Pig Genome Update No. 74angenmap@animalgenome.orgSeptember 1, 2005 |
Porcine genome grants await review. The deadline for the USDA National Research Initiative Porcine Genome Sequencing grant program was August 18. The $10 million included in the CSREES RFA is not necessarily the bottom line of the USDA's commitment. The Agricultural Research Service of the USDA has indicated that they would consider providing an additional $1-2 million for the project. More to follow as funding details become available. NRSP-8 Coordinators talk and plan for the future. As part of efforts to be more proactive, Dr. Muquarrab A. Qureshi, National Program Leader for Animal Genetics in USDA-CSREES, is organizing phone conferences between the coordinators. The purpose of these quarterly discussions will be to help plan for the future of animal genomics. Issues to be covered include thoughts on FY 2006 and future NRI RFA, evolving NRSP-8 needs (i.e., resources, funding, etc.), coordinator issues and updates, DC updates, PAG meeting/Business meeting, annual reports and other items. Dr. Qureshi's leadership is appreciated and if you have ideas you feel that need to be discussed please contact your species coordinator or Dr. Qureshi to relay those discussion points. PAG XIV & NRSP8/NC1004 Meeting will be held January 14-18, 2006 at the Town and Country Hotel, San Diego, CA. A draft program is already available at www.intl-pag.org/ and looks to be another good year. Abstracts are due October 7, 2005. The NRSP8 swine committee meets jointly with NC1004 and will be jointly chaired by Joe Cassidy and Zhihua Jiang. It will be held on Saturday January 14, 2006 beginning at 8:00 am in Royal Palm Salon 1 & 2. General information regarding PAG may be found at http://www.intl-pag.org/ . For those wishing to attend the weekend session only, you may sign-up for the $250 advance registration, postmarked or submitted by November 1, 2005. Full registration is $475 submitted via the Scherago International secure web site postmarked or submitted before that date. Some limited travel support may be available for NRSP-8 members. If interested please contact Max Rothschild at mfrothsc@iastate.edu .
Neal A. Jorgensen Genome Travel Awards for students. Partial funding ($525 travel award and complimentary registration from Scherago International) for US based graduate student (not postdoc) travel to the PAG meeting is available. Interested graduate students who have questions may contact the Pig Genome Coordinator (mfrothsc@iastate.edu). The application should consist of a letter requesting why the award is being sought and a printed copy of the students' abstract. To apply, please fill out the application at http://www.intl-pag.org/14/forms/NAJtravel.html . Notification will be approximately November 1, 2005. AFFY Pig chips available for limited experimentation. In a continuing effort to help researchers try new platforms and ideas the Pig Genome Coordinator will make available 6 chips to qualified requests. To qualify you must be a pig NRSP-8 group and have never used this technology. You must also acknowledge the receipt of these from the Pig Genome Coordination program in all publications. To request a set of 6 chips please contact Max Rothschild at mfrothsc@iastate.edu . New Swine Oligo Arrays nearing reality. Work continues to get the production of the array materials ready. These should be available this Fall. Only some existing arrays still remain. They can be requested by emailing Archana Deshpande at the University of Minnesota at deshp008@umn.edu to arrange the printing. A total of no more 30 that can now be requested and costs are $20/slide and shipping. Please contact the Coordinator at the same time to confirm the request. New computer tool available for use. In the July 22nd issue of Science the research group of Harris Lewin, University of Illinois, published a multispecies analysis (human, mouse, rat, dog, cat, pig, cattle & horse) and as part of this project developed (in collaboration with NCSA) a tool called "Evolution Highway". The tool can be found at: http://evolutionhighway.ncsa.uiuc.edu/ . This tool allows for comparing different species genomes/chromosomes with one another and also overlaying specific regions of interest onto the comparative maps by using the custom track option. It is expected that a downloadable version ready use will be available in the future. Enjoy summer, support the industry and barbecue pork. Go out and barbecue some pork for the holidays and the summer. See the recipes provided by the National Pork Board: http://www.otherwhitemeat.com/aspx/recipes/Recipe_Details.aspx?rid=363&cid=12 Upcoming meetings (see: http://www.animalgenome.org/community/meetings.html )
Max Rothschild
U.S. Pig Genome Coordinator
2255 Kildee Hall, Department of Animal Science
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa 50011
Phone: 515-294-6202, Fax: 515-294-2401
mfrothsc@iastate.edu
cc: Muquarrab Qureshi, CSREES and Caird Rexroad II, ARS
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