From: "Rothschild, Max F [AN S]" 
To: angenmap@animalgenome.org
Subject: US Pig Genome Newsletter #116
Date: Tue, 02 Apr 2013 08:47:13 -0500

Pig Genome Update # 116:
 - PDF version is available at
   http://www.animalgenome.org/pig/newsletter/pdf/No.116.pdf
 - Web version is available at
   http://www.animalgenome.org/pig/newsletter/No.116.html
 - Plain text version is appended below:

 
                  P I G     G E N O M E     U P D A T E
     _________________________________________________________________
     A Periodic Newsletter of the U.S. Pig Genome Coordination Program

                  **************  No. 116  **************
                  *                                     *
                  *            April 1, 2013            *
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 1. The PAG XXI and NRSP-8 Swine Genome meetings were held in San Diego
 2. Presentations on OMIA were given at several PAG XXI workshops by OMIA's
    creator Frank Nicholas
 3. PAG ASIA had its first meeting in Singapore March 17-20
 4. The Swine Genome Workshop of PAG Asia linked swine researchers from all
    over Asia
 5. The Animal Systems Biology Analysis and Modeling Center is offering
    computational analysis
 6. Sequestration Impacts
 7. The swine genome coordinator is always glad to hear from NRSP-8 members
 8. A new Swine Genome Coordinator is needed starting October 1
 9. Upcoming meetings
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The PAG XXI and NRSP-8 Swine Genome meetings were held in San Diego January 
12-16, 2013, in San Diego.  Speakers included Eric Perakslis (US FDA), 
Michael Eisen (UC Berkeley), Daniel Chourrout (Sars Centre, Norway), Greger 
Larson (Durham U.), Steve Jacobsen (UCLA), Gonçalo Abecasis (U. of 
Michigan), Michele Morgante (U. of Udine, Italy) and Gary Muehlbauer (U. of 
Minnesota).  The Swine Genome Workshop was all day Saturday January 12 with 
the morning being a joint session with the Cattle and Sheep Workshop.  There 
were some great talks and thanks go to the session chairs Drs. Jiang and 
Lunney.  Dr. Joan Lunney (USDA/ARS/BARC) will serve as chair in 2014 and Dr. 
Gary Rohrer (USDA/ARS/MARC) was elected as vice-chair.  Please send 
suggestions to them for next year's meeting.

           o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o

Presentations on the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Animals (OMIA) were 
given at several workshops by OMIA's creator Frank Nicholas at PAG XXI in 
San Diego in January. The aim was to increase awareness of the potential for 
OMIA to be curated by anyone from anywhere at any time, and hence for a team 
of OMIA curators to be developed over time, to ensure OMIA's future.  A talk 
on OMIA was presented to each of the swine/cattle, poultry and horse 
workshops, and many fruitful discussions were held. As a consequence, new 
curators have been registered, and an OMIA Support Group has been 
established in the form of a discussion group that can be joined and 
accessed at http://www.animalgenome.org/community/omia-support/. As this 
report is being written, already one new curator is hard at work, and more 
will follow. Anyone interested in joining the OMIA team is welcome to 
contact frank.nicholas@sydney.edu.au. Frank acknowledges the support of the 
many users and supporters of OMIA, especially Max Rothschild and Ernie 
Bailey. He is also very grateful to Zhiliang Hu for setting up the 
discussion-group website for the OMIA Support Group. 

           o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o

PAG ASIA had its first meeting in Singapore March 17-20. Over 360 people 
attended the two and one half day meeting and there were some great plenary 
talks. The venue was outstanding and all the participants seemed to enjoy 
the meetings.  This year there were three animal based workshops including 
swine, shrimp and aquaculture.  Plans for next year are moving along and 
more animal workshops are encouraged and suggestions for plenary speakers 
should be sent to mfrothsc@iastate.edu immediately.

           o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o

The Swine Genome Workshop of PAG Asia linked swine researchers from all over 
Asia.  It was successfully held with five excellent talks and many 
attendees. The workshop speakers were Heebal Kim, Seoul National University, 
Korea; Zhiliang Hu, Iowa State University, USA; Mei Yu, Huazhong (Central 
China) Agricultural University, China; Chankyu Park, Konkuk University, 
Korea and Tomoko Eguchi-Ogawa, National Institute of Agrobiological 
Sciences, Japan. Their presentations delivered a wide variety of topics on 
the swine genome including domestication related genes and biological 
mechanisms, new development of the swine genome database, extensive 
characterizations of swine reproduction, MHC and immune genes etc. The 
workshop was also a great opportunity to connect animal genome scientists 
and future collaborations in Asia.  A workshop for next year is already 
being planned. (kindly provided by Kwan Suk Kim)


           o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o

The Animal Systems Biology Analysis and Modeling Center (ASBAMC, USDA NIFA 
sponsored grant) at Dr. Huaijun Zhou's laboratory, in the Department of 
Animal Science, University of California, Davis, is now offering 
computational analysis and bioinformatics support to selected projects 
within the farm animal research community.  Selected projects will receive 
free comprehensive support for a set of cutting-edge computational tools 
used to generate sophisticated comparative analyses and dynamic 
pathway/systems-level modeling.  Complex multi-perturbation experiments, 
generating large 'omic' datasets (i.e. microarray, Next-Gen RNA-Seq, and/or 
proteomic quantification data) across multiple time points are ideally 
suited for processing through the ASBAMC.  For additional information, to 
submit an application, or to contact the ASBAMC, please visit: 
http://www.asbamc.org Applications are due May 31, 2013.

           o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o

Sequestration Impacts. 
Congress extended the Farm bill without funding the mandatory programs, 
resulting in about 10 percent reduction in National Institute of Food and 
Agriculture (NIFA) funding. In addition due to the failure of Congress to 
reach a deal on balanced deficit reduction to avoid sequestration, the 
President was required by law to issue a sequestration order canceling 
approximately $85 billion in budgetary resources across the Federal 
government for the remainder of the fiscal year (FY) 2013. From the 
sequestration bill USDA received 5 percent reduction across the board for 
all programs including NIFA. Subsequently the senate modified the FY 2013 
continuing resolution (CR) and made changes to the sequestration cuts. It is 
the intent at the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the 
Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide clear information about how 
these budget cuts impact researchers, and in turn what it means for funds 
provided to the land-grant universities and other partners who benefit from 
programs administered by NIFA. At this time, USDA is taking every step to 
mitigate the effects of these cuts, it is possible that your organization's 
workforce, revenue, and planning processes may be affected. Internal memos 
indicated that senate bill may have additional 2.5 percent cuts across the 
board to USDA. Also recent press reports indicate that the Senate bill has 
modest increases to the NIFA budget especially to its Agriculture and Food 
Research Initiative (AFRI) program (http://www.ktts.com/news/199346681.html).
The NIFA budget office is still interpreting the CR. For latest information 
on budget please visit NIFA home page (http://nifa.usda.gov).  NIFA plans 
to release Formula Grant Opportunities announcements soon. Thank you for 
your continued partnership with the USDA and NIFA, and for your cooperation 
as we work together to manage these challenging circumstances. (kindly 
provided by Lakshmi Matukumalli).

           o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o

The swine genome coordinator is always glad to hear from NRSP-8 members and 
other readers about ways that the coordination effort can be improved or 
provide resources that are needed. If you have items of general interest to 
the swine genetics and genomics communities that can be included in this 
newsletter please share.  

           o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o

A new Swine Genome Coordinator is needed starting October 1.  Max Rothschild 
has announced he plans to step down on September 30, 2013 after serving as 
the Swine Genome Coordinator for 20 years.  If you have interest and 
questions about the position please contact him at mfrothsc@iastate.edu.

           o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o    o

Upcoming meetings (see: 
 http://www.animalgenome.org/pigs/community/meetings.html) 
 
 Human Genome Meeting/International Congress of Genetics: Genetics and 
 Genomics of Global Health and Sustainability, April 13-18, 2013, Suntec, 
 Singapore. Details at http://www.hgm2013-icg.org/
 
 British Pig Breeders Round Table (PBRT) which will take place on the 17-19 
 April 2013 at the University of Kent, Canterbury, UK. To find out more and 
 register: http://pigbreedersroundtable.eventbrite.co.uk
 
 European Symposium of Porcine Health Management, 22nd - 24th May 2013, 
 Edinburgh, UK: http://www.esphm2013.org   Early Bird Registration available 
 until 31st March 2013. 
 
 American Society of Animal Science (ASAS), Dairy Science (ADSA), and 
 Canadian Society of Animal Sci. (CSA) Joint Annual Meeting will be in 
 Indianapolis, IN from July 8 - 12, 2013.  For details see 
 http://www.jtmtg.org/2013/ 
 
 64th Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Animal Science will be 
 held August 26 - 30, 2013 in Nantes, France.  For details see 
 http://www.eaap2013.org/ 
 
 PAG XII will again be in San Diego California January 11-15 beginning with 
 the workshops. For details see http://www.intlpag.org.
 

                    Max Rothschild
                    U.S. Pig Genome Coordinator
                    2255 Kildee Hall, 
                    Department of Animal Science
                    Iowa State University
                    Ames, Iowa 50011
                    Phone: 515-294-6202
                    Fax: 515-294-2401
                    mfrothsc@iastate.edu
                    http://www.animalgenome.org/pig/ 

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Supported by Multi-State Research Funds to the National Research Service 
Program (NRSP-8).   National Animal Genome Research Program (NAGRP), 
Lakshmi Matukumalli, NAGRP Director, NIFA, USDA
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