For the most up to date and accurate information please visit the event website.

Plants and Algae in the Frequency Domain

Summer School and Workshop

Český Krumlov, Czech Republic
Aug.25-29, 2025

DREAM

The Summer School and, in part, the Workshop will be funded by HORIZON-EIC-2021PATHFINDER OPEN project DREAM, grant agreement no. 101046451

“Bringing precision agriculture to the next generation:
Dynamic regulation of photosynthesis in light-acclimated organisms”

Invitation

Alternating electric currents and alternating electromagnetic fields revolutionized physics and engineering and led to many technologies that shape modern life. Despite these undisputable achievements, which have been reached using stimulation by harmonic oscillations over centuries, applications in biology remain rare.

Photosynthesis research is uniquely suited to unleash this potential because light can be periodically modulated like currents or fields in physics. Implementing, exploiting, and understanding the response of photosynthetic organisms to periodically modulated light is hindered by the complexity of dynamics that such light elicits and by the mathematical apparatus required for understanding the signals in the frequency domain, which, although well-established and straightforward, is outside typical curricula in biology.

The Workshop will consist of sessions dedicated to:

• Introduction to photosynthesis sensing in the frequency domain.

• Is the information obtained in the frequency domain equivalent or complementary to the time domain methods?

• Opportunities for instruments tailored to the frequency domain compared to instruments originally developed only for time-domain measurements.

• Can the light-use efficiency of plants and algae in harmonically modulated light exceed that in constant light of the same average photon flux density?

• Can measurements in the frequency domain yield a higher discriminative power than the time domain in sensing plant stress?

• Dynamics and mechanisms of non-photochemical quenching in oscillating and fluctuating light.

The Summer School will offer junior researchers an introduction to the theoretical and methodological fundamentals required to understand plants’ and algae’s dynamic responses to oscillating and fluctuating light. The introductory session will be elemental and accessible to students of diverse backgrounds, but a willingness to explore the wonderful mathematical tools supporting the approach will be assumed. The Summer School will be organized into five lectures, each of two hours. The summer school sessions will be held in the early afternoons, allowing students to participate in the workshop sessions in the mornings and late afternoons. The first lecture will introduce the principles of the frequency-domain approach. The subsequent three lectures will be on using already available DREAM-developed, commercial, and DIY instruments. Some instruments will be available on-site for inspection and discussions between the students and developers. The last session will be dedicated to data analysis and databases for storing and exploiting the results obtained in the frequency domain.

Organizers and contributors (a preliminary list)

BAILLEUL, Benjamin Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique/CNRS/Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
HOLZWARTH, Alfred Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
JULLIEN, Ludovic ENS/Université PSL/Sorbonne Université/CNRS, Paris, France
KRAMER, David Jan IngenHousz Institute, Wageningen, The Netherlands
LAZÁR, Dušan Palacký University, Olomouc, Czech Republic
MATSUBARA, Shizue Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany
NEDBAL, Ladislav Palacký University, Olomouc, Czech Republic
RASCHER, Uwe Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany

Organizing Committee of the Summer School:
COGHILL, Ian ENS/Université PSL/Sorbonne Université/CNRS, Paris, France
COLLIAUX, David SONY ICL, Paris, France
FUENTE, David Palacký University, Olomouc, Czech Republic
LAHLOU, Aliénor SONY ICL, Paris, France
LODETTI, Andrea Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany
NIU, Yuxi Wageningen University, The Netherlands
ORLANDO, Marcelo Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France

Local organizers:

Ladislav NEDBAL (nedbal.lad@gmail.com), Dušan LAZÁR, Palacký University, Olomouc, Czech Republic
Michela SOLARI, Michela CANDOTTI, InSociety, Udine, Italy
Robert DULFER, Palacký University, Olomouc, Czech Republic

Venue

Český Krumlov is a unique gem of Renaissance and Baroque architecture recognized as UNESCO World Heritage. The town is located above the meanders of the Vltava River known worldwide from the same-name symphony of Bedřich Smetana. The town’s picturesque architecture was also immortalized in numerous paintings by Egon Schiele. The streets are frequented by local and international tourists all year round, enjoying kayaking or rafting on the river, biking or hiking around, numerous cultural events, and local cuisine and hospitality. The location of our workshop is easily reachable from Praha and Linz, both globally connected:

Hotel Růže, Horní 154, 381 01, Český Krumlov, Czech Republic
https://www.hotelruze.cz/en/meetings-events
Reception: +420 380772 100, info@hotelruze.cz