First Maize Genome Annotation Jamboree for PUI Faculty

The first Maize Annotation Jamboree for Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUI) faculty was held on January 10-11, 2019 at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, CA.

Sponsored by the NSF-funded MaizeCode (IOS-1445025) and Gramene (IOS-1127112) projects, the jamboree aimed to train PUI faculty on the use of genome annotation tools with the objective to develop 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.  For more information and to apply for future jamborees, see our 2019 announcement in the Gramene and MaizeCode outreach sites.

Successful applicants received scholarships of $1,000 to participate in this two-day event followed by the 2019 Plant and Animal Genome (PAG) Conference.

Jamboree participants: Paul Bilinski (West Shore Community College); James Godde (Monmouth College); Chelsey McKenna (College of Southern Nevada); Selene Nikaido (University of Central Missouri); Christos Noutsos (SUNY at Old Westbury); Leocadia Paliulis (Bucknell University); Rebecca Seipelt-Thiemann (Middle Tenessee State University); and Melkamu Woldemariam (The College of New Jersey). 

Jamboree instructors: Marcela Karey Tello-Ruiz (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) and Cristina Fernández-Marco (DNA Learning Center - CSHL).  Teaching assistant: Rajdeep Khangura (Purdue University).  Observers: Jerome Grimplet (EU-COST grapevine project); Sarah Elgin and Wilson Leung (Genomics Education Partnership).

This effort will continue via periodic meetings to discuss progress in developing a bioinformatics curriculum that can be implemented in the classroom, as well as serving as proof-of-concept for similar efforts to improve genomic annotations in other species of the maize pangenome, sorghum, grape, and other important crops.

The next Maize Annotation Jamboree for PUI faculty will take place in San Jose, CA on August 2-3, 2019 prior to the ASPB Plant Biology meeting. Apply now in the Gramene  and MaizeCode project outreach sites.