We are pleased to announce the Cold Spring Harbor Asia conference on Plant Epigenetics & RNA Biologywhich will be held in Suzhou, China, located approximately 60 miles west of Shanghai. The conference will begin at 7:00pm on the evening of Monday December 14, and will conclude in the evening after banquet on Thursday December 17, 2026.

The conference will include seven oral sessions and one poster session covering the latest findings across many topics in plant epigenetics & RNA biology. Many talks will be selected from the openly submitted abstracts on the basis of scientific merit and relevance. Social events throughout the conference provide ample opportunity for informal interactions.

Major Topics:

1. Chromatin and RNA Mechanisms at the Cellular Level

2. Chromatin and RNA Dynamics in Time and Space

3. Chromatin and RNA in Organismal Growth and Development

4. Chromatin and RNA Signaling and Stress Adaptation

5. Evolutionary Perspectives on Chromatin and RNA

6. Emerging Technologies and Applications

Keynote Speakers:

Xuemei  Chen, Peking University

Caroline  Dean, John Innes Centre

Invited Speakers:

Pierre Baduel, Université Paris Sciences et Lettres

Frederic Berger, Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology

Xiaofeng Cao, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, CAS

Hongwei Guo, Southern University of Science and Technology

Yiliang Ding, John Innes Centre

Yalong Guo, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Ian Henderson, University of Cambridge

Toshiro Ito, Nara Institute of Science and Technology

Steve Jacobsen, University of California, Los Angeles

Pauline Jullien, IBMP-CNRS

Claudia Köhler, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology

Jinsheng Lai, China Agricultural University

Pablo Manavella, Institute for Mediterranean and Subtropical Horticulture in Malaga

Blake Meyers, University of California, Davis

Yijun Qi, Tsinghua University

Leando Quaddrana, Université Paris-Saclay

Jiawei Wang, CAS center for Excellence in Molecular Plants Science

Hao Yu, National University of Singapore

Binglian Zheng, Fudan University

Xuehua Zhong, Washington University in St. Louis

And more...

We encourage abstracts to contain new and unpublished materials. The abstracts must be submitted electronically by the abstract deadline. Selection of material for oral and poster presentation will be made by the organizers. Status (fellow's talk/poster) of abstracts will be posted on our web site as soon as decisions have been made by the organizers. 

Fellowship: 
We are eager to have as many young people as possible attend since they are likely to benefit most from this meeting. A certain number of presentations by graduate students and postdocs in this conference will be selected as fellowship (USD $100-$500) awards. For more details, please visit  Stipends

We look forward to seeing you at Suzhou in December, 2026.