ASPB很高兴地欢迎新任主席马红（Hong Ma），他于2023年当选为候任主席（President-elect），并从2023年10月1日开始担任此职。随着现任主席Leeann Thornton任期结束，马红自2024年10月1日起正式履新，成为ASPB新任主席。
“一个重要的优先事项是支持和培养年轻的植物生物学家，使他们成为一个更加多元化的群体的成员，扩大社会中多样化成员的声音，推动协会领导层和活动中的多样性和代表性，”马红谈到他对学会的目标时说。
马红目前是宾夕法尼亚州立大学的生物学教授，同时担任Huck植物生殖发育与进化讲席教授。他拥有天普大学的生物学和生物化学学士学位，并于1988年获得麻省理工学院的博士学位，随后在加州理工学院进行了博士后工作。
马红自2000年以来一直是ASPB的成员，曾担任Plant Physiology的副主编，ASPB出版委员会成员及稿件审稿人。此外，他还在Plant Physiology和The Plant Cell期刊上发表过多篇论文。
马红对植物的兴趣早在上大学前就开始了，当时他在农村接触到了水稻、大豆等主要作物以及许多其他栽培或野生植物。他在麻省理工学院通过研究酵母获得了分子生物学方面的训练。植物分子生物学的进展，尤其是拟南芥作为植物生物学模式系统的兴起，激发了他在Elliot Meyerowitz教授指导下进行博士后研究，研究花器官决定基因和异源三聚体G蛋白基因的鉴定与分析。
马红在宾夕法尼亚州立大学的实验室包括本科生、研究生、博士后科学家等，研究植物生殖发育的分子遗传学基础，特别是雄蕊/花粉发育和减数分裂过程。通过将分子遗传学与转录组学、蛋白质组学和生物信息学相结合，该实验室的成员最近鉴定出一个在关键花器官决定基因中负责特定外显子正确剪接的新型调控因子。此外，实验室还致力于理解被子植物的系统发育关系及进化，尤其是那些在农业和园艺中具有重要作用的植物科，如玉米、水稻、小麦及其他禾本科植物，大豆及其他豆科植物，菊科、兰科、葫芦科等科的成员，以及十字花科中的拟南芥和甘蓝，茄科中的番茄、马铃薯和辣椒，蔷薇科中的苹果、桃子和草莓。实验室成员还探索了与重要植物性状（如固氮根瘤、C4光合作用、花对称性和卷须形成）相关的进化模式及其分子基础。
“ASPB刚刚庆祝其成立100周年。在担任候任主席近一年后，我更加珍视与ASPB成员，尤其是其他领导者一起工作，共同推动多样性、公平性和包容性，促进年轻成员的职业发展，并在ASPB迈入第二个百年、继续支持其成员和更广泛的植物生物学界的过程中，进一步加强ASPB的作用，”马红说道。
以下为报道原文：
ASPB is delighted to welcome its new President, Hong Ma, who was elected in 2023 as President-elect and served in this role starting October 1, 2023. He stepped into his role as ASPB President on October 1, 2024 following the end of now-Past President Leeann Thornton’s term.
“A top priority is to support and train young plant biologists toward becoming members of a community with greater diversity, to amplify the voices of diverse members of our society, and to promote diversity and representation in society leadership and society activities,” said Ma on his goals for the society.
Ma is currently a Professor of Biology and the Huck Chair in Plant Reproductive Development and Evolution at the Pennsylvania State University. Ma holds a BA in Biology and Biochemistry from Temple University. He earned a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1988 and received his postdoctoral training at the California Institute of Technology. Ma has been an ASPB member since 2000. He has served as an Associate Editor for Plant Physiology, a member of the ASPB Publications Committee, and a reviewer for manuscripts. In addition, he has authored a number of papers published in both Plant Physiology and The Plant Cell.
Ma’s interest in plants started before college in the countryside with exposure to major crops like rice and soybean and many other cultivated or wild plants. He was trained in molecular biology through PhD studies in yeast at MIT. Advances in plant molecular biology, especially the emergence of Arabidopsis as a model system for plant biology, motivated Ma to seek postdoctoral training under the guidance of Elliot Meyerowitz, with the identification and analyses of floral homeotic and heterotrimeric G protein genes.
Ma’s lab at Penn State includes undergraduate students, graduate students, post-doctoral scientists, and others and studies the molecular genetic basis of plant reproductive development, particularly anther/pollen development and meiosis. Through analyses using molecular genetics in combination with transcriptomics, proteomics and bioinformatics, members of his lab have recently identified a novel regulator of proper splicing of specific exons in key floral homeotic genes. In addition, the lab aims to understand phylogenetic relationships and evolution of angiosperms, particularly for members of families with species that are important for agriculture and horticulture, including maize, rice, wheat and other grasses, soybean and other legumes, members of the Asteraceae, Orchidaceae, and Cucurbitaceae, as well as Arabidopsis and cabbage in Brassicaceae, tomato, potato, and pepper in Solanaceae, and apple, peach, and strawberry in Rosaceae. Members of his group have explored the evolutionary patterns and relevant molecular basis for crucial plant traits such nitrogen-fixing root nodulation, C4 photosynthesis, floral symmetry, and tendril formation.
“ASPB just celebrated its 100th anniversary. Having served as the President-elect for almost a year, I treasure more than ever working with ASPB members, including other ASPB leaders, to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, to advance the career development of young members, and to further strengthen ASPB as it enters its second 100 years of supporting its members and the broader plant biology community,” said Ma.
