Genomes 2004: International Conference on the Analysis of Microbial and other Genomes

The proposed GENOMES 2004 conference is a forum for presentation and discussion of current research in sequence analysis and functional characterization of genes and genomes of a variety of microorganisms, including many of which are of relevance to agriculture. <P>In particular, the conference addresses scientific questions relating to microbial genomics that are of importance to food safety, microbial genome diversity and evolution, microbial pathogenomics, and comparative genomics, functional genomics and host-pathogen interactions including those involving animal and plant biosecurity, epidemiological approaches for food safety, biology of plant-microbe associations, animal protection, as well as animal growth and nutrient utilization.
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The completion of genome sequences for over 125 microbial organisms, including many of those which have amajor impact on plant, animal and human health and food safety, has enabled scientists to make rapid strides inthe development of cutting-edge technology and innovative approaches to understanding the basic mechanisms of microbial pathogenesis and new methods for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of disease causing agents. <p>
Topics of relevance to the USDA that will be covered by the conference include microbial genome diversity and evolution, microbial pathogenomics,and comparative genomics, functional genomics and host-pathogen interactions including those involving animal and plant biosecurity; food safety, epidemiological approaches for food safety; biology of plant-microbeassociations; animal protection; and, animal growth and nutrient utilization. This three-day conference scheduled from April 14 through 17 of 2004 will provide attendees with theo pportunity to discuss the studies and findings of world-renowned scientists in the field and have the chance tos hare their research with their peers at the conference poster sessions. The GENOMES 2004 conference will be an excellent resource for those involved in developing and exploiting new microbial sequencing,computational, functional and other genomic-scale high-throughput technologies for understanding the pathophysiology and epidemiology of microbes as well as host-microbe interactions. We have assembled an outstanding team of scientists as the conference organizing committee of GENOMES 2004, and the meeting willbe administered by The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) and will take at the Conference Centre on theWellcome Trust Genome Campus, home to the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, the European Bioinformatics Institute and the Medical Research Council Centre for Genome Research.