Previous Loomis Symposiums

The Walter E. and Helen Parke Loomis Fund, established by the Loomis family in 1981, continues to support this lecture in memory of Walter and Helen. We hope that it will help preserve Walter Loomis’s tradition for current and future generations of plant physiologists. The Loomis Lecture Fund is administrated by the Department of Genetics, Development and Cell Biology.

Previous Loomis Symposium Speakers and Topics

2015 ​​Jim Haseloff University of Cambridge “Synthetic Biology and Engineering in Plants” 

2014 Rob Martienssen Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory “Genome Reprogramming with Histone Variants and Small RNA”

2013 Patrick J Hussey University of Durham "The Plant Cytoskeleton: Structure, Function and Biotechnology" 

2012 Eduardo Blumwald University of California, Davis "Engineering Drought Tolerance in Crop Plants"

2011 June Nasrallah Cornell University "To Self or Not To Self: Mating System Diversification in Flowering Plants"

2010 ​Loren Rieseberg Indiana University "The Origin and Evolution of Plant Species"

2009 Edward Farmer University of Lausanne "Jasmonate Signaling and the Origins of Herbivory"

2008 Kenneth Keegstra Michigan State University "What Has Been Learned about Chloroplast Assembly in the Last 3 Decades?"

2007 Bill Lucas University of California, Davis "The Plant Vascular System: An Information Superhighway"

2006 Stanton Gelvin Purdue University "The Molecular Mechanisms of Plant Transformation by Agrobacterium tumefaciens, Nature's Genetic Engineer"

2005 Richard Dixon Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation "Metabolic Engineering of Plant Natural Products for Plant Animal and Human Health"

2004 David Baulcombe John Innes Center "Short RNA - The Dark Matter of the Gene Universe"

2003 Hans Bohnert University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign "Salt and Drought Stress Responses in Plants"

2002 Athanasios Theologis University of California, Berkeley "From Agriculture to Genomics: A Personal Odyssey"

2001 Natasha Raikhel Michigan State University "Protein Sorting and Storage in Seeds"

2000 David Dennis Queens University "From Academia to Industry: The Commercialization of Plant Biology"

1999 Ian Sussex Yale University "Research in Starch Synthesis: How Basic Science and Biotechnological Innovation Come Together Themes in Plant Development"

1998 Jack Preiss Michigan State University "Research in Starch Synthesis: How Basic Science and Biotechnological Innovation Come Together"

1997 Lawrence Bogorad Harvard University "The Chloroplast Saga: Two Billion Years of Captivity"

1995 Clarence Ryan Washington State University "Signaling Pathways for Inducible Plant Defense Genes"

1994 Don Grierson University of Nottingham "What Can We Learn About Physiology From Plants Transformed with Antisense RNA?"

1993 Roger Beachy Scripps Research Institute "Resistance to Virus diseases in Transgenic Plants"

1992 Mary Helen Goldsmith Yale University "Auxin Transport"

1991 Eric Conn University of California, Davis "An Overview of Cyanogenesis in Plants and Animals"

1990 Peter Albersheim University of Georgia "Oligosaccharins-Regulatory Oligosaccarides with the Ability to Control Growth, Development, and Defense Responses of Plants"

1989 Elizabeth Gantt University of Maryland "The Photosynthetic Apparatus in Evolution"

1988 Jake MacMillan University of Bristol "The Plant Physiologist: A Man for All Seasons"

1987 William L. Ogren USDA, University of Illinois "Photorespiration: The Plant Kingdom's Enduring Enigma"

1986 Winslow R. Briggs Carnegie Institution of Washington

1985 Joseph E. Varner Washington University "How Plants handle Stress in the Workplace"

1983 Kenneth V. Thimann University of California, Santa Cruz "The Endocrinology of Leaf Senescence"

1982 John G. Torrey Harvard University "Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation in Actinomycete-nodulated Plants"

1981 Olle Bjarkman Carnegie Institution of Washington

Previous Flyers of Walter and Helen Parke Loomis Distinguished Lecture and Plant Biology Mini Symposium