On 18–19 June 2026, the Botanical Garden of Valencia will host the IV Severo Ochoa Conference, entitled “Evolutionary Strategies in Plant Biotechnology. From natural selection to synthetic innovation”, an international meeting devoted to exploring the potential of evolution and synthetic biology as drivers of innovation in plant biotechnology.
The conference is organised by the Spanish Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SEBBM), in collaboration with the Carmen and Severo Ochoa Foundation, and features strong involvement from the Institute for Plant Molecular and Cell Biology (IBMCP, CSIC-UPV). IBMCP researchers Miguel Ángel Blázquez, Juan Carbonell and Cristina Ferrándiz are part of the local organising team, while Pablo Vera is a member of the scientific committee.
The programme will bring together leading international experts to discuss how knowledge of the evolution of plant metabolic, signalling and developmental pathways can open up new opportunities for plant biotechnology. Over two days, the conference will address topics such as plant signalling evolution, metabolic engineering, synthetic biology, precision genome editing and the design of novel plant traits beyond evolutionary constraints.
Among the invited speakers are researchers from institutions such as the Max Planck Institute, the University of Cambridge, CNB-CSIC, CEPLAS and the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology in Beijing. From the IBMCP, Diego Orzáez will give the talk “Exploring Novel Plant Traits Beyond Evolutionary Constraints with Bioluminescence as a Probe”. In addition, Juan-José Llorens-Gámez will take part in the programme with a selected short talk on targeted gene replacement by CRISPR in Arabidopsis thaliana.
The IV Severo Ochoa Conference aims to foster dialogue between evolutionary biology and synthetic biology, two fields with great potential to generate new solutions in plant biotechnology and contribute to the development of more sustainable, resilient and high-value crops.
More information and full programme:
https://sebbm.es/actividades-sebbm/iv-severo-ochoa-conference-evolutionary-strategies-in-plant-biotechnology-from-natural-selection-to-synthetic-innovation/
