Maize Genome Annotation Jamboree for Maize Researchers. St. Louis, MO. March 13-14, 2019

Submitted by marcela.karey on Wed, 04/17/2019 - 15:22

The first Maize Annotation Jamboree for Maize Researchers was held on March 13-14, 2019 at the Biology Department of the Washington University in St. Louis MO.

Sponsored by the NSF-funded MaizeCode (IOS-1445025) and Gramene (IOS-1127112) projects, the jamboree aimed to train researchers on the use of genome annotation tools with the objective to establish collaborations with primarily undergraduate institutions (PUI) faculty to undertake maize annotation projects that will serve as course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) and be part of a larger community curation effort to improve the B73 Zea mays v4 gene models.

Thirteen applicants received scholarships to participate in this two-day event followed by the 2019 Maize Genetics Conference (MGC) Conference.

Jamboree participants: Feseha Abebe-Akele (Texas A&M International University), Michael Jochum (Texas A&M University), Abi Gyawali (University of Missouri, Columbia), Waltram Ravelombola (University of Arkansas, Fayetteville), Shailesh Karre Satyanarayana Guptha (North Carolina State University), Ramesh Dhakal (U of A Rice Research and Extension Center), Ghana Challa (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Penny Kianian (U Minessota), Ying Hu (U Florida), Patrick Monnahan (U Minessota), Erin Baggs (UC Berkeley); David Carlson (Stony Brook), and Juan Antonio Baeza (Clemson University).

Jamboree instructors: Marcela Karey Tello-Ruiz (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, CSHL), Cristina Fernández-Marco (DNA Learning Center - CSHL), and Joshua Stein (CSHL).

This effort will continue via periodic meetings to discuss progress on the partnerships where maize researchers who participated in this event will serve as consultants for PUI faculty and students participating in CUREs.

The next Maize Annotation Jamboree for PUI faculty will take place at the CSHL DNA Learning Center in New York on July 8-11, 2019. An application for this event will be made available through the Gramene and MaizeCode project outreach sites.

Special thanks to Sarah Elgin and Wilson Leung of the Genomics Education Partnership, and Patrick Clark of the Biology Department of Washington University in St. Louis for their support with this event.