This workshop will identify forefront research questions probing the life cycle of elements, especially metals, moving through the environment and living organisms, from geological and man-made sources through the soil microbiome and into living tissues and cells.
Workshop dates: July 28-29, 2021
Elemental distributions in the environment and in living organisms are fundamentally intertwined. The subsurface composition of the earth, through both natural geology and human impact, strongly influences the elemental content in the surrounding waterways, soils, plants, and animals. We propose to organize a highly interdisciplinary workshop identifying forefront research questions probing this “life cycle” of elements, especially metals, moving through the environment and living organisms. Topics for the workshop will span the fields of soil sciences, environmental sciences and mining; plant sciences, plant engineering and agriculture; and fundamental processes of micronutrient uptake, transport, and function in living tissues and cells.
This workshop is a development following the CHESS X-LEAP initiative workshop in June 2020. X-LEAP stands for X-ray imaging for Life sciences, Earth sciences, Agriculture, and Plant sciences.
The workshop will cover four science sessions over two days. Detailed agenda to follow.
Session 1: Geological/geochemical impacts on environment (geological-soil interface)
Session 2: Soil-microbe-plant interfaces
Session 3: Use of elements by cells (fundamental mechanisms; uptake, transport, storage, function)
Session 4: Impact of environment on living organisms
Organizers: Mary Lou Guerinot (Dartmouth); Karin Olson Hoal (Cornell); Matthew Reid (Cornell); Olena Vatamaniuk (Cornell)
All times are Eastern Time.
Day 1 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Session 1: Geological/geochemical impacts on environment (geological-soil interface) | Discussion leader: Karin Olson Hoal (Cornell) | Title |
| 10:30-10:35 | Welcome and charge | |
| 10:35-11:00 | Jessica Stromberg (CSIRO) | High-definition μXRF imaging for analysing geochemical systems: tracing critical metals across the mining life cycle |
| 11:00-11:25 | Jasquelin Pena (UC Davis) | Surface Reactivty of Nanoscale Manganese Oxides |
| 11:25-11:50 | Megan Holycross (Cornell) | Transition metal XANES and the deep Earth oxygen cycle |
| 11:50-12:15 | Lauren Pincus (Princeton) | Synchrotron Applications Studying Interactions of Inorganic Contaminants with Polymers |
| 12:15-12:35 | Session 1 discussion | |
| 12:35-13:30 | Lunch Break | |
| Session 2: Soil-microbe-plant interfaces | Discussion leader: Matthew Reid (Cornell) | |
| 13:30-13:55 | Matt Limmer (U. Delaware) | Probing the fate and transport of As in rice |
| 13:55-14:20 | Darcy McRose (Caltech/MIT) | A surprising role for microbial “antibiotics” in the promotion of phosphorus bioavailability |
| 14:20-14:45 | Johannes Lehmann (Cornell) | Synchrotron applications to study organic matter in soil |
| 14:45-15:10 | Greg Lowry (Carnegie Mellon) | Fate and Transformation of Metal Nanoparticles in Plants |
| 15:10-15:30 | Session 2 discussion | |
| 15:30-16:00 | Break | |
| 16:00-17:30 | Idea slam | |
| 17:30-18:30 | Optional: spatial.chat space for discussion |
Day 2 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Session 3: Use of elements by cells (fundamental mechanisms; uptake, transport, storage, function) | Discussion leader: Olena Vatamaniuk (Cornell) | Title |
| 10:35-11:00 | Mary Lou Guerinot (Dartmouth) | Shining a Light on Plant Metal Homeostasis |
| 11:00-11:25 | David Mendoza-Cózatl (U. Missouri) | Understanding plant nutrition for a better human nutrition. |
| 11:25-11:50 | Rachelle Gaudet (Harvard) | Transition metal uptake by Nramp-family transporters |
| 11:50-12:15 | Jeeyon Jeong (Amherst College) | Ferroportin3, a dual-targeted mitochondrial/chloroplast iron exporter |
| 12:15-12:35 | Session 3 discussion | |
| 12:35-13:30 | Lunch Break | |
| Session 4: Impact of environment on living organisms | Discussion leader: Arthur Woll (Cornell) | |
| 13:30-13:55 | Ingrid Pickering (U. Saskatchewan) | Unravelling the interplay of toxic elements: from environment to vertebrate organisms |
| 13:55-14:20 | Carla Polo (LNLS) | Coherent X- ray imaging perspectives to plant and soil sciences |
| 14:20-14:45 | Karin Limburg (SUNY ESF) | Through the Heads of Fishes: Anthropogenic Impacts on Fishes Revealed by Otolith Chemistry |
| 14:45-15:10 | Matteo Minghetti (Oklahoma State) | Probing the intracellular environment: use of x-ray absorption spectroscopy to detect intracellular metal speciation and distribution |
| 15:10-15:30 | Session 4 discussion | |
| 15:30-16:00 | Break | |
| 16:00-17:30 | Group discussion and breakout sessions | |
| 17:30-17:35 | Close out |
| Idea Slam Order | Institution | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Nicholas Mitchell | Cornell | The Life of a Deep Sea Polymetallic Nodule |
| Buz Barstow | Cornell | Topic in bio-mining (engineering microbes to release metals from rocks) |
| Dean Hesterberg | LNSL | Developing a Rhizomicrocosm System for 3D In Vivo X-ray Imaging of Chemistry at the Root-Rhizosphere-Soil Interface |
| Ayalew Osena | UNC Greensboro | Genetic variation in grain mineral content and iron bioavailability of the underutilized crop tef (Eragrostis tef) |
| Ju-Chen Chia | Cornell | µ-SXRF reveals key the role of copper in plant fertility and key components of copper homeostasis in plants |
| Felipe Ricachenevsky | Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul | Into the wild: tapping rice wild relatives diversity for grain iron and zinc biofortification |
| Tracy Punshon | Dartmouth College | Complementary techniques: Laser Ablation ICP-MS and the new Biomedical National Elemental Imaging Resource at Dartmouth. |
| Ted K. Raab | Carnegie Inst for Science | Iodine and animal migration |
| Mary Salcedo | Virginia Tech | Imaging insect wings and biology extensions |
This workshop is supported by the National Science foundation (MCB-2132738).