging Resistance using High-density Phenotype Map in Maize | Grand Ballroom |
| 10:40 | 11:00 | T26 | Laura Tibbs-Cortes, USDA-ARS, MaizeGDB | Plasticity and fitness trade-offs in switchgrass revealed by open science and citizen science data | Grand Ballroom |
| 11:00 | 11:20 | T27 | Qin Yang, Northwest A&F University | Inactivation of a lysine-histidine transporter-1 gene confers southern leaf blight resistance in maize | Grand Ballroom |
| 11:20 | 11:40 | T28 | Marion Pitz, University of Bonn | Regulation of heterosis-associated gene expression complementation in maize hybrids | Grand Ballroom |
| 11:40 | 11:58 | Closing Remarks | Grand Ballroom | ||
| 11:58 | 11:59 | Adjourn | Grand Ballroom |
Optional Post-Conference Workshop
| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13:00 | 15:00 | Missouri Botanical Garden - Kernels of Culture |