About the meeting
Meiosis lies at the heart of sexual reproduction. By reshuffling parental genetic material, it generates new genetic variation – the raw material for natural selection and evolution. In plants, meiosis is also fundamental to modern breeding, helping drive improvements that support food security.
The Plant Meiosis Meeting (PMM) provides an international platform to discuss the latest discoveries in plant meiosis, with a particular focus on the regulation of meiotic progression and the mechanisms that shape recombination. The programme will also cover population and evolutionary perspectives, as well as recent advances and emerging strategies in plant breeding.
A central goal of PMM is to create a friendly, highly interactive atmosphere that stimulates the exchange of ideas between researchers and specialists. The meeting offers a unique opportunity to initiate collaborations and develop future projects, while also supporting academic exchange between early-career scientists and established leaders in the field of plant genetics.
Image credits: Arabidopsis meiocytes stained for ASY1 (orange), ZYP1 (green) and HEI10 (pink), courtesy of Esperanza Sáez Zárate (Ziolkowski Lab)
More details, including the scientific programme and registration information, will be announced soon.
Neil Hunter
Keynote speaker
University of California, Davis, USA
About the speaker
Neil Hunter is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the University of California Davis, and an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
He obtained a Batchelor of Science from Manchester University and a PhD from Oxford, where he studied hybrid sterility, defining a post-zygotic species barrier mediated by an anti-recombination function of the DNA mismatch repair machinery. As a postdoc with Nancy Kleckner at Harvard University he helped define molecular mechanisms of homologous recombination during meiosis, discovering key steps in the pathway of chromosomal crossing over. As a professor at the University of California Davis, he has continued to make foundational contributions to our understanding of how chromosomes are repaired by homologous recombination and the essential roles this process plays in sexual reproduction. Pioneering work in both mouse and yeast systems, has identified interdependent roles for SUMO, ubiquitin, phosphorylation, and proteasomal proteolysis in regulating crossing over. Studies of oogenesis in mouse have uncovered a novel DNA-damage checkpoint process that mediates oocyte quality control; and revealed that intrinsic and extrinsic factors exacerbate the declining oocyte quality that is associated with maternal aging.
In 2009, Professor Hunter was awarded an Early Career Scientist position with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; and was selected to their flagship Investigator program in 2013. He was elected to both the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Academy of Microbiology in 2016; and became a fellow of The Royal Society in 2025. He also received the 2018 Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Research; and chairs a pan-campus graduate program in Reproductive Biology.
About the speaker
Neil Hunter is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the University of California Davis, and an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
He obtained a Batchelor of Science from Manchester University and a PhD from Oxford, where he studied hybrid sterility, defining a post-zygotic species barrier mediated by an anti-recombination function of the DNA mismatch repair machinery. As a postdoc with Nancy Kleckner at Harvard University he helped define molecular mechanisms of homologous recombination during meiosis, discovering key steps in the pathway of chromosomal crossing over. As a professor at the University of California Davis, he has continued to make foundational contributions to our understanding of how chromosomes are repaired by homologous recombination and the essential roles this process plays in sexual reproduction. Pioneering work in both mouse and yeast systems, has identified interdependent roles for SUMO, ubiquitin, phosphorylation, and proteasomal proteolysis in regulating crossing over. Studies of oogenesis in mouse have uncovered a novel DNA-damage checkpoint process that mediates oocyte quality control; and revealed that intrinsic and extrinsic factors exacerbate the declining oocyte quality that is associated with maternal aging.
In 2009, Professor Hunter was awarded an Early Career Scientist position with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; and was selected to their flagship Investigator program in 2013. He was elected to both the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Academy of Microbiology in 2016; and became a fellow of The Royal Society in 2025. He also received the 2018 Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Research; and chairs a pan-campus graduate program in Reproductive Biology.
Kyuha Choi
POSTECH, Pohang, South Korea
About the speaker
Kyuha Choi investigates the mechanisms shaping recombination landscapes in plants, with a particular emphasis on how chromatin features, epigenetic regulation, and genome architecture modulate crossover formation. His research has advanced our understanding of recombination hotspots, DNA methylation effects, and meiotic DSB regulation in Arabidopsis and crop species. Choi’s work bridges molecular genetics and high-resolution genomics to dissect the determinants of meiotic variability.
Mathilde Grelon
Jean-Pierre Bourgin Institute, Versaille, France
About the speaker
Mathilde Grelon is a prominent researcher in plant meiosis with a long-standing focus on the genetic and molecular regulation of meiotic recombination in flowering plants. Her work has uncovered key players in crossover formation, chromosome pairing and synapsis, notably in Arabidopsis thaliana. Grelon’s group integrates classical genetics, cytology and molecular biology to unravel how meiotic chromosome behaviour influences genome stability and plant fertility.
André Marques
MPI for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne, Germany
About the speaker
André Marques studies the interplay between meiotic recombination, chromatin organization, and genome evolution in plants. His research combines cytogenetics, imaging and genomic approaches to characterise crossover patterning and chromosome behaviour in diverse species. Marques has contributed to resolving how dynamic chromosome architecture influences pairing and synapsis, shedding light on mechanisms that shape recombination landscapes in both model and non-model plants.
Venue
The meeting will take place on the newly founded Morasko Campus located 15 mins by tram from the city centre. The meeting will be hosted in the AMU Faculty of Biology building (Collegium Biologicum), in the Paczoski Auditorium, Uniwersytetu Poznańskiego 6 Street, 61-614 Poznan
Public Transport
One can easily reach the conference venue by getting off at the “OS. SOBIESKIEGO” tram/bus stop.
To plan your trip with a public transport, we suggest using “Jakdojade” website (www.jakdojade.pl) or app. For English app version on iOS, go to settings on your iPhone, find the app and change the preferred language to English.
To reach the conference venue from Ławica airport, the following route is suggested:
Take bus number 148/177, leave at “RONDO KAPONIERA”, take tram number 12/14/15 (final destination “OS.SOBIESKIEGO”).
Uber/Bolt rides are also available, the approximate cost for a Ławica airport-conference venue route is 10€.
Poznań is a vibrant Polish city, located in the heart of Europe, halfway between Berlin and Warsaw. Journeys are easy as the city is very well connected with the major European and Polish cities including Frankfurt, Munich, Copenhagen, Warsaw and London.
Moreover, Poznan is one of the biggest academic centres in Poland. The largest university in the city is Adam Mickiewicz University (AMU), where almost every third Poznan student is educated.
AMU is organized into 20 faculties, one of them being the Faculty of Biology, located in the north district of Poznań, at the Morasko Campus.
Organized by the Ziolkowski Lab