Elliot Meyerowitz 75th Birthday Celebration and Symposium

Friday May 15th - Alles Courtyard and Meyerowitz Lab
(Building 28 on Caltech Map)

3:00 PM and onward - Lab tour/happy hour-dinner
Tacos/Mexican food by the Taco Guy
Drinks provided by West Altadena Wine
Live Band
Attire: Hawaiian shirts

Saturday May 16th - Broad 100
(Building 96 on the Caltech Map)

8:00 - 9:00 Breakfast/Coffee in Atrium outside Auditorium
9:00 - 9:10 Paul Sternberg Opening Address

Session I

9:15 - 9:27 Arun Sampathkumar Finding the right angle: A geometric journey through plant morphogenesis
9:30 - 9:42 Toshiro Ito From "Flower of the Week" to optimizing reproductive development: the role of AGAMOUS
9:45 - 9:57 Doris Wagner Inflorescence architecture: how to flower rapidly and continuously
10:00 - 10:12 Jian Hua The tale of bonzai: temperature, immunity, and calcium
10:15 - 10:27 Jenn Fletcher So, do you want to clone CLV3?" A look back at the late 1990s
10:30 - 11:15 Group Photo/Coffee Break

Session II (current lab members)

11:15 - 11:27 An Yan Computational modeling insights for diverse calcium waves
11:30 - 11:42 Yuan Ruan Mechanical control of polarity during tissue repair
11:45 - 11:57 Tyler Gibson How the big cells get bigger: the emergence of macroscopic unicellularity
12:00 - 12:12 Sean Wilson The physical underpinnings of leaf shape in a giant single-celled algae
12:15-1:30 Lunch - sandwiches, salad, chips, and cookies by Vesti catering
Chen Zen Garden (building 18 on Caltech Map)

Session III

1:30 - 1:42 Firas Daher A wall under pressure: xyloglucan biosynthesis and cell wall integrity
1:45 - 1:57 Hong Ma Understanding novel mechanisms for regulation of plant development using transcriptomics/proteomics and genetics
2:00 - 2:12 José Luis Riechmann Short open reading frame encoded peptides in plants
2:15 - 2:27 Vijay Raghavan Spitting maggots to flying flies, and back
2:30 - 2:42 Yun Zhou Transcriptional circuits, division dynamics, and plant stem cell homeostasis
2:45 - 2:57 Mark Garfinkel All roads lead to Pasadena
3:00 - 3:30 Afternoon Break

Session IV

3:30 - 3:42 Detlef Weigel The best advice I ever got was from Elliot
3:45 - 3:57 Koji Goto The alphabet of flowers: lessons from Elliot, the lab, and the ABC model
4:00 - 4:12 Caren Chang Back in the 1980s
4:15 - 5:15 Elliot Meyerowitz Our Lab and Science (My Version)
5:30 - 5:40 Birthday Greeting Videos
6:00 PM Dinner and Cake - Chen Zen Garden (building 18 on Caltech Map)
Food/Drinks/Screen with photos and video messages
Dinner by Caribbean Gourmet
Presentation of birthday cake/cutting and serving

Sunday May 17th - Broad 100
(Building 96 on Caltech Map)

8:00 - 9:00 Breakfast/Coffee
9:00 - 9:10 Opening

Session V

9:15 - 9:27 Catherine Baker Reversible translational repression at the 5'UTR by Syp in the fly male germline
9:30 - 9:42 Zhongchi Liu The ABCs of berries: a developmental geneticist's detour
9:45 - 9:57 Usha Vijayraghavan Expanded roles for rice PISTILLATA (PI) clade organ patterning genes in flowering time, floret opening and female fertility
10:00 - 10:12 Jeff Long Expanding the mechanisms of TOPLESS mediated transcriptional repression
10:15 - 10:45 Coffee Break

Session VI

10:45 - 10:57 Yuling Jiao (awaiting visa) Protoplast regeneration, a type of regeneration distinct from explant regeneration
11:00 - 11:12 Steve Jacobsen Epigenetic gene regulation in Arabidopsis
11:15 - 11:27 Adrienne Roeder Arabidopsis sepal morphogenesis: then and now
11:30 - 11:42 Karl Fryxell Dopamine receptor splicing and the evolution of bird song.
11:45 - 12:00 Closing

Options for Travel from LAX

Rental cars: Please be advised that if you rent a car make sure you check with your rental provider on the location of pickup. LAX is transitioning to a consolidated rental car center but your pick up may still be outside the center. Check their website or your rental agreement, https://www.flylax.com/lax-traffic-and-ground-transportation#4257225834-538602395.

One option for transportation to Pasadena from LAX is the Flyaway bus service, https://www.flylax.com/flyaway-bus/union-station. This can take you from the airport to Union Station. From Union station you can take the Metro https://cdn.beta.metro.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/12151356/801_TT_12-14-25.pdf. The metro website has fare options and where to purchase a TAP card.

If you do take the Metro Rail from Union Station, we recommend exiting the train at Lake Ave. Station. From there take one of the Pasadena Arts buses down to Colorado Blvd and it would be a short walk down to the Pasadena hotel or near another hotel, https://www.cityofpasadena.net/pasadena-transit/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/PT-System-Map.pdf.

Options for travel to and from Burbank or Ontario (you may also use these from LAX)

Shared Van service: You must book prior to your trip, subject to availability. They are not a frequent as they once were.

https://www.shuttletolax.com
https://www.primetimeshuttle.com/#/search
Uber, Lfyt, Waymo