The genesis of The Pub Club concept was my observations at a Gordon conference in 2011. I saw firsthand how the conference experience reinvigorated and even excited a friend who had grown frustrated and depressed. The idea came: “How great would it be and how much would our science improve if we could duplicate the excitement, the interactions, the networking, the science discussions, in essence “the conference effect,” back at MSU?” It was a couple years later at the Keystone conference in Montana I first met Detlef Weigel and introduced him to friend and current “Arabidopsis Hunter,” Gautam Shirsekar. Following a massive “recharge” at the MPMI conference last year I visited “Weigel World” and made new friends, which included current visitor Emanuele Scacchi. It was this combined experience that made me determined to reach for that original “Pub Club ideal.” When I returned in September, The Pub Club 2.0 was born.
Over the last week the He Lab and The Pub Club have been honored to host Emanuele, the third member of Weigel World, to visit the 4th floor this year. Emanuele describes his research as follows: “An emerging topic in the Weigel lab is the study of the effect of pathogens and autoimmune responses on plant development, an understudied field that can address important problems with wide-reaching implications in plant productivity. In this context, I am focusing on the interplay between the immune response and development using the Arabidopsis thaliana leaf as a model system. My current research is concentrating on the genetic and molecular basis of this process and on the generation of a theoretical model to define a new area in plants that I call patho-morphogenesis.”
We welcome and thank Emanuele for visiting and look forward to opportunities to work together in the future. We also thank Detlef for supporting Emanuele in his efforts to expand his circle of reference and impact. Lastly, we are happy to add Emanuele’s name to Jane Devos and Gautam Shirsekar on the list of The Pub Club’s extended family/network.