21st Meeting of the US-EU Task Force on Biotechnology Research
River Inn, Washington, DC
23-24 June, 2011

The EU-US Task Force on Biotechnology Research met for the 21st time at the River Inn in Washington, DC, USA, June 23-24, 2011. The meeting was co-chaired by Judith St. John, Associate Administrator, US Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service (USDA ARS), US, and Maive Rute, Director for Biotechnologies, Agriculture and Food Research, Research Directorate-General, European Commission. The meeting was attended by US representatives from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), National Institute of Health (NIH), Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), Office of Naval Research (ONR), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the State Department. Attendees from the EC were from the EC Research Directorate-General, Directorate for Biotechnologies, Agriculture and Food Research.

Peter Schmeissner from the OSTP made the introductory remarks to the meeting. Throughout the meeting three distinguishes speakers namely – Ioannis Economidis, Mary Clutter and Ari Patrinos – provide provocative remarks to stimulate discussion
Based on the recently agreed "5 years Strategic Plan" the Task Force members exchanged views on research priorities and actions to stimulate innovation and reviewed their activities on Environmental Biotechnology, Bio-based Products and Bio-Energy, Marine Genomics, Plant and Animal Biotechnology, Healthful Food and Obesity research and Synthetic Biology. Relevant activities under the Transatlantic Economic Council were also among the main topics of discussion in this meeting.
The meeting end with a discussion and agreement on synergistic activities going forward.

List of EU participants  3.1 MB

List of US participants  2.1 MB

Conclusions 

 

23 June 2011

08:30 am       Welcoming Remarks
                        Judith St. John, USDA, US Chairperson
                        Maive Rute, EC, EC Chairperson

08:45              Opening Remarks
                       Peter Schmeissner
                       White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

09:15              Renewal of the US-EU Task Force Mandate and Strategic Plan for the Next Five Years
                       Maive Rute, EC, EC Chairperson
                       Judith St. John, USDA, US Chairperson
                 
10:15              MORNING BREAK

10:45              Report from the Working Group on Environmental Biotechnology  9.3 MB
                        Todd Anderson, DOE
                        Jens Hoegel, EC
                        

11:15              Report from the Working Group on Biobased Products and Bioenergy  90 KB
                        Kay Simmons, USDA & David Thomassen, DOE
                        Alfredo Aguilar & Piero Venturi, EC
                   

11:45              Report from the Working Group on Marine Genomics  7.5 MB
                        Juli Trtanj, NOAA
                        Garbine Guiu, EC
                       

12:15 pm       LUNCH
                       Lunchtime Talk:  Five Challenges for the Next Five Years  12.7 MB
                       Ioannis Economides, EC
               

01:15              Report from the Working Group on Plant Biology  20.4 MB
                        Jane Silverthorne, NSF
                        Annette Schneegans, EC
                   

02:45              Report from the Working Group on Animal Biotechnology  3.9 MB
                        Steven Kappes, USDA
                        Jean-Charles Cavitte, EC
                       
                        
03:15              AFTERNOON BREAK

03:45              Report from the Working Group on Synthetic Biology  9.7 MB
                        Sohi Rastegar, NSF
                        Christina Naneva & Ioannis Economidis EC
                    

04:30              Report on Obesity Activities  1.6 MB
                        Van Hubbard, NIH
                        Isabelle De Froidmont, EC
                       

05:00              Transatlantic Innovation Partnership  8.3 MB
                        Ron Buckhalt, USDA
                        Barend Verachtert , EC
                       

05:30              Closing Remarks
                        Maive Rute, EC, EC Chairperson
                        Judith St. John, USDA, US Chairperson
                 
06:00              DINNER
                        After-Dinner Talk: Five Challenges for the Next Five Years
                        Mary E. Clutter, Former US Chairperson, US-EC Task Force

 

24 June 2011

8:30                Synergistic Activities for the Coming Year  55 KB
                       

10:00              MORNING BREAK

10:30              Approval of Workshop Reports
                        Synthetic Biology Workshop Report
                       Plant Bioinformatics Workshop Report
                        Marine Genomics Workshop Report

11:00              Presentation of New EU and US Workshop Proposals
                        Animal Biotechnology Working Group proposal for a workshop
                        on Priorities to Realize the Promise of Genomics to Animal Health, Well Being & Production  4.3 MB
                        Jeff Silverstein & Steven Kappes, USDA
                        Jean-Charles Cavitte, EC
                       

11:30              Planning for the 22nd Task Force Meeting

12:00 pm         LUNCH
                        Lunchtime Talk
                        Ari Patrinos, President, Synthetic Genomics Inc.

01:15              Board bus for Rockville, MD

01:30              Departure from Hotel

02:30              Visit to the J. Craig Venter Institute
                        J. Craig Venter Institute
                        9704 Medical Center Drive
                        Rockville, MD 20850

02:30              Introductions
                       Bob Friedman

02:45              JCVI Synthetic Cell Effort and Synthetic Genomics as practiced at JCVI
                       Clyde Hutchison

03:15              DNA Synthesis and Assembly
                       Dan Gibson

03:30              Grand scale manipulation of microbial metabolism for fuels, drugs, and high value chemicals
                       Chuck Merryman

03:50             21 Amino acids and beyond for tethering cells to the lab and materials science
                      Radha Krishnakumar

04:00             How synthetic biology and scientific policy interact
                      Bob Friedman

04:15              Discussion and quick tour of JCVI synthetic biology labs

04:40              Adjourn