ASPB members share a common goal of promoting the growth, development, and outreach of plant biology as a pure and applied science. This column features some of the dedicated and innovative members of ASPB who believe that membership in our Society is crucial to the future of plant biology. If you are interested in contributing to this feature, please contact ASPB Membership at info@aspb.org.

Membership Corner

Name: Moshe Reuveni
Title: Senior Researcher
Place of Work or School: ARO, Volcani Center, Israel
Research Area: Biochemistry of V-ATPase, regulation of genes during differentiation of plants cells in tissue culture
Member since: 1988

1. Why has being a member of ASPB been important?
The valuable social networking that is crucial in the scientific milieu is
very important. ASPB meetings give me the opportunity to participate in this networking event. ASPB is an organization that enhances that process and that exposes its members to all areas of plant biology. ASPB journals and meetings give me a forum to present my data and expose it to public scrutiny, and to view others’ data as well. The diversity of talks and posters at the ASPB meetings greatly enhances my overview of plant biology.

2. Was someone instrumental in getting you to join ASPB?
Yes, my Ph.D. thesis mentors Professor Alexandra Poljakoff-Mayber and Dr. Zvi Lerner encouraged me to join and even paid my first-year dues. They thought membership would be beneficial to broaden my plant physiology horizons, and they were right.

3. What would you tell colleagues to encourage them to join?
I would explain that membership will help my colleague learn more about what others are doing in the general fields of plant physiology and biochemistry. I would also tell my colleague that he/she will also get the opportunity to meet new people in the field.

4. Have you enhanced your career using ASPB job postings or through networking at an ASPB function?
I made some good contacts through networking during an ASPB meeting that resulted in the submission of joint proposals.

5. Have you had any success at finding candidates as a result of a job posting at the meeting or on our online Job Bank?
Not yet.

6. Do you read print journals? If so, where do you usually read them?
I usually read the online journals, but when I visit the library I always leaf though the print journals. You never know what will catch your eye.

7. What do you think is the next “big thing” in plant biology?
The next “big thing” is the use of yeast and mammalian cell lines to study multi-protein complexes that cannot be isolated from plants. These multi-protein complexes can be expressed in yeast and mammalian cell lines and studied biochemically and functionally.

8. What person, living or deceased, do you most admire?
I admire Professor Haim Weizmann. He was both a great scientist and a great politician (and our first president, 1949–1952) and contributed significantly to my country, Israel.

9. What are you reading these days?
I mostly read science fiction when I have the time. Right now I am reading David Brin.

10. What are your hobbies?
My hobbies are reading science fiction and raising my children, especially my 10-month-old daughter.

11. What is your most treasured possession?
My immediate and extended family.

12. What do you still have left to learn?
A lot about everything. I enjoy learning new things, and I think that, as the saying goes, every day one has to learn something new.