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Keynote Speakers
Professor Elliot Kitajima (presenter of the R.E.F. Matthews Lecture)
Professor Elliot Kitajima has had a highly distinguished career in plant virology in Brazil, where he has worked across the full spectrum of the discipline, from basic to applied science. His research areas have included plant virus-host interactions, virus morphology and cytopathology and the identification, epidemiology and control of plant virus diseases (vegetable crops, tropical fruit crops, ornamentals). In the last decade, Professor Kitajima has devoted his time to the study of viruses transmitted by Brevipalpus (Acari: Tenuipalpidae), with a special focus on citrus leprosis. Professor Kitajima is a Fellow of the American Phytopathological Society (1991), Professor Emeritus of the University of Brasília (2001), and member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (2002).
Dr Stéphane Blanc
Dr Stéphane Blanc is a Research Director at INRA in Montpellier, France, where he investigates virus-plant-vector interactions, primarily using cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV), turnip mosaic virus (TuMV), cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), and tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV). Dr Blanc has investigated the biochemical and structural properties of the CaMV proteins that are responsible for the interaction between the virus and its aphid vector, and his team seeks to identify, characterize and eventually isolate the receptor molecule on the aphid stylet. Dr Blanc is also interested in understanding host and virus population genetics and how vector transmission influences virus evolution. He has recently developed a new research program on the biology of multipartite viruses using a nanovirus as a model system.
Professor Peter Palukaitis
Professor Peter Palukaitis is from Seoul Women’s University, where his current research focuses on molecular analysis of the mechanisms of resistance elicited by tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) in tobacco containing the N gene, structure-function relationships of chrysanthemum viroids, and application of resistance to multiple viruses in transgenic potato. In addition, in collaboration with colleagues in India, Italy, Spain, the UK and the USA, he is involved in research on host-virus interactions associated with disease and resistance (using cucumber mosaic virus, potato leaf roll virus and various potyviruses) and exploitation of several viruses for biotechnological applications.
Prof Peter Waterhouse
Professor Peter Waterhouse is internationally recognised for his groundbreaking research on the mechanisms and applications of small RNA-mediated gene silencing, often termed RNA interference (RNAi), in plants. His research program aims to deliver new technologies to improve both long-term and transient agronomic traits in crops. He completed his PhD at the University of Dundee and the Scottish Crop Research Institute. He has spent most of his research career at CSIRO, in Australia, and has received several awards, including the IMTC Thomson ISI Award for the most highly cited CSIRO researcher between 1998 and 2003, the Victor Chang Medal (2002) and the CSIRO Chairman's Medal (2005). In 2007, Prof. Waterhouse was named top of The Bulletin's Top Ten Smartest Scientists in Australia and won the prestigious Prime Minister’s Prize for Science. He has numerous patents covering the applications of his discoveries and has been on the Scientific Advisory Council for three different Australian Prime Ministers. In 2007 he was awarded a Federation Fellowship and in 2009 he was elected as a fellow to the Australian Academy of Science. His Federation Fellow was at the University of Sydney and he has now (2014) taken up the position of Professor of Molecular Genetics at the Centre for Tropical Crops and Biocommodities at QUT, Brisbane.