| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08:00 | 17:00 | Optional Pre-Conference Workshops | |||
| 08:00 | 17:00 | Corn Breeding Research (Day 1) | Salon 16/Königswinter |
Maize Genetics Meeting
Digital Abstract Book
TipSchedule at a Glance
Wednesday, February 25, 2026
Optional Pre-Conference Activities
Thursday, February 26, 2026
Optional Pre-Conference Activities
| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08:00 | 17:00 | Optional Pre-Conference Workshops | |||
| 08:00 | 12:00 | Corn Breeding Research (Day 2) | Salon 16/Königswinter | ||
| 08:30 | 17:00 | Genetics of maize-microbe interactions | Cologne Biocenter, Lecture hall 0.024; Zülpicher Str. 47b, 50674 Köln | ||
| 09:00 | 15:00 | Optional Pre-Conference Tours | |||
| 09:00 | 15:00 | Juelich Plant Phenotyping | Tour Bus leaves in front of the main hotel entrance. Arrives at 8:45 AM | ||
| 09:00 | 16:00 | Development & Cell Biology Workshop | Salon 14/Koeln | ||
| 12:30 | 17:00 | Bayer Crop Science Tour - Monheim | Bus leaves in front of the main hotel entrance. Bus arrives at 12:15 PM | ||
| 15:00 | 18:00 | Poster Hanging | Hall 1 & Hall 2 | ||
| 17:00 | 17:45 | Travel awardees / mentors meet & greet | Salon 21/Mannheim | ||
| 18:00 | 19:00 | Dinner | Rottisserie + Glass Hall combined |
Session 1 - Welcome / Keynote / Award
Frank Hochholdinger
| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19:20 | 19:25 | Curtis Hannah, University of Florida | Cologne and maize genetics | Hall 1 | |
| 19:25 | 20:10 | KS1 | Eileen Furlong, European Molecular Biology Lab | Regulatory principles during embryonic development | Hall 1 |
| 20:10 | 20:30 | L1, P57 | Gabriella Consonni, University of Milan | Genetic interaction between GL15 and FDL1 modulates juvenile cuticle deposition and leaf permeability in maize | Hall 1 |
| 20:10 | 20:30 | L2, P61 | Alexa Park, Texas A&M University | Identification and Characterization of Molecular Drivers of Nitrogen Remobilization in Maize During Grain Filling | Hall 1 |
| 20:10 | 20:30 | L3, P88 | Joseph DeTemple, Iowa State University | Understanding expression dynamics of flowering time genes from a gene network perspective | Hall 1 |
| 20:10 | 20:30 | L4, P43 | Sophia Gerasimova, Martin Luther University | Application of a ternary agrobacterium-mediated transformation system coupled with morphogenesis regulators enables efficient genome editing in temperate and tropical maize | Hall 1 |
| 20:10 | 20:30 | L5, P144 | Hao Wu, Nanjing Agricultural University | Spatiotemporal transcriptomics reveals ZmGRAS90 as an early determinant of maize aleurone and basal endosperm fate specification | Hall 1 |
| 20:10 | 20:30 | L6, P129 | Cecilia Lara-MondragĂłn, University of TĂĽbingen | How to reproducibly pattern a meristem despite size variability | Hall 1 |
| 20:10 | 20:30 | L7, P117 | Andrea Calhau, INRAE | Disrupted gamete interaction in maize gex2 mutants biases fertilization toward egg-cell-only fertilization and promotes heterofertilization | Hall 1 |
| 20:10 | 20:30 | L8, P122 | Mamoona Khan, University of Bonn | Effector-driven developmental reprogramming during Ustilago maydis–induced gall formation | Hall 1 |
| 20:10 | 20:30 | L9, P143 | Ana LĂłpez Malvar, INRAE | Spatial regulation of cell wall remodeling shapes maize digestibility under drought | Hall 1 |
| 20:10 | 20:30 | L10, P132 | An Hsu, National Taiwan University | Linking carbon metabolism to meiotic entry in maize anthers: From bulk to single-cell resolution | Hall 1 |
| 20:30 | 20:40 | Andrea Eveland | McClintock Prize introduction | Hall 1 | |
| 20:40 | 21:25 | M1 | Joe Ecker Salk Institute | Epigenomic diversity from plants to the nervous system | Hall 1 |
| 21:25 | 23:59 | Informal Poster Viewing & Hospitality | Hall 1 & Hall 2 / Congress-Foyer |
Friday, February 27, 2026
Session 2 - Cell Division And Meristems
Erin Sparks
| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 07:00 | 08:00 | Breakfast | Rottisserie + Glass Hall combined | ||
| 07:30 | 12:30 | Registration | Congress-Foyer | ||
| 08:00 | 10:00 | Session 2 - Cell Division And Meristems | Hall 1 | ||
| 08:00 | 08:15 | Announcements | Hall 1 | ||
| 08:15 | 08:35 | T1 | Faith Kanana Mbiti, University of Regensburg | A novel, evolutionary conserved peptide regulates cell proliferation | Hall 1 |
| 08:35 | 08:55 | T2 | Xiaosa Xu, University of California - Davis | A developmental viewpoint of maize ear inflorescence domestication at single-cell resolution | Hall 1 |
| 08:55 | 09:15 | T3 | Fang Yang, Sun Yat-Sen University | New regulators and elements shaping maize inflorescence architecture and their applications | Hall 1 |
| 09:15 | 09:35 | T4 | Marja Timmermans, University of TĂĽbingen | Specification of the maize embryonic shoot stem cell niche via hierarchical morphogenic signals | Hall 1 |
| 09:35 | 10:00 | T5 | Thanduanlung Kamei, University of Delaware | Shared regulatory logic between inflorescence and brace root development | Hall 1 |
| 10:00 | 10:25 | Break | Congress-Foyer |
Session 3 - Lightning Talks / Keynote
Hank Bass
| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11:35 | 11:55 | L21, P256 | Danning Wang, Technical University of Munich | Single-cell transcriptomics reveals cell-type-specific signatures of heterosis in early roots of maize | Hall 1 |
| 11:35 | 11:55 | L22, P194 | Pengfei Yin, China Agricultural University | A dynamic genotype-environment integration approach decodes the genetic basis of phenotypic plasticity in maize | Hall 1 |
| 11:35 | 11:55 | L23, P248 | Charles Colvin, Pennsylvania State University | Population-scale RNAsequencing reveals host genetic control of phyllosphere fungal communities | Hall 1 |
| 11:35 | 11:55 | L24, P250 | Mythri Bikkasani, Punjab Agricultural University | Quantitative assessment of heterosis and combining ability for strategic hybrid breeding in maize for silage | Hall 1 |
| 11:35 | 11:55 | L25, P260 | Zhongjie Ji, University of Nebraska-Lincoln | Temporal 2D–3D phenotyping reveals dynamic maize architectural development across the growth cycle | Hall 1 |
| 11:35 | 11:55 | L26, P271 | Chuan Chen, Northwest A&F University | qGSR2.02 confers recessive resistance to stalk rot and ear rot in maize | Hall 1 |
| 11:35 | 11:55 | L27, P246 | Melissa Draves, University of Missouri | Phenotypic characterization of U.S. maize heirlooms | Hall 1 |
| 11:35 | 11:55 | L28, P249 | Domagoj Simic, Agricultural Institute Osijek | Predicting biomass in drought-stressed young maize plants with machine learning using genomic and phenomic data | Hall 1 |
| 11:35 | 11:55 | L29, P4 | Carly Blair, Michigan State University | Characterization of two epigenetically regulated ABI3-VP1 transcription factors in Zea mays (maize) | Hall 1 |
| 11:35 | 11:55 | L30, P7 | Patrick Gardner, Montclair State University | Detecting activity of hopscotch family long terminal repeat retrotransposons in Zea mays | Hall 1 |
| 12:00 | 13:00 | Lunch | Rottisserie + Glass Hall combined | ||
| 12:00 | 13:00 | MGC BoD and MGAC Lunch | Salon 21 / Mannheim | ||
| 12:00 | 13:00 | Travel Awardee / Keynote speaker Lunch | Salon 16 / Koenigswinter | ||
| 13:00 | 16:00 | Beverages will be available from 2:00 to 4:00 PM in the foyer between Hall 1 & Hall 2 | Hall 1 & Hall 2 | ||
| 13:00 | 14:30 | Presenters should be at odd-numbered posters | Hall 1 & Hall 2 | ||
| 14:30 | 16:00 | Presenters should be at even-numbered posters | Hall 1 & Hall 2 | ||
| 16:00 | 18:00 | Session 4 - Genome Diversity | |||
| 16:00 | 16:20 | T6 | Mike Scanlon, Cornell University | Grasses as a single genetic system: a strategy for synthetic biology of large genome grasses |
Session 4 - Genome Diversity
Michael Muszynski
| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16:20 | 16:40 | T7 | Corrinne Grover, Iowa State University | Shortcuts to success: how large-scale genotyping benefits the maize community | |
| 16:40 | 17:00 | T8 | Clementine Vitte, CNRS | Revisiting the functional features of maize dispensable genes and the key factors underlying their dispensability | |
| 17:00 | 17:20 | T9 | Zheng Luo, Huazhong Agricultural University | The pangenome graph construction of Zea genus | |
| 17:20 | 17:40 | T10 | Miguel Vallebueno-Estrada, Swedish | Agricultural University Demographics of maize adaptation | |
| 17:40 | 18:00 | T11 | Karlene Negus, Iowa State University | Designing interpretable AI models to identify drivers of maize phenotypic plasticity | |
| 18:00 | 19:00 | Dinner | Rottisserie + Glass Hall combined | ||
| 18:00 | 19:00 | Bayer Student/Postdoc Dinner | Café Heumarkt | ||
| 18:00 | 19:00 | Corteva Student/Postdoc Dinner | La Galerie | ||
| 19:00 | 20:55 | Session 5 - Keynote / Awards | |||
| 19:00 | 19:45 | KS3 | Hilde Nelissen, VIB Ghent | Towards a blueprint for growth regulation |
Session 5 - Keynote / Awards
Andrea Eveland
| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19:45 | 19:55 | Andrea Eveland | Introduction to Awards | Hall 1 | |
| 19:55 | 20:15 | Natalia de LĂ©on | Presenting: Cooperator and Leadership Awards | Hall 1 | |
| 20:15 | 20:35 | Thomas Dresselhaus | Presenting: M. Rhoades Early-Career, L. Stadler, Mid-Career | Hall 1 | |
| 20:35 | 21:00 | Matt Hufford | Presenting: R. Emerson Lifetime Awards | Hall 1 | |
| 21:00 | 00:00 | Informal Poster Viewing & Hospitality | Hall 1 & Hall 2 / Congress-Foyer |
Saturday, February 28, 2026
Session 6 - Keynote / Roots And Kernels
Sylvia Morais de Sousa
| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 07:00 | 08:00 | Breakfast | Rottisserie + Glass Hall combined | ||
| 08:00 | 12:00 | Registration | Congress-Foyer | ||
| 08:00 | 10:05 | Session 6 - Keynote / Roots And Kernels | |||
| 08:00 | 08:45 | KS4 | Silvio Salvi, University of Bologna | To clone or not to clone QTLs: 20 years on - progress, pitfalls, and future directions | |
| 08:45 | 09:05 | T12 | Andrea Sama, University of California San Diego | Computational method for spatial metabolite analysis reveals distinct developmental patterns in maize roots, identifying candidates for developmental and stress responses. | |
| 09:05 | 09:25 | T13 | Xiaofang Huang, Technical University of Munich | Genetic determinants and regulatory mechanisms governing rhizosphere microbiome assembly in maize | |
| 09:25 | 09:45 | T14 | Huinan Li, Huazhong Agricultural University | ZmNAGS enhances maize kernel size and grain yield through increasing photosynthesis and starch content | |
| 09:45 | 10:05 | T15 | Sarah Fitzsimmons, University of Missouri | From kernel to kitchen: Targeting free asparagine to reduce acrylamide formation in corn-based foods | |
| 10:05 | 10:35 | Break | |||
| 10:35 | 11:59 | Session 7 - Epigenetics / Keynote | |||
| 10:35 | 10:55 | T16 | Mei Zhang, Chinese Academy of Sciences | A gap-free telomere-to-telomere maize genome reveals long non-coding RNA–mediated chromatin regulation during anther development |
Session 7 - Epigenetics / Keynote
Cinta Romay
| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10:55 | 11:15 | T17 | Juliette Breil-Aubert, University of Amsterdam | Single-molecule methylation profiling at the repetitive b1 paramutation locus in maize | |
| 11:15 | 12:00 | KS5 | Yoselin Benitez Alfonso, University of Leeds | Dismantling walls and building bridges for communication | |
| 12:00 | 13:00 | Lunch | Rottisserie + Glass Hall combined | ||
| 12:00 | 13:00 | Maize genetics mentoring and speed networking lunch | La Galerie | ||
| 12:00 | 13:00 | MGMSC Lunch | Salon 21 / Mannheim | ||
| 13:00 | 16:00 | Beverages will be available from 2:00 to 4:00 PM in the foyer between Hall 1 & Hall 2 | Hall 1 & Hall 2 | ||
| 13:00 | 14:30 | Presenters should be at odd-numbered posters | Hall 1 & Hall 2 | ||
| 14:30 | 16:00 | Presenters should be at even-numbered posters | Hall 1 & Hall 2 | ||
| 16:00 | 17:40 | Session 8 - Leaves | |||
| 16:00 | 16:20 | T18 | Bianca Sheridan, Florida State University | The Maize-10-Maze project: Science communication featuring an educational public chromosome map garden of maize mutants |
Session 8 - Leaves
Oyenike Adeyemo
| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16:20 | 16:40 | T19 | Matthew Runyon, University of Illinois | Form follows function: Genetic modulation of leaf area and canopy structure | |
| 16:40 | 17:00 | T20 | Kristian Johnson, INRAE | How should we compare canopy architecture in maize? | |
| 17:00 | 17:20 | T21 | Jensina Davis, University of Nebraska-Lincoln | Low-cost, scalable leaf imaging and computer vision approaches enable quantitative genetic studies of disease response and morphological features across environments | |
| 17:20 | 17:40 | T22 | Jonathan Ojeda-Rivera, Cornell University | Why doesn't corn recycle nitrogen? Insights from perennial grass senescence | |
| 17:40 | 17:50 | Break | Congress-Foyer | ||
| 17:50 | 19:20 | Matt Hufford, MGC BoD Chair | Maize Genetics Cooperative | Hall 1 | |
| 19:30 | 19:30 | Walking to brewery | Am Hof 12-18, 50667 Köln | ||
| 19:30 | 23:59 | Conference Dinner at the Frueh Brewery | Am Hof 12-18, 50667 Köln |
Sunday, March 1, 2026
Session 9 - Manipulating Maize
John Fowler
| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 07:00 | 08:30 | Breakfast | Rottisserie + Glass Hall combined | ||
| 08:30 | 10:10 | Session 9 - Manipulating Maize | |||
| 08:30 | 08:50 | T23 | Wout Vandeputte, Ghent University | Combining GRF-GIF chimeras with a non-integrating WUS2 strategy to improve maize (Zea mays L.) transformation frequency | |
| 08:50 | 09:10 | T24 | Laurens Pauwels, Ghent University | Evaluation of transgenerational gene editing efficiency and inheritance of edits using a split Cas9/gRNA crossing system in Zea mays | |
| 09:10 | 09:30 | T25 | Michael Muszynski, University of Hawaii | Genome editing accelerates flowering in tropical maize | |
| 09:30 | 09:50 | T26 | Marina Millán Blánquez, INRAE | The peri-germ cell membrane: A gateway to haploid embryo induction? | |
| 09:50 | 10:10 | T27 | CJ Rachel Wang, Academia Sinica | Super-resolution expansion microscopy (ExM) reveals meiotic recombination intermediates in maize | |
| 10:10 | 10:40 | Break | Congress-Foyer |
Session 10 - Resilience
Tony Studer
| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11:00 | 11:20 | T29 | Karin Ernst, Heinrich-Heine-University | Confirmation of two candidate genes involved in chilling tolerance in maize | |
| 11:20 | 11:40 | T30 | Christian Riedelsheimer, Corteva Agriscience | Navigating complexity: Breeding for resilience under a changing climate | |
| 11:40 | 11:59 | Closing Remrks | |||
| 11:59 | 11:59 | Adjournment |
Post Conference
| Start | End | Link | Presenter | Description | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14:00 | 16:00 | Optional Post-Conference Workshops | |||
| 14:00 | 16:00 | Cologne Old City walking tour Meet at hotel main entrance |