SVPW spring symposium, Friday, June 7th 2024 Hotel de Nieuwe Wereld, Marijkeweg 5, 6709 PE, Wageningen (NL)
Updated program since 8th of June
Program:
9:30 Registration, coffee / tea & meet-up
10:15 Opening by Prof. dr. Remko Offringa
10:20 Dr. Ronnie de Jonge – Utrecht University; AIT4life
AI in plant sciences
10:50 Dr. Hans Bethge – Leibniz Universität Hannover
Automated phenotyping in plant tissue culture
11:30 Suzane Pols MSc. / Marvin van Diemen B.Eng. – Viscon – ‘s-Gravendeel
How automation in tissue culture can help your plants to thrive
12:00 Michiel van Bennekom MSc. – Iribov – Heerhugowaard
Automation in plant tissue culture – transforming the transplanting process of tissue cultured plants
12:30 Lunch & meet-up
13:45 SVPW info and questionnaire by Prof. dr. Remko Offringa
14:15 Mabel Maria Mathew PhD, IISER-Pune and Visiting PhD, Wageningen University & Research
Mechanical heterogeneity and cell polarity in plant regerenation
14:45 Ingo Nettersheim MSc.– Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, TU Delft
3D printing engineered living materials
15:15 Coffee / tea break
15:45 Dr. Lisa Van den Broeck – North Carolina State University / Protealis
3D bioprinting of plant cells
16.15 Tom Clement MSc. – New Dawn Bio, Wageningen
The world’s biggest forest in a single cell
16:30 Closing drinks and meet-up
Summaries of the lectures on the SVPW spring symposium, Friday, June 7th, 2024)
AI in plant sciences Dr. Ronnie de Jonge – Utrecht University; AIT4life
Living systems are very complex, with many levels of regulation. Over the past decades, technology has been developed to measure a huge number of data points. For example, numerous types of ‘omics’ data can be collected on such systems. At the same time, AI methodology has improved tremendously, allowing us to make vastly more accurate predictions for many different tasks. In plant sciences, there are great opportunities to harness AI for improved and advanced phenotyping, enabling precise and high-throughput analysis of plant traits, both above- and below-ground. We apply AI methodologies to develop robust microbiome engineering, optimizing the microbial communities associated with plants for better holobiont functioning. Furthermore, we want to leverage AI models to predict crop phenotypes across diverse environmental conditions, providing insights that are crucial for food security and sustainable agriculture. In my presentation I will explore these opportunities, and some challenges, and discuss how integrating AI with plant sciences can drive innovation and address global agricultural challenges.
Automated phenotyping in plant tissue culture Dr. Hans Bethge – Leibniz Universität Hannover
Automated phenotyping of in vitro cultures can revolutionize trait evaluation by transitioning to continuous and objective quantification, as well as by enhancing accuracy, speed, and efficiency. Limited research exists on automated sensor usage in plant tissue culture, mainly focusing on “plant-to-sensor” approaches. Monitoring live aseptic cultures within closed vessels poses significant challenges, such as specular lighting at culture container materials and culture media surface and water condensation. This presentation will show case a novel robotic phenotyping system using low-cost sensors to digitally quantify plant in vitro cultures. Various sensors, including RGB camera, laser distance sensor, micro spectrometer, and thermal camera, were deployed. The system quantified growth and detected physiological disorders using a convolutional neural network. Furthermore, strategies for integrating automated phenotyping in industrial micropropagation will be discussed.
Automation in plant tissue culture Suzane Pols MSc. / Marvin van Diemen B.Eng. – Viscon - 's-Gravendeel
Automation has recently become a key conversation point for many tissue culture labs, as the world faces labour shortages and an urgent need to intensify our food production. Viscon has been at the forefront of many new exciting and groundbreaking developments, but what does it really take to create and develop these new turn key innovations? Let us take you through our journey of automation in tissue culture, including the challenges we’ve faced and the points of consideration for labs looking to invest in new technology.
Automation in tissue culture – transforming the transplanting process of tissue cultured plants Michiel van Bennekom MSc. – Iribov - Heerhugowaard
Tissue culture production is a labour-intensive process. Therefore, many tissue culture productions take place in countries where labour costs are lower. However, hardening of this tissue culture material often takes place at locations where labour is (becoming) more expensive or less available. For this reason, Iribov has taken the step to automate this part of the process. With our automated process as example, we will provide an overview of the considerations that preceded this development, the challenges we have solved to come to the current process, and the next steps to further improve the product.
Plants feel the Force: Green Mechanobiology Prof. dr. ir. Joris Sprakel – Laboratory of Biochemistry, Wageningen University
Plant cells are continuously exposed to a wide diversity of mechanical stimuli, both from within (cells pushing and pulling on each-other) and their environment (wind, pathogens trying to invade,….). These mechanical signals are perceived by plant cells and used as morphogenetic cues. Here I will give a brief overview of the work of my new group that tries to understand how this works by i) identifying the receptors of mechanical signals and their pathways, ii) make mechanical signals visible and measureable and iii) explore how mechanical signals can be engineered as a tool to control regeneration.
3D Printing Engineered Living Materials Ir. Ingo Nettersheim - Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Delft University of Technology
Natural structural materials like bird feathers and bone are formed with minimal energy input and are easily recycled by nature, which stands in stark contrast with most of the materials used in the present day. Despite the desire to replicate the materials found in Nature, recreating their intricate microstructure has been challenging with conventional manufacturing methods. We propose making these materials by using living cells. In this way, we can leverage their mechanisms to recreate nature’s microstructured materials. This talk will cover the fundamentals of 3D printing engineered living materials: how do you 3D print living cells, and how do you formulate an ink with optimal 3D-printing properties? Furthermore, we will explore recent work from our group printing microalgae and fungi, and discuss our ongoing work on 3D printing plant cells. Lastly, we will have a look at work from the field, which unveils the promising future of engineered living materials and their potential to revolutionise sustainable manufacturing.
3D bioprinting of plant cells Dr. Lisa Van den Broeck – North Carolina State University / Protealis
Capturing cell-to-cell and cell-to-environment signals in a defined 3 dimensional (3D) microenvironment is key to study cellular functions, including cellular reprogramming towards tissue regeneration. A major challenge in current culturing methods is that these methods cannot accurately capture this multicellular 3D microenvironment. We have established the framework of 3D bioprinting with plant cells to study cell viability, cell division, and cell identity. To analyze the large image datasets generated during these long-term viability studies, using different tissues from Arabidopsis thaliana and Glycine max, we have developed an open source image analysis pipeline, allowing us to high-throughput quantify both stained and unstained. The deposited Arabidopsis and soybean cells re-entered the cell cycle, which led to the formation of microcalli. Finally, we have shown that the identity of isolated cells of Arabidopsis roots expressing endodermal markers maintained longer periods of time. We believe that the framework established in this study paves the way for a general use of 3D bioprinting for studying cellular reprogramming and cell cycle re-entry towards tissue regeneration.
The world’s biggest forest in a single cell Tom Clement MSc., - New Dawn Bio, Wageningen
With more tree species ending up on protected species lists and the global demand for wood increasing, finding sustainable ways to utilize this valuable renewable resource is essential. In this presentation, we explore the pressing challenges in modern forestry and discuss how plant cell culture is uniquely suited to solve them. We introduce our bold mission of eliminating the need for traditional tree harvesting by growing wood directly from cells, show why wood is a great candidate for cell-based alternatives, and why now is the perfect time for cell-based wood.
