Outreach

The Plant Metabolic Network (PMN) once again left a lasting impression at the recent STEAM Expo Days event during the MSU Science Festival. Led by Charles Hawkins, director of PMN, a dedicated team of volunteers including Danielle Hoffman, Matt Stata, and Hillary Fischer engaged with approximately 300 students, showcasing an innovative outreach activity focused on the chemical nature of fragrance in fruits.

Titled "Why do Bananas Smell so A-Peeling," the activity captivated attendees with its hands-on approach and interactive demonstrations. Through engaging discussions and captivating experiments, participants were introduced to the fascinating world of plant metabolism and chemistry.

February 7, 2024 was Science Night at the local Glencairn Elementary School here in East Lansing, MI, and PMN was there with a booth, run by PMN director Dr. Charles Hawkins! We called our booth “Why do bananas smell so a-peeling”, and we showed students and their families all about how the wonderful smells of fruits and other plants are actually caused by chemistry and metabolism.

Check out this special Science issue on Plant Metabolism

Peruse more than 10 reviews, reports, perspectives, and even a podcast to learn about some of the most recent high impact research on medicinal compounds, carbon and nitrogen metabolism, hormonal modifications, metabolic pathway diversification and evolution, and much more . . .

• Want to learn about the newest PMN data?
• Eager for a demo on data analysis using the Omics viewer?
• Interested in annotating your favorite enzyme?

Then meet with a PMN curator one-on-one at the Outreach Booth (215) during the ASPB Plant Biology 2012 conference.

Additional PMN learning opportunities:

Rev up your plant metabolism excitement by watching or listening to Episode 78 of This Week in Science and Education where the PMN's very own Dr. Sue Rhee describes how plant biochemical pathways are the Engine of Life!

Please come hear Dr. Sue Rhee, the PI of the PMN project, as she describes genome-wide molecular networks at the Plant Genome Evolution conference in Amsterdam on Tuesday, September 6.

Interested in Plant Metabolic Engineering? 

There are two great chances to delve into this topic in July 2011!

• Gordon Research Seminar

(July 23-24)

• *** Abstract submission deadline for oral presentation: March 23
• Gordon Research Conference

(July 24-29)

There are many ways to connect with a PMN curator at the Plant and Animal Genome XIX Conference in San Diego, California. You can attend a computer demo featuring speakers from three groups who provide plant metabolic pathway databases, read our poster, or get one-on-one help at the Plant Genome DB Outreach Consortium booth 

• Computer Demo:

Sunday, January 16, 3:50 PM

Please come watch an amazing and enormous Amorphophallus titanum flower bloom . . . and be thankful that you can't smell it.

Many researchers and students from around the world had a chance to see PMN presentations and posters at conferences and universities during the summer of 2009.

• CIGRAS / UCR 

July 27-31 San Pedro, Costa Rica

• American Society of Plant Biologists

July 18 - 22, Honolulu, HI