Monday, August 2

Morning Media Briefings, 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. (Continental Breakfast)

Mass Extinction of the Earth's Plant Species: Can We Prevent It?
8:00 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.//Peter Raven, Ph.D., President, XVI International Botanical Congress, and Director of the Missouri Botanical Garden

The Human Footprint on Earth: New Research
8:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.//Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., Wayne and Gladys Valley Professor of Marine Biology and Distinguished Professor of Zoology, Oregon State University

Afternoon Media Briefings, 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. (Lunch)

Threatened Islands: Storehouses of Biological Treasures
12:30 p.m. - 12:50 p.m.//Gregory Anderson, Ph.D., Professor and Department Head at the University of Connecticut

Alien Invasions: Combating Aggressive Takeovers
12:50 p.m. - 1:10 p.m.//Mike Wingfield, Ph.D., Mondi Professor of Forest Pathology; Director, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute and Tree Pathology Co-operative Programme; Faculty of Biological and Agricultural Sciences, University of Pretoria, Republic of South Africa

The Role of Plants in Controlling Climate Change
1:10 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.//Pamela A. Matson, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, and The Institute for International Studies, Stanford University

*Please check with the IBC press office for the final schedule of media briefings and updates throughout the week. (Food will be provided to journalists at the briefings.)

Tuesday, August 3

Morning Media Briefings, 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. (Continental Breakfast)

Ethnobotany: A New Plant Discovery to Cure Disease
8:00 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.// Maurice Iwu, Ph.D., President, International Society of Ethnobiology, and Executive Director, Bioresources Development and Conservation Programme

Global Plant Prospecting
8:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.//James S. Miller, Ph.D., Associate Curator and Head of Applied Research Department, Missouri Botanical Garden

Afternoon Media Briefings, 12:50 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. (Lunch)

Plants as Factories: How Can Biotechnology Improve Life on Earth?
12:30 p.m. - 12:50 p.m.// Ilya Raskin, Ph.D., Professor of Plant Sciences, The Biotech Center, Rutgers University

Vitamin-A and Iron-Enriched Rices May Hold Key to Combating Blindness and Malnutrition: A Biotechnology Advance to Improve Life on Earth
12:50 p.m. - 1:10 p.m.//Ingo Potrykus, Ph.D., Professor of Plant Sciences, Institute of Plant Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH)

The Risks of Bioengineering Plants: Do We Need to Put on the Brakes?
1:10 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.//David Cove, Ph.D., Professor of Genetics at University of Leeds, UK, and author, Genetic Engineering: Dreams and Nightmares

Traces of Ancient Flower Pollen on the Shroud of Turin: New Botanical Evidence to Date and Place the Burial Cloth of Jesus of Nazareth
4:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.//Avinoam Danin, Ph.D., Professor of Biology, Hebrew University

Wednesday, August 4

Morning Media Briefings, 8:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m (Continental Breakfast)

The Family Tree of Life: Breakthrough Research on Plant Genealogy
8:00 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.//Brent D. Mishler, Ph.D., Director, University and Jepson Herbaria and Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley

The Last Lap in Mapping the Plant Genome
8:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.//Chris Somerville, Ph.D., Director, Carnegie Institution of Washington, and Professor, Stanford University

Plants that Are Decontaminating the Environment
9:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.//Ilya Raskin, Ph.D., Professor of Plant Sciences, The Biotech Center, Rutgers University

Plants and Flowers from the Age of Dinosaurs: New Discoveries and Ancient Flowers
9:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.//Peter R. Crane, Ph.D., A. Watson Armour III, Curator, and Director of The Field Museum, Chicago

Afternoon Media Briefings, 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. (Lunch)

Toxins from Algal Blooms: What We Don't Know Can Kill You
12:30 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.//Julie A. Hambrook, Ph.D., Biologist, National Water-Quality Assessment Program, U.S. Geological Survey

Thursday, August 5

Morning Media Briefing, 8:00 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. (Continental Breakfast)

Survival of Plant Species: A Plan of Action for the New Millennium
David Brackett, Chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, and Dr. David Given, Ph.D., New Zealand, Chair of the IUCN Plant Conservation Subcommittee