**Get ready for the Root Science Summit 2025, where scientists obsess over the unseen! Starting at 10:00 UTC on May 15, 2025, at the Virtual Global Hub.**
It kicks off with **Welcome and Introduction** (10:00-10:10 UTC). Then, **Root Anatomy** (10:10-11:00 UTC) features Masashi Yamada (Biotechnology Center in Southern Taiwan, Taiwan) talking about “Root Meristem Growth Factor (RGF)” 🧬. Following that, Juergen Kleine-Vehn (University of Freiburg, Germany) discusses “Auxin dynamics.”
Next up is **Roots and Ecosystem Function** (11:00-11:50 UTC). Vincent Poirier (Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Canada) links roots to soil matter, while Diego Abalos (Aarhus University, Denmark) tries to minimize nitrogen losses.
Don’t miss the **Coffee Break** at 11:50 UTC! 🤓 At 12:00 UTC, **Rhizosphere and Signalling** begins. Joseph Edwards (Texas A&M University, USA) investigates switchgrass microbiomes, and Kathrin Wippel (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands) discusses “host-specific toolboxes.”
**Phenotyping Method Development** starts at 12:50 UTC. Larry York (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA) goes “Beyond RhizoVision,” while Alexandre Grondin (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, France) studies pearl millet. Coffee Break again at 13:40 UTC. ☕
**Root Modelling** (14:00-14:50 UTC) features Johannes Postma (Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany) releasing “OpenSimRoot,” and Mona Giraud (also Jülich) with in silico analysis.
Finally, **Roots in Sub-Saharan Africa** (14:50-15:40 UTC). Dainel Nyadanu (Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana) discusses kola phenotypic plasticity. Vincent Opoku Agyemang (Crop Research Institute of Ghana) covers stress resilience. 🌍
The summit concludes with **Root Systems Biology** (15:40-16:30 UTC). Marc Libault (University of Missouri, USA) presents the Soybean Single-Cell Transcriptome Atlas, and Kevin Daniel (University of Freiburg, Germany) discusses Arabidopsis under waterlogging stress. 🚀
Chuck B. Ballsy, affectionately known in the satirical world as “The Sultan of Snark,” is a self-proclaimed sports expert who peaked athletically in middle school dodgeball.
Born in Halfcourt, Indiana, Chuck spent his formative years shouting unsolicited advice at professional athletes on TV, firmly believing that his couchside coaching was the key to their success.
Chuck B. Ballsy: because in the game of sports and sarcasm, he’s always the MVP. 🏀🎤
