National Symposium on Biology of infection, immunity and disease control in pathogen-plant interactions

2December 2-4, 2011

Organized by Department of Plant Sciences School of Life Sciences

About the symposium
Twenty first century, in the post genomics era, witnessed a surge in our understanding of the biology of plants and pathogens. The redundancy of genetic information in pathogens and plants confirmed the much predicted co-evolution of the molecular arms-race between pathogens and plants. The connectivity between the stress response pathways in plants and the cell-densitydependent expression virulent genes in pathogens adds new dimension in understanding the molecular interactions between plants and pathogens. Parallel to these developments, biological and transgenic approaches for plant disease management have been aggressively pursued in search of alternatives for the chemical approaches. Several bioagents are made available in the market reducing the usage of chemicals. This symposium is intended to discuss the developments in the aforesaid areas with an objective to develop/modify disease control strategies.

Objective
The symposium will serve as a platform for academia, researchers, students, and industry to share their experiences and knowledge about the importance of phytopathological studies with special reference to the recent developments in the agents responsible for infection, process of infection, immunity triggered by the microbes and/or their patterns, effector-triggered immunity and other forms of resistance like SAR and ISR. In addition chemical, biological and integrated approaches for management of plant diseases would be discussed.

Themes
Occurrence, diagnosis, diversity, and evolution of pathogens Mechanisms of disease resistance: NHR, R-Avr, SAR, ISR Chemical, biological, transgenic and integrated approaches for plant disease management

Venue
The University of Hyderabad, a premier institution of post graduate teaching and research in the country, recently ranked no. 1 in Indian subcontinent in the R&D arena. The Department of Plant Sciences is an integral part of School of Life Sciences (UGCs Centre for Advanced Studies in Life Sciences, and DBTs Centre for Research and Education in Biology and Biotechnology) along with three sister Departments namely, Department of Animal Sciences, Department of Biochemistry and Department of Biotechnology. The Department of Plant Sciences, with strong faculty, offers two Masters programmes (Plant Biology and Biotechnology, and Molecular Microbiology) and a Ph.D. programme. The Department is an active centre of research with about 100 research students working in frontier areas of Plant Sciences. The Department has the distinction of being DST-FIST Level II-supported Department of Plant Sciences. Research publications from the department in high impact journals are well cited. For more details visit the http: //www.uohyd.ernet.in/index.php/academics/schools-ofstudy/sciences/dept-plant-sciences The university is located in the most happening part (Gachibowli) of Cyberabad which is part of the tricity Hyderabad-Secunderabad-Cyberabad. It takes 30 mins from Rajiv Gandhi International Airport and approximately one hour from Secunderbad/Hyderabad (Nampally)/Kacheguda railway stations in the tricity.

Accommodation
Accommodation for participants will be arranged in university guest houses on payment basis (Rs 500 approx. per day). Accommodation can also be arranged, in hotels/service apartments that would cost Rs. 1500-2000/- per day. We can assist in accommodation in star hotels as well. Accommodation in guest house/hotel/service apartment can be provided only after receiving at least one day tariff. Efforts will be made to provide less expensive accommodation for the student participants of the symposium.

Tours
Pre- and post-symposium city tours can be organized for interested delegates upon request and advance payment.

Registration
The duly filled in registration form along with the details and registration fee should be sent along with the demand draft in favour of Organizing Secretary, National Symposium December 2011 payable at Hyderabad. (Note: Please mention your name and address on the reverse side of the demand draft) Registration fee Delegates Students Corporate participation Accompanying person : : : : Rs. 1500.00 Rs. 500.00 Rs. 3000.00 Rs. 1000.00

Format
The symposium would be executed through invited lectures from identified experts, and contributory oral and poster presentations in the chosen thematic areas.

Call for abstracts

Abstract of the papers related to theme areas of the symposium are invited for oral and poster presentations. Abstracts typed in single space of 250-300 words including title, authors and address and email ID on A4 size paper as hard copy in Microsoft Word -2003 version file latest by September 2, 2011. Points to be noted before submission of abstracts: Submission of abstract will not ensure automatic acceptance Contents of the abstract will be edited as per the requirement Abstracts should be based on the recent work done by the authors Selection of an abstract for oral/poster will be based on the volume of data being presented Abstracts accompanied with registration form and fee only will be considered

Best paper awards

One each from Ph.D. students and post doctoral fellows (below 35 years) will be selected for best paper awards. The best presentations selected by panel of judges will be awarded cash prize, plaque and a commendation certificate from the organizers to encourage scientific temper among the students/young researchers.

Advisory committee
Prof. Anupam Varma Prof. A.N. Mukopadhyay Prof. R.K. Jain Prof. V.G. Malati Prof. H.S. Shetty Prof. S.R. Niranjana Prof. M. Anandaraj Prof. K.V.B.R. Tilak Prof. H.N. Gour Prof. R.N. Khetrapal Prof. H.B. Singh Dr. B.S. Dileep Kumar Dr. K. Muralitharan Dr. N.C. Talukdar Prof. G. Bhagyanarayana Prof. R. Samiyappan Dr. R.V. Sonti Prof. C. Manoharachary Prof. B.N. Chakraborty Prof. H.S. Prakash Dr. Subhadeep Chatterjee Dr. D.K. Arora Prof. Sally K. Mathew Prof. H.S. Chahal Prof. D.K. Maheshwari Prof. N. Saktivel Prof. Pratibha Sharma Prof. T.S. Thind Dr. Rajababu Vyas Dr. Suseelendra Desai

Organizing committee
Prof. Ramakrishna Ramaswamy, Vice Chancellor, University of Hyderabad, Chief Patron Prof. M. Ramanadham, Dean, School of Life Sciences, Chairman Prof. A.R. Reddy, Head, Department of Plant Sciences, Vice-chairman Prof. R.P. Sharma Prof. A.S. Raghavendra Prof. M.N.V. Prasad Prof. P.B. Kirti Prof. Appa Rao Podile, Organizing Secretary Prof. K. Seshagirirao Prof. Ch. Venkata Ramana Dr. G. Padmaja Dr. Sarada D. Tetali Dr. K. Gopinath Dr. Ragiba Makandar Dr. S. Rajagopal Dr. Irfan A. Ghazi Dr. Y. Sreelakshmi Prof. K.V.A. Ramaiah, Head, Department of Biochemistry Prof. Manjula Sritharan, Head, Department of Animal Sciences Prof. P. Prakash Babu, Head, Department of Biotechnology

National Symposium on Biology of infection, immunity and disease control in pathogen-plant interactions 2-4 December, 2011 (Last date for submission of abstract and registration form: September 2, 2011)
REGISTRATION FORM Name: ....................................................................... Designation: ..................................... Date of Birth: ............................... Age as on September 2, 2011.................................... Address: .............................................................................................................................. ............................................................................................PIN: ......................................... Phone: ............................................................ Fax: ............................................................ E-mail: ................................................................................................................................. Preferred mode of presentation: Oral/Poster Title of the Presentation: .................................................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................ Theme area: ....................................................................................................................... Registration fee: Rs............................................................................................................. Demand Draft No............................................................ Date: .......................................... Drawn at: ............................................................................................................................ Accommodation required Post symposium tour Date: : : Yes/No Yes/No Signature

Completed registration form should be submitted to: Prof. Appa Rao Podile, Organizing Secretary, Department of Plant Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad, Gachibowli, Hyderabad-500 046. Phone: (040) 23134503 E-mail: natsymdec2011@gmail.com / podilerao@gmail.com