The Midwest Enzyme Chemistry Conference, Sharing Recent Advances in Understanding and Exploiting the Chemistry of Life

The goal is to stage a 1-day scientific conference within driving distance of major Midwestern universities involved in agricultural research as well as sites of cuttingedge molecular biochemical research, for a day of lectures, poster presentations and dialog that will educate and stimulate research on how enzymes work as well as how they can be put to work in the service of agricultural productivity and possibility. The meeting in question is the Midwest Enzyme Chemistry Conference to be held on a Saturday in October at the University of Illinois at Chicago, with a projected attendance of 170. This meeting is most pertinent to the Plant Health and Production of Plant Products priority, in particular sustainable energy, global food security and foundational knowledge. Like other life forms, plants rely on enzymes to accelerate biochemical reactions by factors of a million or more. Enzymes do this while also limiting byproduct formation and making the reactions amenable to control. Thus enzymes increase the efficiency with which plants grow and dictate what materials and chemical they produce, even their tolerance to heat. Plant and insect enzymes are also useful targets for herbicides and pesticides, respectively. We will have some 10 lectures from contributed abstracts, then all participants will gather to present and discuss posters (~60), which all participants are encouraged to contribute. The objectives are to stimulate intellectual cross-fertilization and new collaborations among labs, to nurture young scientists and to strengthen research in the Midwest, a community with enduring ties to agriculture, and a strong tradition for research excellence.