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8/5/26, 9:00 AM
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Louisa Smieska8/5/26, 9:15 AMOral presentation
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Ute Kraemer (Ruhr University Bochum)8/5/26, 9:45 AMFundamental processes in plant nutrient homeostasisOral presentation
All ecosystems on land rely on plants to manage nutrient balancing in soils containing variable and largely non-optimal bioavailable levels of essential and non-essential inorganic compounds. Our research aims to understand the molecular and physiological mechanisms of the underlying physiological acclimations and evolutionary adaptations in plants. Arabidopsis halleri is a characteristic...
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JU-CHEN CHIA8/5/26, 10:15 AMFundamental processes in plant nutrient homeostasisOral presentation
Advances in imaging technologies have opened new avenues for understanding the physiological basis of plant reproduction. Here, we apply synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence (XRF) microscopy to investigate the spatial distribution of essential micronutrients, particularly copper (Cu), during reproductive development. Cu deficiency affects approximately 30% of arable land and significantly...
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Dr Paco ROMERO (Postharvest Physiology and Biotechnology for Food Sustainability Lab. Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA-CSIC), Paterna, Valencia, Spain.)8/5/26, 10:45 AMFundamental processes in plant nutrient homeostasisOral presentation
Synchrotron X-ray fluorescence (SXRF) is a powerful technique for investigating element distribution in plant tissues. However, the analysis of fresh, highly hydrated samples remains challenging, as water can attenuate fluorescence signals and dehydration during data acquisition may alter tissue structure and elemental distribution. While substantial anatomical and structural heterogeneity...
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Teagen Quilichini (University of Saskatchewan)8/5/26, 11:00 AMFundamental processes in plant nutrient homeostasisOral presentation
The spore and pollen wall is among the most chemically complex and resilient biological materials, yet its composition and assembly remain poorly understood. Although genetic studies have identified many enzymes and transport pathways required for pollen wall development, the chemistry of sporopollenin remains debated, and the developmental processes linking biosynthesis, transport, and...
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Prof. David Mendoza-Cozatl (University of Missouri)8/5/26, 11:15 AMFundamental processes in plant nutrient homeostasisOral presentation
One of the most damaging effects of drought on plants and crops is the reduction in yield and quality of seeds. Little is known, however, about the morphological changes happening in seeds at the cellular level when plants experience water limitation. And these changes include seed quality, composition, and offspring performance when the parental lines experience water limitation stress. Here...
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Wolfgang Busch (Salk Institute for Biological Studies)8/5/26, 12:45 PMPlant-soil interactions and biogeochemical cyclingOral presentation
Iron is an essential micronutrient that supports core metabolic and defense processes in plants, yet its accumulation must be tightly controlled because excess iron promotes oxidative damage. In the rhizosphere, iron availability also profoundly influences plant–microbe interactions, creating a fundamental challenge for roots that must simultaneously acquire iron from the soil, maintain...
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Rachel Hestrin (University of Massachusetts Amherst)8/5/26, 1:15 PMPlant-soil interactions and biogeochemical cyclingOral presentation
Interactions between roots and soil microorganisms regulate resource movement through terrestrial ecosystems, influencing plant productivity, stress tolerance, and global biogeochemical cycling. Our research focuses on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi—ubiquitous root symbionts that enhance plant nutrient acquisition while distributing plant-derived carbon below ground. Because these processes...
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Christopher Schuler (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)8/5/26, 1:45 PMPlant-soil interactions and biogeochemical cyclingOral presentation
The essential nutrient phosphorus often has low bioavailability in soils because of adsorption to iron minerals. This can be especially problematic in agricultural soils, where large amounts of “legacy” phosphorus accumulate. Eudicot plants are known to access iron by secreting redox-active organic molecules, e.g. coumarins, from their roots. However, the ability of these metabolites to desorb...
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Luna Natoli (Cornell University)8/5/26, 2:00 PMPlant-soil interactions and biogeochemical cyclingOral presentation
Understanding the uptake and localization of micronutrients in plant-soil systems is essential for improving crop nutrient efficiency and agricultural production. Copper (Cu) is an essential micronutrient required for fertility and grain production in grasses; however, its limited solubility in soils restricts plant acquisition and complicates efforts to understand Cu bioavailability in the...
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Josephine LoRicco (Muhlenberg College)8/5/26, 2:30 PMNutrient cycling in aquatic organismsOral presentation
Salt stress is one of the major and most common challenges that confront plants, and also would have been a major stressor during the colonization of land by Streptophyte algae ~500 million years ago. Penium margaritaceum is one of the closest known algal relatives to land plants, and its cell wall closely resembles the primary cell wall of higher plants. The inner layer of the cell wall is...
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Jacqueline Gerson (Cornell University)8/5/26, 3:00 PMNutrient cycling in aquatic organismsOral presentation
High concentrations of mercury and selenium are individually toxic to organisms. However, it is proposed that high levels of environmental Se can reduce Hg bioaccumulation and biomagnification in aquatic food webs, though this potential interaction has been under-studied in aquatic macroinvertebrates. We examined the proposed effect of selenium on methylmercury accumulation, along with the...
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Karin Limburg (SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry)8/5/26, 3:30 PMNutrient cycling in aquatic organismsOral presentation
Fish bodies contain numerous sclerochronological structures that have been used for routine age determination (from annual increment deposition) and increasingly, to study elemental and isotopic composition for life history interpretation. The most widely used structures are otoliths (literally, ear-stones), made of aragonite (CaCO3) precipitated on a protein framework, that are part of the...
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8/6/26, 9:00 AM
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Kendal Hirschi8/6/26, 9:15 AMPlants under external stimuliOral presentation
Oxygen deprivation triggers rapid physiological and biochemical changes in plants, including alterations in ion homeostasis and nutrient redistribution. However, most elemental imaging approaches require harvested tissues and therefore provide only static snapshots of these dynamic processes. We are developing experimental approaches for live synchrotron-based elemental imaging of intact...
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Shuxiao Zhang (SLAC National Laboratory)8/6/26, 9:45 AMPlants under external stimuliOral presentation
Plants’ responses to external stimuli are highly complex coordinated events that depend on the plant species, genotype, and developmental stage, as well as the strength and duration of the stimuli. In addition, the responses occur on a scale ranging from molecular to organismal level, often resulting in emergent properties that require data with a clear spatial component. Attempts to analyze...
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Valeria Castaldi (Yale University)8/6/26, 10:15 AMPlants under external stimuliOral presentation
Beneficial root–microbe interactions enhance plant growth and stress resilience, including the establishment of a primed immune state known as Induced Systemic Resistance (ISR). Although ISR is typically assayed through leaf responses, its establishment begins in roots, where the cues that gate successful systemic protection remain poorly understood.
Iron (Fe) is a key element for ISR...
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Sharif Uddin Ahmed (UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO)8/6/26, 10:30 AMPlants under external stimuliOral presentation
Iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn) are essential micronutrients for soybean growth, playing critical roles in chlorophyll biosynthesis, photosynthesis, enzyme activation, and antioxidant defense. However, limited availability of these nutrients in soil often reduces the effectiveness of conventional fertilizers. Foliar application provides a direct and efficient route for nutrient delivery,...
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Buz Barstow (Cornell University)8/6/26, 11:15 AMOral presentation
Creation of a new sustainable energy infrastructure, carbon sequestration, advanced electronic and computer technologies, and advanced defense technologies all mean that the demand for metals is increasingly rapidly. But traditional mining technology can be highly environmentally damaging. This means that the supply chains for many critical metals and semiconductors stretch through unstable...
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Greeshma Gadikota (Columbia University)8/6/26, 11:45 AM
Ammonia is the molecular foundation of the global food system, supplying the nitrogen fertilizer that sustains roughly half the world's population — yet its synthesis consumes an estimated 1–2% of global energy. Iron nitrides are earth-abundant materials central to greening this nitrogen economy: candidate catalysts for nitrogen reduction and ammonia synthesis, ammonia decomposition for...
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40. Keeping Babies Safe from Farm to Table: Food and Plant Science’s Role in Baby Food ManufacturingAmber Morey-Lanza (Beech-Nut Nutrition)8/6/26, 2:15 PMPlants in food safety and nutritional qualityOral presentation
Environmental and chemical contaminants were brought to the attention of baby food manufacturers in the late 2010s when an article was published about heavy metal concentrations found in different jar and tub baby foods. Over the last decade, parents have become increasingly concerned about what contaminants might be found in the food they are feeding their children. The quality team at...
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Harkamal Walia8/6/26, 2:45 PMPlants in food safety and nutritional qualityOral presentation
Plant response to environmental stresses varies with time and does not uniformly manifest across the entire plant or even specific organs. However, in most cases the phenotypic responses are measured at a single time point and lack spatial resolution. In rice, a staple food for more than half the humans, this phenomenon is evident as the grains develop on the panicle. We have developed a...
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Eliot Dugan (Cornell University)8/6/26, 3:15 PMPlants in food safety and nutritional qualityOral presentation
Iron deficiency remains the most prevalent micronutrient deficiency globally, affecting over 2 billion people, driven largely by reliance on cereal staple foods that are inherently low in bioavailable Fe. Biofortification, the enhancement of a crop’s endogenous nutrient content and bioavailability, is increasingly recognized as an effective strategy to combat Fe deficiency. While much research...
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Ayalew Osena (University of North Carolina Greensboro)8/6/26, 3:30 PMPlants in food safety and nutritional qualityOral presentation
Tef (Eragrostis tef) is the most important cereal crop in the Horn of Africa, especially in Ethiopia and Eritrea, where it has been a staple for over 6000 years. Tef is a nutrient-dense crop containing high levels of micro (Fe, Mn, Zn) and macro (Ca, Mg) nutrients. However, the spatial distribution of mineral nutrients in tef seeds has never been analyzed before. By using the synchrotron-XRF...
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Mahesh Narayan (The University of Texas at El Paso)8/6/26, 3:45 PMPlants in food safety and nutritional qualityOral presentation
Perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA) ingestion is associated with liver, immune, developmental, and reproductive effects. Nevertheless, the molecular mechanisms underlying PFDA toxicity remain poorly understood. For example, despite its established presence in human milk, cow milk, and infant formula, its molecular interactions with constituent proteins and their consequences require further study....
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8/6/26, 4:00 PM
Submarine canyons found along the continental shelf of the New York Bight (NYB) are highly dynamic, interconnected ecosystems that serve as critical deep-sea biodiversity hotspots. These deep-sea habitats are increasingly vulnerable to anthropogenic stressors, including commercial fishing, coastal pollution, ocean acidification, and hypoxia. Direct, continuous observation of these remote...
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8/6/26, 4:00 PM
The mechanisms by which plants coordinate intracellular calcium (Ca²⁺) signaling with extracellular Ca²⁺ availability, ion homeostasis, and nutrient compartmentalization remain an open question. In Arabidopsis, ACA8 and ACA10 are two major plasma membrane-localized autoinhibited Ca²⁺-ATPases that mediate Ca²⁺ efflux from the cytosol and altered ACA8 and ACA10 activities leads to changes in...
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8/6/26, 4:00 PM
Fish bodies contain numerous sclerochronological structures that have been used for routine age determination (from annual increment deposition) and increasingly, to study elemental and isotopic composition for life history interpretation. The most widely used structures are otoliths (literally, ear-stones), made of aragonite (CaCO3) precipitated on a protein framework, that are part of the...
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8/6/26, 4:00 PM
It has been known for decades that micronutrient copper is essential for plant growth, development, fertility, and seed yield. However, which plant reproductive organs require copper, how copper is delivered to these structures, and how it acts to ensure fertility is not entirely understood. In this poster I will present my research findings as well as some previous investigations done in the...
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8/6/26, 4:00 PM
Beneficial root–microbe interactions enhance plant growth and stress resilience, including the establishment of a primed immune state known as Induced Systemic Resistance (ISR). Although ISR is typically assayed through leaf responses, its establishment begins in roots, where the cues that gate successful systemic protection remain poorly understood.
Iron (Fe) is a key element for ISR...
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8/6/26, 4:00 PM
In the last few years, the LiX beamline at NSLS-II has developed capabilities for scanning imaging and tomography based on both scattering and fluorescence contrasts. This is accomplished using fly-scanning with a typical beam size of 5 microns, and simultaneous data collection on a pair of Pilatus detectors (Dectris) for small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering, as well as two two-channel...
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8/6/26, 4:00 PM
Woodchip samples with varying ferrihydrite surface coatings were incubated under different bulk redox conditions to investigate how iron availability and redox fluctuations affect localized redox gradients and hotspots. The spatial distribution of iron oxidation states in these samples can help identify reducing zones in the wood, with potential implications for understanding the effect of...
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8/6/26, 4:00 PM
The Extremely Brilliant Source (EBS) of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) is the world’s premier fourth-generation high-energy synchrotron source, offering remarkable flux and coherence that have enabled an unprecedented enhancement in experimental throughput. The ID21 beamline is dedicated to micro- and nano-X ray spectroscopy, offering 2D X-ray fluorescence (XRF) mapping and...
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8/6/26, 4:00 PM
The demand for uranium (U) has surged due to its role in nuclear energy, agriculture, mining, and military defense. This widespread use leads to uranium entering aqueous environments, raising concerns about its impact on public health and wildlife. In the United States, the tolerance limit for U in drinking water is set at 30 ug/L, with ground water exhibiting the higher concentration of U,...
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8/6/26, 4:00 PM
The electrochemical conversion of urea rich wastewater into value added products presents a promising strategy for sustainable water treatment, energy generation, and resource recovery for long duration space missions. In this work, boron-doped diamond (BDD) electrodes sequentially modified with nickel and platinum nanoparticles were developed to investigate enhanced urea oxidation and...
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8/6/26, 4:00 PM
X-ray-based imaging and spectroscopy are increasingly used to investigate the structure, elemental composition, and physiological processes of living plants. However, exposure to ionizing radiation can damage plant tissues and alter the biological processes being measured. The severity of these effects depends on factors including X-ray energy, photon flux, exposure duration, illuminated area,...
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8/6/26, 4:00 PM
A new microfocus beamline entitled XLEAP (X-rays for Life, Environmental, Agricultural, and Plant Sciences) is under construction at the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS). This mid-scale research infrastructure award (USNSF-2330043) began in April 2024, procurement and construction are under way, and the facility is planned to open for user operations in 2028. During construction,...
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8/7/26, 9:00 AM
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Martina Ralle8/7/26, 9:15 AM
Biological X-ray fluorescence microscopy (XFM) has emerged as a powerful tool for investigating the spatial distribution and quantification of trace elements in biological materials. By providing precise elemental distributions with low background and increasingly high resolution, XFM now allows for the study of metals and the roles of essential and toxic elements in biological processes at...
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Gabriel Sgarbiero Montanha (European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF))8/7/26, 9:45 AM
Synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (SXRF) imaging is a unique tool for understanding the localisation and dynamics of chemical elements within plant tissues, e.g., leaves, roots, stems, flowers (including pollen), fruits, and seeds, down to subcellular-level resolution. Unlike cell cultures, 2D XRF imaging of plant specimens often requires thin sections and, hence, an imbibing...
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Arthur Woll (CLASSE)8/7/26, 10:00 AM
A nearly ubiquitous challenge in conventional x-ray fluorescence (XRF) microscopy, especially for biological applications, is preparing sufficiently thin samples to obtain the best-possible spatial resolution. To make full use of the sub-micron beamsize available at XLEAP in this mode, sample thicknesses will be limited to a few microns or less. Apart from the time and skill required to...
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Tracy Punshon (Dartmouth College)8/7/26, 10:30 AM
Elemental imaging has become an important tool for investigating biological systems, providing spatially resolved measurements of elements in whole organisms, tissues and cells. While instrumentation continues to advance across multiple modalities including laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), X-ray fluorescence microscopy (XFM), and particle-induced X-ray...
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Margaret Frank (Cornell University)8/7/26, 10:45 AM
Programmable plant systems are plants engineered to have new capabilities to receive and transmit signals, enabling them to report on their environment, respond to external stimuli, and interact with other organisms and sensors. Programmable plant systems are enabled by a deep understanding of plant signaling, gene function, and synthetic biology that create new connections between plants,...
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8/7/26, 12:00 PM
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