SPS Summer School 2022 - Plant sugar metabolism, transport and signaling in a challenging environment

One-week program for outstanding and enthusiastic master and PhD students, as well as post-docs working in plant biology on biological questions related to sugar transport, metabolism and/or signaling

Sugars are the predominant carbon and energy source for all living organisms. Especially, sugar metabolism, transport and signaling are key processes involved in biomass production, yield and quality. In addition, sugars are also playing a crucial role in plant growth and development in response to changes in the environmental conditions. Over the past decades, these fields have seen major advances but the current climate changes that the world is facing is bringing new challenges for the researchers to address.

This SPS Summer School 2022 will provide the participants with an introduction on several aspects of the molecular and cell biology of sugar metabolism, transport and signaling in relation to global climate changes.

It will bring together 20 participants from all over the world and offer them the chance to receive scientific training in an international and rather informal atmosphere, facilitating exchanges. This course will involve theoretical lectures delivered by world-class experts and specific workshops allowing active exchanges between participants and experts to discuss around the future prospects in these different fields of research.

Provisional program

This Summer School will include:

> Theoretical modules (16,5 hours)

Leading scientists will hold lectures on the topics of the summer school, giving the participants a comprehensive insight into the latest research findings and identifying key open questions in the field.

- Sugar metabolism

- Sugar transport / partitioning

- Sugar signaling

- From shoots to roots : Integrative view of carbon allocation

> Workshops and round-table (8 hours)

The workshop sessions will be dedicated to team work. The participants will be asked to make three groups, to choose one thematic among three abiotic stresses (drought, temperature stress or salinity). Based on the literature, their own experience and the support from the invited speakers, they will be asked to come up with suggestions of experiments, methodologies or else that would help producing plants with increased tolerance to stresses by modulating sugar metabolism, transport and/or signaling.

The round table will be the occasion for the participants to present the results of their brainstorming, through a 15 min short talk, and to discuss with the invited speakers about the future challenges in this thematic.

> Presentations of the participants’ projects

> Visits of SPS labs

> Cultural excursion at the Versailles Castle

This varied program will give plenty of opportunities for discussion with speakers and the other participants.

plant, biology, sugar, metabolism, transport, signalling, carbon