Media Advisory: OARDC Research Conference Is April 20

April 12, 2017

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Media members are invited to attend the 2017 Research Conference of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) on April 20 at The Ohio State University. Three featured speakers will address a theme of “Biological Resistance: Opportunities and Challenges for Agriculture and Society.”

OARDC, which is part of Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES), is the largest agricultural bioscience research center in the U.S.

Biological resistance is a significant issue because it can harm both food production and human health, such as when a crop pest develops resistance to an insecticide or when a bacterium becomes resistant to an antibiotic.

The conference speakers will be:

  • Guo-Liang Wang, associate chair and professor in CFAES’s Department of Plant Pathology, “Understanding Rice and Wheat Blast Diseases for Food Security” (9:30 to 10:15 a.m.). Wang’s presentation is the Steven A. Slack Lecture on Innovative Research in AgBiosciences, part of a series that is named for and honors the former director of OARDC who retired in 2015.
  • Lonnie King, DVM, Ohio State’s interim vice president for agricultural administration and CFAES dean, “Combating Antibiotic Resistance: The Need for a One Health Approach” (10:30 to 11:15 a.m.).
  • Patrick Tranel, professor in the University of Illinois’ Department of Crop Sciences, “Herbicide Resistance: What Have Weeds Taught Us About Evolution?” (11:15 to 11:45 a.m.).

The event is from 8:50 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in Ohio State’s Nationwide and Ohio Bureau 4-H Center, 2201 Fred Taylor Drive, in Columbus. The complete agenda is at go.osu.edu/OARDCagenda.

Free parking for media members is available at the 4-H center, but a permit is needed. It can be gotten upon arrival at the conference registration desk inside the center. Details are at go.osu.edu/4Hparking.

Media members can reserve a free lunch in advance by contacting Loren Harper in the OARDC’s Director’s Office, harper.202@osu.edu, 330-263-3703.

For more information, contact Alayna DeMartini in CFAES’s Marketing and Communications department, demartini.3.osu.edu, 614-292-9833.

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