Dear colleagues and friends:
I hope you are staying healthy and well and are able to restart your research and scholarship.
On behalf of Doil Choi, Chairperson of the Local Organizing Committee, I am writing to let you know that the XIX IS-MPMI Congress in Jeju, South Korea, scheduled for June 2021, will be postponed until June 2022. The uncertainties of public health safety throughout the world, the resulting travel restrictions, and the financial impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have made it very difficult to ensure that everyone who wanted to attend the congress in June 2021 would be able to do so.
A key feature of the IS-MPMI Congress is open discussion and networking among scientists from all over the world. We have decided to postpone the meeting, rather than offer it this year via a virtual platform, to ensure that we will be able to gather in person when it’s safe to do so.
Moving forward, the society plans to host virtual workshops periodically throughout the year to stay connected, promote the exchange of our science and ideas, and support each other. If you have an idea for a workshop or would like to help organize an event, please contact us.
In the meantime, I encourage you check out What’s New in MPMI, a biweekly, live, virtual seminar series highlighting recent papers in the journal MPMI. Authors will present short overviews of their findings and then engage in Q&A with participants from around the world. This series will be freely available to increase and encourage global participation to anyone interested in molecular plant-microbe interactions. Each 1-hour talk will be hosted by MPMI Editor-in-Chief Jeanne Harris and a guest co-host from the community. All the talks will be recorded and available on the MPMI website for future viewing. Check out the list of upcoming seminars, watch recordings of previous talks, or register to attend one.
I will communicate updates about the postponed congress and share opportunities to connect during the upcoming year.
Best regards,
Mary Beth Mudgett
President, IS-MPMI