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10th Otago Genomics Facility Meeting.

The 10th Otago Genomics Facility Meeting was held on February 18th. The meeting was a popular as ever with 120 people registered and attending. We had an impressive lineup of speakers, with Dr Michael Mann from the Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology in Singapore as a keynote. He gave a fantastic talk on the use of transposon mediated gene knockouts to study genes involved in melanoma progression.

As usual we had a mix of technical methodology talks alongside those using genomics approaches to study interesting biological problems. Peter Stockwell gave a very informative methodology-based talk on various approaches to DNA sequence mapping from next generation sequencing of bisulphate modified samples.  Ruth Topless gave an interesting talk on the advantages of using databases with flexible functionality for the study of complex diseases.

Genomic methodologies used in the study of a wide range of biological systems were also presented, with Phil Wilcox (Scion), Roger Hellens (Plant and Food), and  Shannon Clarke (AgResearch) presenting fascinating talks on genomics approaches beingtaken in the more commercially orientated Crown Research Institutes.

Maui Hudson from ESR gave a thought provoking talk on genomics research from a Maori perspective, including mention of changing expectations around consultation and interaction.  His talk also covered strategies and approaches for starting new projects and suggestions for ways of making interactions more informative and useful to Maori partners involved in research projects.

The standard of talks from the students presenting was outstanding.  Student talks were given by Sarah Morgan from the University of Otago Department of Biochemistry, and by Gloria Evans from the University of Otago, Christchurch.  Also attending from Christchurch was Rachel Purcell, who spoke on the use of genomic data in the study of rare cancers.

Chris brown gave a fascinating talk on the use of next generation sequencing to study gene expression changes resulting from down regulation of microRNAs, and Russell Poulter presented a more classical genetics approach to studying cyclic peptides.

Finally, Tony Lough provided a very informative outline of the future shape of New Zealand Genomics Limited (NZGL), with probable time frames for implementation  of proposals and how various partners will interact to provide a coordinated and integrated genomics platform for New Zealand.