This panel discussion was organized to promote the communication between young plant scientists and senior investigators. The discussion was moderated by Dr. Christian Breuer, postdoctoral researcher, Cell Function Research Unit, Gene Discovery Research Group, RIKEN Plant Science Center, and Seiji Takeda, Assistant Professor, Developmental Morphology Research Group, Graduate School of Biological Sciences, Nara Institute of Science and Technology. The panelists were
Antonis Giakountis
Department of Plant Developmental Biology, Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Germany
Barry Causier
Centre for Plant Sciences, University of Leeds, UK
Bo Sun
Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Fredelik Coppens
Department of Plant Systems Biology, Flanders Institute for Biotechnology, Belgium
Jose M. Perez-Perez
Division de Genetica and Instituto de Bioingenieria, Universidad Miguel Hernandez, Spain
Toshiaki Tameshige
Department of Botany, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Japan
Tsuyoshi Aoyama
Division of Evolutionary Biology, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI), Japan
Yasunori Ichihashi
Department of Biological Science, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Japan

The event was sponsored by SOKENDAI and the Japan Plant Science Foundation. It was held from 14:30 until 17:30, Sunday, 14 September 2008.