FormalPara Early Life, Family, Personal Accounts, and Career Overview

Bob V. Conger was born on July 2, 1938, in Greeley, CO, where he was raised on his family farm in Pierce, CO, and also where he graduated from Pierce High School in 1956. He attended Colorado State University where he received a BS with Distinction in Agronomy in 1963 and his PhD from Washington State University in Plant Genetics in 1967. Bob and Donna met at Colorado State University and were married on campus on June 5, 1960, resulting in a marriage that lasted 62 yr where they had three sons, one daughter, and eight grandchildren. In 1968, Bob moved his family to Oak Ridge, TN, where he began his career at UT-AEC Agricultural Research Laboratory, later known as Comparative Animal Research Lab in Oak Ridge, conducting research and experiments on plants. In 1976, he accepted a position at the University of Tennessee (UT) to conduct forage grass research, initially with Orchardgrass, and to teach classes in Plant Genetics and Statistics. He became a Full Professor in 1978 and was awarded the “Austin Distinguished Professor” in 1986 for his research and teaching. He continued his work at UT until retiring in 2003.

At the 2006 Society for In Vitro Biology (SIVB) meeting, Bob received the SIVB Lifetime Achievement Award for his work with forage grass tissue culture (Figure 1). His proudest accomplishments were having his Orchardgrass system twice selected by NASA for experiments on Space Shuttle “Discovery” in 1994 and 1998 and also developing a new Orchardgrass cultivar (‘Persist’) for farmers in 2002, which is now sold throughout the world by Smith Seed Services located at Halsey, OR (Figure 2). During his career, Bob had sixteen graduate students, eleven earning MS degrees and five earning their Doctorates. There were also numerous Post Docs and Visiting Scientists from the USA, Bulgaria, Poland, India, Czech Republic, and Ukraine that spent time in Bob’s lab. One of Bob’s students, Alexander Kuklin, in his dissertation summed it up well by including a Walt Whitman’s quote from the poem “Leaves of Grass” where it states “I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey work of stars.”, which truly applies to Bob Conger’s work. In this Tribute Article for Bob Conger, the authors will highlight key accomplishments and personal accounts of the impact Bob had on the field and for those that spent time in his lab.

Figure 1.
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Bob Conger after receiving the 2006 Society for In Vitro Biology Lifetime Achievement Award in Minneapolis, MN. Photo credit: SIVB.

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Figure 2.
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Bob Conger and Judi McDaniel visiting a production field of Orchardgrass variety Persist at Smith Seed Services in Halsey, OR, in 2003 after the SIVB meeting in Portland. Photo credit: Ludmila Ohnoutkova.

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FormalPara Orchardgrass Tissue Culture-Initial Orchardgrass Tissue Culture Efforts (1978–1983)

Orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.) is a cool season perennial forage grass grown throughout the world, including various regions within the USA. In 1978, Bob published one of the first reports on Orchardgrass tissue culture evaluating the effect of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4,5-T) on callus initiation (Conger, Carabia, and Lowe 1978). This work also included early callus induction of annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) and tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.). Subsequently, Conger and Carabia (1978) reported successful plant regeneration from Orchardgrass callus cultures derived from caryopses explants cultured in vitro, which is one of the earliest forage grass tissue culture work published at the time.

The breakout years for Orchardgrass tissue culture were 1982 and 1983. In this year, Judith McDaniel, a technician in Bob’s lab, reported the first histological evidence of somatic embryogenesis in Orchardgrass (McDaniel, Conger, and Graham 1982). This was discovered in callus cultures originating from mature embryo explants. Also in 1982, Gary Hanning, a PhD student in Bob’s lab, discovered somatic embryogenesis from Orchardgrass leaf explants cultured in vitro (Hanning and Conger 1982). In this report, somatic embryos were observed from both callus and directly from the leaf explant surface and these somatic embryos were capable of plant regeneration and establishment in a greenhouse. Gary had the insight to “reculture” the regenerated plants that he produced resulting in a dramatic accentuation of the embryogenic response from the cultured leaf explants. The in vitro research community at the time considered somatic embryogenesis in monocots to be “recalcitrant” and nearly impossible, so having this example in Orchardgrass gave proof that it was possible. This ultimately led to the release of “Embryogen-P” as a registered Orchardgrass germplasm through the Crop Science Society of America (Conger and Hanning 1991). This, in addition to Dennis Gray joining Bob’s lab as a Post Doc, where he produced remarkable scanning electron micrographs of direct somatic embryo formation from the recultured Orchardgrass leaf bases led to Bob’s publication in Science describing this finding, which was unique, at the time, for all of monocot tissue culture (Conger et al. 1983). Also that year, Ray McDonnell, a MS graduate student in Bob’s lab, published his work on the use of Orchardgrass mature inflorescence explants from field grown plants and the regeneration of plants from the resulting callus cultures (Conger and McDonnell 1983). In 1983, David Songstad, the current Editor-in-Chief of In Vitro Cellular and Developmental Biology – Plant, joined Bob’s lab as a PhD student. Dave chose this lab primarily due to his MS work at South Dakota State University in Dr. C.H. Chen’s forage grass tissue culture lab where he already worked on a variety of grass species, including Orchardgrass (Chen et al. 1985).

The Orchardgrass system turned out to be a game changer in elucidating critical details of how somatic embryos develop. At that point in time, one of the key questions was can plants be regenerated from single cells? This constituted the cutting edge of the field of plant in vitro biology at the time. Simple light and scanning electron microscopy techniques more or less proved a single cell origin for Orchardgrass somatic embryos, suggesting that embryogenic culture systems could serve as a vehicle for gene insertion, thus enabling “genetic engineering.” Over the years, many of the results obtained with Orchardgrass were used as a guide to repeat the processes with the major Poaceous crop plants, including corn (Lowe et al. 2016) and wheat. It was the direct embryogenic Orchardgrass system which was the inspiration behind developing the Baby Boom and Wushel approach in corn (Keith Lowe personal communication). This enabled the development of advanced varieties in commerce today.

FormalPara Expanding Orchardgrass Tissue Culture (1984–1990)

The remaining years in the 1980s were filled with additional published research studies on Orchardgrass. During this time, the tissue culture efforts expanded to include ontogeny, suspension culture, endogenous growth regulators, amino acid supplements, synthetic seeds, and protoplasts. Quickly after the publicity from the 1983 Science paper, Dennis Gray evaluated this embryogenic genotype in suspension culture and from callus derived from suspensions (Gray et al. 1984), which demonstrated that this embryogenic phenotype was perpetuating across solid and liquid media. This was followed by the time-lapse stereomicrography of somatic embryo development directly from cultured leaf explants and was presented by Gray and Conger (1985a). Trigiano et al. (1989) also demonstrated initial single cell divisions from cultured Orchardgrass leaf segments originating from cells immediately subjacent to adaxial and abaxial explant surfaces with no cell division observed from vascular cells or tissues. The re-culture aspects of the embryogenic genotype of Orchardgrass were displayed by the work of Hanning and Conger (1986) where four recycle generations were evaluated with an overall increasing embryogenic response. This publication also showed that the embryogenic response was greatest when the basal most section of the inner-most leaf was cultured and this response diminished when leaf section further from the base were cultured. Furthermore, it was suggested that this embryogenic trait is maternally inherited following investigations by Gavin, Conger, and Trigiano (1989) demonstrating that the in vitro phenotype was inherited as a dominant nuclear gene.

FormalPara Orchardgrass Suspension and Protoplast Culture

Orchardgrass embryogenic suspension cultures were also a focus in the Conger lab during the 1980s. Casein hydrolysate in culture medium containing dicamba was shown to be a key requirement to promote the embryogenic response in liquid suspensions (Gray and Conger 1985b). This was further investigated by Trigiano and Conger (1987) where a combination of proline and serine could replace casein hydrolysate to maintain the embryogenic phenotype in suspension culture. Conger et al. (1989) demonstrated the similarity between Orchardgrass somatic embryos and zygotic embryos, which were identical in structure and size. In a collaboration with the Ciba-Geigy Corporation, protoplasts were produced from Orchardgrass embryogenic suspension cultures which were capable of callus formation leading to regenerated plants which were established in soil and grown to maturity (Horn, Conger, and Harms 1988a).

FormalPara Alternative Orchardgrass Approaches and Systems

Further studies in the 1980s included explants other than leaf segments, testing other growth regulators and synthetic seed applications. Somatic embryos were successfully desiccated and rehydrated to demonstrate use as synthetic seeds (Gray, Conger, and Songstad 1985), which was a breakthrough compared to gel encapsulated synthetic seed technology. Orchardgrass in vitro response was further evaluated including impact of mefluidide (Trigiano et al. 1987), endogenous cytokinins (Wenck et al. 1988) and ethylene, including its blocking agent aminoethoxyvinylglycine (Songstad et al. 1989). Songstad and Conger (1986) published results demonstrating somatic embryogenesis in cultured anthers and unpollinated pistils of Orchardgrass, further demonstrating the utility of this embryogenic genotype. This publication also demonstrated that direct embryogenesis from anther and pistil explants could give rise to secondary embryogenesis where the primary direct embryo served as the origin of the callus. Anther culture was further investigated where plants were regenerated which contained the normal tetraploid chromosome number as well as one plant which was mixoploid (Songstad and Conger 1988). Lastly, Bob’s group introduced the incomplete block design experimental design, which was an extremely efficient way to investigate evaluate phenomena in tissue culture systems (Kuklin et al. 1993).

FormalPara Genetic Transformation of Orchardgrass

Direct DNA delivery of a chimeric hygromycin resistance gene via electroporation or polyethylene glycol treatment of Orchardgrass protoplasts was reported by Horn et al. (1988b). Cell colonies resistant to 20 μg mL−1 hygromycin in liquid medium were selected from which callus lines grown on solidified medium were identified and shown to be transgenic. The resulting regenerated plants were shown to be transgenic. Direct DNA delivery was also reported in the transformation of Orchardgrass via microprojectile bombardment of cultured leaf sections (Denchev et al. 1995, 1997). Through a collaboration with Pioneer Hi-Bred, Orchardgrass was bombarded with DNA for constitutive expression of the uidA (encodes the enzyme β-glucuronidase GUS) and Bar (encoding resistance to phosphinothricin) genes using a particle in-flow gun. The resulting regenerated plants were resistant to 0.01% Basta indicating herbicide resistance. Furthermore, the leaf segments from these Basta-resistant plants were re-cultured producing somatic embryos, which displayed the “Gus blue” color when treated with X-gluc and these plants were also confirmed transgenic by PCR.

FormalPara Orchardgrass NASA Experiments

The effect of space flight — and associated gravity impacts — on the Orchardgrass embryogenic response was evaluated by Conger et al. (1998). In these experiments, the innermost two leaves of Embryogen-P were collected from healthy growing tillers and the basal 30-mm leaf tissue removed and each leaf split down the midrib to produce two equal halves for each leaf, with the identity of each leaf half maintained. The split leaf tissues were surface sterilized and cut into ten 3-mm-long sections of which the explants from one leaf half were plated on SH-30 and the corresponding half from the same leaf plated on an identical plate of SH-30 resulting in one plate for the NASA Space Shuttle and the other plate for the control at the University of Tennessee. The plates destined for the Space Shuttle were “hand carried” to the Kennedy Space Center. The temperature conditions for both the Space Shuttle and at the University of Tennessee were tracked without any extremes. However, the effect of microgravity had a negative effect on the somatic embryogenic response from Orchardgrass when compared to the control cultures maintained in Knoxville, TN. This negative effect due to space flight and zero gravity was not only verified by the phenotypic response of the cultures but also from histological evidence. In coordination with the NASA experiments, Vasilenko, McDaniel, and Conger (1998) described at the 1998 Society for In Vitro Biology meeting (P-1120) use of a clinostat to study the gravirotational effect on the somatic embryogenic response from Orchardgrass.

A potential problem in flight experiments is delay of shuttle launching due to weather conditions or other reasons. To address this issue, experimental material was stored at 4°C in a standard refrigerator. The objective of this study was to relate the effects of low temperature incubation on somatic embryogenesis and ethylene emanation from Orchardgrass leaf explants. Low temperature seems to decrease ethylene biosynthesis and stimulated somatic embryogenesis. This work is relevant to the current attempts to colonize Mars and other planets.

FormalPara Switchgrass Tissue Culture

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) is a perennial warm season grass native to North America. It is used primarily for forage production, fiber, and more recently as a biomass crop for ethanol production.

FormalPara Developing of In Vitro Systems for Switchgrass

The project began in 1992, with the objective of developing in vitro systems for regenerating plants that could be used for switchgrass improvement. Initially, two cultivars, Alamo (lowland type) and Cave-in-Rock (upland type), were used in the studies. One hundred (mother) plants from each cultivar were established in the greenhouse. They were used to provide source material for all ongoing research. Mature caryopses were also used as explants. Within 6 mo after initiation of the project, Dr. Plamen Denchev, a Visiting Scientist in Bob’s lab, managed to establish protocols in which hundreds of plantlets were regenerated with ease from various explants. Regeneration by both organogenesis and somatic embryogenesis was achieved from young leaf tissue and mature caryopses. Best results were obtained with Murashige and Skoog (MS; Murashige and Skoog 1962) medium containing 11.3 to 45.0 μM 2.4-D and 15.0 to 45.0 μM 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP). Plants from ‘Alamo’ were regenerated much easier from both types of explants than from those of Cave-in-Rock. One thousand regenerated plants from both cultivars were established in the field during the first year (Denchev and Conger 1994; Denchev and Conger 1995).

Later that year, Plamen observed the development of inflorescences from split top nodes of plants, in the 4- to 5-node stage, and axillary shoots proliferation from split lower nodes, when cultured in vitro on MS medium. The protocol involved splitting the nodes longitudinally and placing the cut surface in contact with MS medium containing 30.0 g L−1 maltose and 0.0 to 25.0 μM BAP. The fully developed panicles from top nodes were subsequently used as a source of axenic explants to produce embryogenic calluses (Alexandrova, Denchev, and Conger 1996a) that were used in future experiments. The axillary shoots produced from lower nodes represent an effective and efficient method for micropropagation of switchgrass. It appeared to be genotype independent and therefore, applicable for upland as well as lowland cultivars. Theoretically, approximately 500 plantlets can be obtained from one parent plant in 12 wk if nodal segments are cultured for 8 wk at 29°C on MS medium containing 12.5 μM BAP and then transferred for an additional 4 wk to induce rooting (Alexandrova, Denchev, and Conger 1996b).

FormalPara A System for Multiple Shoot Formation Initiated from Germinated Seedlings

Mature caryopses of ‘Alamo’, ‘Trailblazer’, and ‘Blackwell’ were sterilized and cultured on MS medium containing 3.0% maltose, and supplemented with various combinations of thidiazuron (TDZ) (0.0, 1.0, 2.0, and 4.0 μM) and 2,4-D (0.0, 1.0, 2.0, and 5.0 μM). Within 7-d culture, mature caryopses developed into typical seedlings. Additions of different combinations of 2,4-D and TDZ induced germination of caryopses, followed by multiple shoot formation from the apical region and the development of a variable amount of callus at the mesocotyl portion. The highest frequency of regeneration and mean number of shoots per responding explant was obtained with 4.5 μM of 2,4-D in combination with 18.2 μM TDZ. The multiple shoot formation technique (Gupta and Conger 1998) complemented already existing in vitro regeneration systems for switchgrass.

FormalPara Switchgrass Suspension Cultures

One of the major objectives of the switchgrass project was to develop a regenerable (through somatic embryogenesis) cell suspension culture. This goal was achieved in 1997 using a highly embryogenic genotype of ‘Alamo’ (Gupta and Conger 1999). The highest number of embryogenic suspensions with the highest regeneration capacity were obtained when embryogenic callus cultures, originating from in vitro produced inflorescences, were pretreated with 0.3 M each of mannitol and sorbitol for 30 h prior to initiation of suspensions (Odjakova and Conger 1999). More than 1000 plantlets were regenerated from 20 mL of liquid culture. As with other regeneration system, more success was obtained with lowland than with upland cultivars.

FormalPara Genetic Transformation of Switchgrass

Gene transfer experiments were first initiated at the beginning of the project and became a major focus after 1999. The first experiments were conducted with microprojectile bombardment using a pAHC25 (uidA and bar genes) construct (Denchev and Conger 1996). Later, a new plasmid, GFP-BAR (gfp and bar genes), constructed in Bob’s Lab (McDaniel, Richards, Sun, and Conger 2000), was used, in addition to the pAHC25. The uidA gene was expressed in callus tissue and floral parts including pollen grains and ovaries (Richards et al. 2001). GFP was expressed in callus and in leaf tissue and pollen of T1 plants. Plants tolerant to the herbicide Basta were obtained from both constructs. Sexual transmission of both the gfp and bar genes and their expression in T1 progeny was demonstrated. Their presence was confirmed by Southern blot hybridization.

Genetic transformation experiments further evolved in 2000s by using Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The strain AGLl containing the 18.15-kb transformation vector pDM805 was used to infect various explants. Transformation frequencies ranged from 14.5 to 25.0%. Presence of both the bar and uidA genes in To plants was confirmed by Southern blot hybridization. Crosses between transgenic and control plants showed that the genes were sexually transmitted through both male and female gametes and expressed in T1 plants. (Somleva, Tomaszewski, and Conger 2002).

In late 2001, Bob Conger was awarded a grant from Metabolic Corporation (Cambridge, MA) to genetically engineer switchgrass to produce the enzymes for synthesizing polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), a polymer that can be used in the production of biodegradable plastic. Ten different gene constructs were produced by scientists at Metabolics and were used in the Conger Lab for switchgrass transformation experiments. Over a 2-yr timespan, Judi McDaniel and Dr. Ludmila Ohnoutkova (visiting scientist) evaluated the efficacy of different promoters, selectable marker and reporter genes, as well as phbA, phbB, and phaC genes in transgenic switchgrass.

FormalPara Tall Fescue Tissue Culture and In Vitro Detection of the Fescue Fungus

By the late 1970s and early 1980s, cell and tissue culture technology for the improvement of crop plants had been the subject of numerous symposia, books, and reviews. Whole plants of most cereal crops and a few grasses had been successfully regenerated by tissue culture (Conger 1981). The phenotypic variation in those plants precluded their use for maintaining genetic homogeneity in cloning programs but it had the potential to be a novel source of genetic variation in plant breeding programs, which included Festuca arundinacea Schreb. (tall fescue) in addition to Orchardgrass.

Although phenotypic variation was well established, chromosomal and cytogenetic variability amongst those plants had received limited attention. Innumerable hours were spent at the Zeiss microscope and in the darkroom of Bob’s lab, alongside Gary Hanning, Ray McDonald, Dennis Gray, and Judy McDaniel during the pivotal Orchardgrass years, by Janet Reed while investigating genetic variability in regenerated tall fescue plants. The plants were regenerated by Karen Lowe, a previous MS student in Bob’s lab, from callus derived from mature embryos. The chromosomal abnormalities detected through meiotic analyses of pollen mother cells expanded the literature in the Gramineae to include tall fescue, a perennial, self-incompatible forage grass (Reed and Conger 1985). Bob was especially proud when Janet Reed presented this work at the International Symposium on Genetic Manipulation in Crops in Beijing, China, in 1984.

Tall fescue callus initiation was also used as a means to detect the “Fescue Fungus” Acremonium coenophialum Morgan-Jones and W. Gams. This fungus is significant because it affects average daily gain in livestock that are fed tall fescue harboring this endophyte. Mature seed explants were cultured on medium to produce callus and were scored for the presence or absence of A. coenophialum 28 d after culture initiation (Conger and McDaniel 1983). This report described an easy, reproducible approach for the detection of this fungus. Later, Bob and his coworkers devised a protocol to eliminated bacterial inference with detection of the fungus (Gwinn et al. 1991).

FormalPara Personal Accounts of Time in the Conger Lab

Bob Conger was a thorough editor and avid reader of science. He was the long-term and founding editor-in-chief of CRC Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences and this showed in all of his work. He rarely returned a paper that was free from editorial correction — to the betterment of the paper and the science communicated. He demanded that his students not only learned expertise in tissue culture, plant physiology, and developmental biology, but also in design and analysis of experiments. This enabled them to submit and publish strong papers which even, on occasion, were accepted without revision. He encouraged his students to read Current Contents, back when it was a published pamphlet, followed up by finding the relevant papers. This is a practice many of us still do in one form or another to this day. Now, however, we have the convenience of Table of Contents being delivered to our email accounts and we can quickly jump from there to on line content. Later in his career, as Bob was retiring, he recommended Dennis Gray to take over the editorship of Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences. Soon after taking over the journal, Dennis invited Bob Trigiano to join as Co-Editor-in-Chief, which made Bob Conger very happy. The journal has continued to thrive, and today Trigiano remains editor-in-chief.

These habits instilled on his students has resulted in many of them holding highly impactful academic, industry, and government positions. Especially within industry, Bob’s students have contributed to some of the most impactful plant biotechnological releases currently on the market. His students further continue the legacy of editorial excellence with titles of editor-in-chief, editor, and reviewers for multiple journals. Bob’s legacy continues through the dozens of graduate students post docs, research assistants and visiting scientists. Bob may be the only Professor to have two students who became President of the Society for In Vitro Biology (David Songstad SIVB President 2012–2014 and Allan Wenck SIVB President 2020–2022).

One of Bob Conger’s strengths was his flexibility in research over his long career, which provided his students with experiences that assisted in their professional careers. He pushed hard for all of his students to excel in basic science but also provided opportunities to become experienced in plant propagation through greenhouse and growth chamber management and conducting plant breeding experiments. He expected hard work and creative science from his students and, in return, he supported his students after graduation as each one advanced in their own careers.

The SIVB meeting was the means to reconvene the “Conger Lab” on an annual basis, which made both Bob and Donna very happy. We would meet in Bob and Donna’s hotel room, which was well stocked with Scotch Whiskey and Dave made sure plenty of donated Miller/Coors beer was also in his room. The Conger Lab photo from 2003 (Figure. 3) was taken by Nancy Reichert at the SIVB meeting in Portland, OR. We are so thankful that Nancy took this picture because this was Judi McDaniel’s last SIVB meeting and she passed away 2 yr later.

Figure 3.
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Conger lab convening at the 2003 Society for In Vitro Biology meeting in Portland, OR. Front row, from left to right: Dennis Gray, Gary McDaniel, Plamen Denchev, Ludmila Ohnoutkova. Back row, from left to right: Dave Songstad, Judi McDaniel, Bob Conger, and Donna Conger. Credit to Nancy Reichert for taking this picture.

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Judi McDaniel was Bob’s MS student who continued as his technician that kept the lab running on a day-to-day basis. Judi came up with a name “The Boss” for Bob and everyone knew who she was referring to. Judi was in Bob’s lab during the time for nearly all of his graduate students, including all that are authors on this tribute manuscript. Bob and all of the Conger Lab took the news of Judi’s passing in disbelief because it was totally unexpected. Bob would always bring up memories of Judi whenever he visited with his students. It is noteworthy that Bob and Judi both passed away on October 31 in 2005 for Judi and 2022 for Bob.

Bob’s student, Alexander Kuklin, joined his lab in 1992 by relocating with his wife from Bulgaria. Bob and Donna Conger let Alexander and his wife stay with them for several weeks until they were able to find their own place to live. Alexander refers to Bob as his “American Father” for not only receiving his PhD but also for the kindness he provided during his time in Knoxville. During his stay at Bob Conger’s home, he remembered Bob always waking up very early in the morning. His house was in Oak Ridge, and he had to drive approximately 27 miles to reach the UT Agricultural campus at or before 7:00 am every workday morning.

In addition to Alexander, the first Bulgarian scientist to join Bob’s lab was Plamen Denchev, who was a Pre-Doctoral Scholar joining his lab in 1985. Plamen later came back to Bob’s lab in the 1990s to conduct aspects of the Orchardgrass and switchgrass tissue culture and transformation work described above. Through both Plamen and Alexander, Bob Conger had very strong professional ties with Bulgaria. He contributed to the development of agricultural science in Bulgaria including giving several scientific lectures at various meetings.

After Bob retired in 2003, this set the stage for him to be honored for his scientific achievements. In 2006, Dave Songstad nominated Bob to receive the Society for In Vitro Biology Lifetime Achievement Award at the meeting in Minneapolis, MN. Dave, along with several of Bob’s past students and Postdocs, wrote letters supporting this nomination, which was approved by the SIVB Board of Directors. Donna Conger accompanied Bob to this meeting celebrating Bob’s achievements, as were many of his students and Post Docs. Donna also mentioned that Bob was very happy to receive the SIVB Lifetime Achievement Award.

Ray McDonnell certainly would have been a contributor to this tribute to Bob Conger. Unfortunately, Ray passed away a few weeks prior to Bob’s passing. In a conversation with Dave Songstad, Bob was attempting to contact past Conger Lab members to let them know of Ray’s death. Bob was proud of Ray’s achievements including working for Monsanto in developing the soybean transformation system in the 1980s.

Janet Reed summarized the impact of Bob Conger in that “Quite simply, I owe my entire career to Bob.” He recognized something in Janet that she, as a young scientist could not. His humor, enthusiasm, and engaging nature inspired, challenged, and opened her eyes to the meaning and value of applied science. His expert guidance prepared Janet for a successful 35-yr career in agricultural biotechnology and the opportunities he afforded cannot be overstated. Janet learned much from Bob, but above all, learned that there is no end to discovery and the wonder and beauty of science, in which she is forever grateful. All of the authors of this tribute as well as all who were in his lab share this sentiment.