PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Schnable, Nguyen Present Plant Genome Research Exhibits at CNSF Congressional Exhibition

	NSF Director Arden Bement (center) visits with Patrick Schnable (right) and James Wilson (left) to discuss Pat's poster presentation on maize genome research.
	Tom Horgan (left), Karla Klingner (right), and Tali Bar-Shalom (second from right) meet with Patrick Schnable at the ASPB exhibit booth.
	Henry Nguyen confers with Machi Dilworth on genomics of root growth under drought.

Professor Patrick Schnable of Iowa State University explained opportunities offered by the National Science Foundation (NSF)-sponsored “Corn Genome Project” at the 12th Annual Congressional Exhibition and Reception, sponsored by the Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF), on June 7, 2006.

The exhibition featured research poster presentations from a broad array of science disciplines at 34 exhibit booths. The ASPB booth featured Schnable’s full-color poster on the corn genome project, brochures, interactive laptop displays, potted corn plant, and handout tattoos. There were many interested visitors during the two-hour exhibition.

NSF Director Arden Bement visited ASPB’s exhibit and discussed with ASPB member Schnable this major genome research project. As he has in the past, Bement came early and stayed throughout the exhibition, talking with exhibitors. Like Bement, NSF Directorate for Biological Sciences officials Machi Dilworth and Anita Klein interacted with Schnable, Henry Nguyen, and other exhibitors.

Tom Horgan and Karla Klingner of Senator Christopher Bond’s (R-MO) office and Tali Bar-Shalom and James Wilson of the House Science Committee were among the congressional staff who visited. Bond continues to champion support for plant genome research in the Senate. In recent years, the House Science Committee has included the plant genome research program in authorization legislation for the NSF. Congressman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) chairs, the Science Committee, and Congressman Bart Gordon (D-TN) is the ranking member of committee.

A topic that has been generating the most constituent calls to congressional offices recently has been the high cost of gasoline.

Visitors to the ASPB booth expressed particular interest in the portion of Schnable’s poster that explained research on the plant cell wall that could lead to corn varieties that would facilitate separation and breakdown of sugars from cellulose and hemicellulose. Advances like this could help transition American motorists from using gasoline to cellulosic ethanol.

An April 2005 report by the Department of Energy and the Department of Agriculture said advances in research could help biofuels production increase from meeting just one-fiftieth of America’s transportation fuel needs to supplying one-third of all U.S. motorists’ fuel—a historic shift.

Sporting a tattoo on maize genome research, Schnable appeared to spark the interest of many visitors in corn genome research opportunities. The tattoo depicted the logo of Maize Assembled Genomic Island. Visitors readily accepted samples of the tattoo to take home to their children.

Neighboring the ASPB exhibit was the “Functional Genomics of Root Growth and Root Signaling Under Drought” exhibit prepared by Professor Henry T. Nguyen of the University of Missouri. His exhibit was in the Tri-Societies booth. Nguyen is director of the National Center for Soybean Technology at the University of Missouri. Like Schnable, Nguyen interacted with a number of visitors from congressional offices and the NSF.

Both Schnable and Nguyen conducted separate visits with their congressional offices from Iowa and Missouri, respectively. Schnable, ASPB staff, and the Iowa State University’s representative in Washington, DC, discussed the importance of NSF-sponsored research with the staffs of Congressman Jim Nussle (R-IA), Jim Leach (R-IA), Leonard Boswell (D-IA), Tom Latham (R-IA), Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), and Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA). Nguyen met with staff in his Missouri delegation, including Senator Bond and Senator Jim Talent (R-MO).

More than 300 people attended this exhibition. ASPB, a member of the CNSF steering committee for more than 12 years, helped initiate the annual CNSF sponsorship of this congressional exhibition/reception, which is the only event of its type highlighting NSF-sponsored research.