The 2023 Crop Bioengineering Center (CBC) Fall Members meeting took place on December 7th and 8th, 2023 in the ISU Memorial Union. Our featured speakers were Maura McGrail of GDCB and Shaun Curtin of the USDA-ARS. Dr. McGrail presented research utilizing powerful genome editing systems in zebrafish, and Dr. Curtin spoke about his experiences with genome editing in legumes such as alfalfa and soybean. Over the course of these two days, 13 CBC members presented their research discoveries to the group. We also welcomed two new members of the CBC this fall – Alan Culbertson (BBMB) and Marna Yandeau-Nelson (GDCB).
We had a surprise guest speaker join our itinerary – Anindya Bandyopadhyay of CIMMYT who spoke about applications for genome editing from the perspective of the global south. Overall, the members meeting was a success and it was great to learn about all the interesting research happening in the center and to get everyone involved and together before the end of the Fall semester. The meeting also highlighted upcoming events for the Spring 2024 semester, including the CBC Spring Seminar series, the CBC Genome Editing Workshop (May 14-16), and the Interdepartmental Plant Biology Loomis Symposium on May 17.