Media advisory issued May 12, 2003, effective immediately.
For media inquiries, contact Caroline Booth Lara, Communications Specialist, (580) 224-6379.
  email: cblara@noble.org.

Noble Foundation to Host International Scientific Meeting

ARDMORE, Okla. — The Noble Foundation, in cooperation with Texas A&M University, is hosting the Molecular Breeding of Forage and Turf (MBFT) Third International Symposium from May 18-22 in Dallas. The event is focused on the improvement of forage grasses, forage legumes and turf.

The meeting, being held for the first time in the United States, will bring together the world?s top experts on genetic improvement of forages and turf. Attendees will be coming from New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Tanzania, Albania, the Netherlands, Colombia, Japan and China, among other countries.

"The Noble Foundation worked hard to bring this event to our area, and Texas A&M was a natural tie-in," said Andy Hopkins, forage grass breeder in the Foundation?s Forage Biotechnology Group and the chair of the local organizing committee for MBFT. "The Foundation has provided funding for the meeting, in addition to countless hours of effort by Foundation employees — this event could not have taken place without the Foundation?s assistance."

Twenty-four Foundation staff members will be presenting research at the meeting. Rick Dixon, director of the Plant Biology Division, is set to give the keynote address, and Greg May, associate scientist and coordinator of the Medicago Genomics Program, is an invited speaker. Scientists Lei Chen, Mary Sledge, Zeng-yu Wang, L.J. Wang and Yan Zhang will give short oral presentations.

"An international group of experts in the field chose the speakers and presenters," Hopkins said. "We are honored to have so many Foundation researchers asked to participate."

Conference attendees will travel from Dallas to Ardmore on May 21 for a visit to the Foundation?s campus where they will view the facilities, take a field tour and visit with scientists and researchers.

"There are so many challenges in getting research from the lab into the field," Hopkins said. "Scientists need to communicate with each other, and there’s no substitute for getting everyone together and figuring out how to solve problems."

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The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, headquartered in Ardmore, Okla., is a non-profit organization conducting agricultural, forage biotechnological, and plant biology research; providing grants to numerous non-profit charitable, educational and health organizations; and assisting farmers and ranchers through educational and consultative agricultural programs.

To learn more, visit the Noble Foundation Web site at http://www.noble.org.

More news releases available at www.noble.org/Press_Release