PALSA is an international conference in partnership with the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan, the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) at Cornell University in the United States and the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS) at the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials in Campinas, Brazil.

Background

The challenges of food security and malnutrition are top priority for agricultural research efforts worldwide. Through advanced research tools such as synchrotron-based techniques, research into disease and drought-resistant crops has enormous potential to make our food supply more secure, and can further improve agricultrural processes at every level of production – from ‘soil to shelf’.

The bottleneck to this research is our ability to screen large numbers of genetically distinct plant varieties quickly and efficiently for advantageous traits. Increasing our knowledge of the genotype-to-phenotype relationship simultaneously advances our understanding of the mechanisms governing life and provides the basis for engineering safe and effective new crop varieties. PALSA showcases these topics as well as research on soil microscale morphology and properties, plant-soil interactions, and more!

The Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) at Cornell University has a combination of unique infrastructure capabilities, in-house expertise, and close proximity to outstanding agricultural science infrastructure at Cornell.