Plant-biotic interactions extensively occur in nature. Plant diseases and pests infecting crops severely limit their high yield and good quality, posing a significant risk to global food security. Meanwhile, beneficial organisms are of great importance in maintaining efficient crop production and sustainable development of agriculture and ecosystem. In order to showcase the latest progress and achievements in global plant-biotic interaction research, and to promote exchanges and collaborations among researchers around the world, the International Conference on Biotic Plant Interactions (ICBPI) is held every two or three years and has been held seven times since 2011. The scale of the conference has also expanded drastically, with the attendees increasing from over 300 to over 1,500, and a large number of top international experts in the field of plant-biotic interactions have been attracted to participate in the conference, which has significantly strengthened the cooperation and communication among international colleagues in the field of plant-biotic interactions, making positive contributions to the food security of the world.

       On behalf of the organizing committee, we warmly invite colleagues in the fields of plant-biotic interactions to attend the 8th International Conference on Biotic Plant Interactions (8th ICBPI), which will be held from Oct. 18th to Oct. 21st, 2026. This conference will bring together around 800 scientists and students for sharing research advances covering a wide range of scientific topics. The topics include, but are not limited to, cross-kingdom signal perception, immunity receptor and effector biochemical activity/function, plant-microbe and insect symbioses, plant microbiome and microbe-microbe interactions, plant-insect-natural enemy multitrophic interactions, new technologies and frontiers: systems and spatial biology in plant-microbe interactions, plant metabolism and immunity, evolution of plant-insect/microbe interactions, emerging harmful organism and agroecology, and plant resistance and crop molecular design, etc.    

       The 8th ICBPI is organized by the Nanjing Agricultural University, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Chinese Society for Plant Biology and Chinese Society for Plant Pathology and will take place at the Fengda International Hotel in Nanjing, China. We warmly invite colleagues and students to submit their abstracts and participate in this conference. If you have any questions, please contact the conference secretariat.