UC Davis and partner BGI organize International Conference on Genomics

by Dave Jones
July 29, 2013

Genomics: It could be UC Davis’ middle name, with the university hard at work in the trenches and in advancing the science of DNA sequencing worldwide.

For the latter, UC Davis has joined with its partner BGI to organize the second International Conference on Genomics, to be held in Sacramento, Sept. 12-13.

Meanwhile, the 100K Genome Project — led by UC Davis, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, and Agilent Technologies — recently announced that it had completed the sequencing of 20 more foodborne disease-causing microorganisms.

With this addition, the project has entered 30 sequences into its database at the National Center for Biotechnology Information, to be used to speed the diagnosis and treatment of foodborne diseases, as well as shorten the duration and limit the spread of such outbreaks.

The newly deposited sequences include several isolates of Salmonella, Listeria, Campylobacter and Vibrio, as well as a full characterization of their epigenomes — a diagnostic feature that defines how the DNA is chemically modified and changes how the organism behaves.

‘Powerful platform’

The upcoming conference “will present a powerful platform to share research in basic and applied genomics and advance new approaches to sequencing and bioinformatics,” BGI Chairman Huanming “Henry” Yang and UC Davis Vice Chancellor Harris Lewin said in announcing the conference.

More information and registration available here.

Speakers will include thought leaders from industry and academia as well as policy makers, addressing the use of advanced sequencing technology in areas ranging from global food production and personalized medicine to conservation.

Keynote speakers include Leroy Hood, president of the Institute of Systems Biology; Nobel laureate Richard Roberts, New England Biolabs; and Karen Nelson, president of the J. Craig Venter Institute.

BGI and UC Davis are partners in the BGI@UC Davis facility, which provides UC Davis researchers with access to BGI’s resources and expertise in high-throughput sequencing and bioinformatics.