Opportunities & Events

June 9-13, 2025 • The Biodiversity Institute at the University of Florida, Gainesville, FL

Polyploidy (genome doubling) is common in many living things, including plants and animals. Understanding polyploidy helps with the creation of sustainable products like biofuels, food, and fiber. Polyploidy even plays an important role in human health!

Workshop Benefits:  Undergraduates learned about polyploidy and its impact on everything from cells to cancer to whole ecosystems. Workshop topics spanned genetics, evolution, and ecology and will include lectures, discussions, and hands-on training in lab techniques, such as colchicine formation of polyploidy, chromosome squashes, and flow cytometry. Discussions also focused on career development and team science.  

Mon, June 9—Overview: mini-lectures & discussions in the mornings; hands-on activities in the afternoons 
Morning:
•Introduction to Polyploidy—Doug and Pam Soltis
•Background and History
•Types of Polyploids
•Organism-level Polyploidy
Afternoon:
•Generating Autopolyploids in Arabidopsis—Jon Spoelhof

Tues, June 10 
Morning:
•Cells: Impact on Cell Size—Soltis
•Tissue-level Polyploidy: Animals—Don Fox
•Tissue-level Polyploidy: Plants—Adrienne Roeder
•Landscape-scale Impacts of Polyploidy—Pam and Doug Soltis
Afternoon:
•Chromosome Squashes—Soltis Lab

Wed, June 11 
Morning:
•Hike at Sweetwater Branch Wetlands Park 
Afternoon:
•Flow Cytometry & Measuring Guard Cells—Soltis Lab

Thur, June 12 
Morning:
•Cancer—Dietmar Siemann (UF Cancer Center)
•Agriculture: Blueberries—Patricio Munoz or Anisa Khalid (UF)
•2x/4x Game: Concepts—Yves Van de Peer et al. (Ghent Univ.)
Afternoon:
•Digital Organisms Game: 2x vs 4x—Van de Peer lab

Fri, June 13 
Morning:
•Team Science—UF Team
•Careers—UF Team
•Assessment—UF Team 
Afternoon:
•ICBR Tour – Core Facilities
•Departures Friday Evening or Saturday