There was hardly an empty chair inside the Missouri Botanical Garden’s event center on Thursday for the first-ever Plant Science Family Reunion, a single-day gathering of the local agricultural industry hosted by the nonprofit 39 North Agtech Innovation District.
Among the roughly 250 people in attendance were (of course) plant scientists and employees of some of the region’s most prominent agribusinesses, including Bayer, but also university students, reps from local agtech startups, such as CoverCress, Agragene, and Spearhead Bio, plus nonprofits supporting the local agricultural ecosystem and even venture capitalists.
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39 North executive director Emily Lohse-Busch says the all-day event was about showcasing the prowess of the plant science and agtech happening in St. Louis, and to facilitate more connections between the people and companies that are already here.
“Whether they’re scientists, CEOs, employees of startups or investors, [they] get really deep into their lane about what they’re doing,” she says. “It’s sometimes hard to look outside and [see] the value of being part of this robust and vibrant system that is one of the best in the world.”
While a well-worn regional talking point states the St. Louis region has a higher concentration of people with plant science PhDs than anywhere in the world, Lohse-Busch argues that reality can be difficult to showcase in real time. The Plant Science Family Reunion is an attempt to do that, she says.
“The focus of most of the conference is not on St. Louis,” Lohse-Busch explains. “It is just highlighting and giving a platform for these St. Louis-based scientists and companies that are doing things that are changing the world to make the case for why they’re doing it.”
The event featured people from the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center sharing their most recent discoveries and research techniques, as well as panels featuring people at local startups discussing funding and commercialization strategies, and representatives from larger businesses or industry groups sharing insight about regulatory hurdles and other challenges to deploying new agricultural technologies.
“That we can host a scientific meeting of this scale and only pull talent, speakers and presenters from this region and not have to sacrifice one ounce of content or excellence, that’s what this event is meant to prove out,” Lohse-Busch says.
Many attendees appreciated the breadth of topics covered. “This has not only been inspiring, but at the same time all-encompassing of what St. Louis can offer as a community of scientists,” says Miguel Vega-Sanchez, a senior regulatory policy lead at Bayer. “I feel invigorated.”
He says the gathering was helpful to break the ice and make connections with other locals in the same industry.
“You tend to be in your own bubble, niche, workspace, and with the same colleagues [and] stakeholders either in St. Louis or outside,” he says. “You forget that there’s a whole ecosystem of other companies that are doing cool stuff and there’s opportunities to collaborate more that we don’t take advantage of.”
Tessa Burch-Smith, a principal investigator at the Danforth Center, agreed that despite the number of plant scientists in the St. Louis region, there aren’t enough convening events where new relationships can blossom.
“You know, there’s a venture capitalist sitting right there, and I’ve never met one before,” she says. “This is thrilling to me as a basic scientist: Wow, I know somebody who maybe one day I can reach out should I ever make a big discovery. This is somebody who actually works across the parking lot from me, who I would never run into otherwise.”
Thursday’s event also attracted younger plant scientists, some still undergraduates and others in graduate or post-graduate work on the cusp of seeking employment.
“I’ve been very excited to see all of the resources and facilities that are in the St. Louis area,” says Sarah Fitzsimmons, a maize geneticist in fifth-year PhD studies at the University of Missouri. “It makes me excited about hitting the job market and potentially tapping into some of those resources.”
Washington University undergraduate Sydney Xie says she appreciated the emphasis on community in a scientific setting: “We’re all scientists, we should all be working together. We’re all here for the same goal and that’s to make this world better. That’s something that science misses a lot.”
Fellow WashU undergrad Elizabeth Papalotzi adds the event inspired her because of the many minority groups she saw represented in the audience and on stage. “It shows me that I can be successful and what I’m doing is helping others and good for the community,” she says.
Lohse-Busch envisions more plant science family reunions in the future, but doesn’t yet know if they’d be an annual event or on a different frequency. She says she’d like to draw presenters from the same geography as the one this year, but potentially draw more attendees from beyond the St. Louis region.
“Have companies, scientists and people who are thinking about St Louis come and attend and get a little bit of a snapshot as to all that is happening here,” she says. “Going forward we see this as a really powerful tool for business and talent attraction as well.”
