DOE Joint Genome Institute 5th Annual Meeting on March 24-26, 2010

Researchers from all over the world will be at the Marriott in Walnut Creek for the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute 5th Annual Genomics of Energy and Environment Meeting, which will feature genomics research in the fields of clean energy generation and the environment. Keynote speeches will be delivered by Jay Keasling, CEO of the DOE Joint BioEnergy Institute, Steve Pennell of Ceres Inc. on genomics-based gene selection for energy crop improvement and former National Science Foundation director Rita Colwell of the University of Maryland at College Park and Johns Hopkins University on "solving problems with sequences."

Also presenting at the Meeting are several researchers from the Energy Biosciences Institute, a research and development collaboration between the University of California, Berkeley, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the University of Illinois, and BP.

The poster presentations feature selected projects such as the hoatzin, also known as the flying cow of the Amazon, microbial communities in cow rumen being studied by researchers at the DOE JGI and collaborators, ubiquitous fungi that can break down plant biomass and an invasive yeast that significantly reduces bioethanol production yields.

Since 2005, the DOE Joint Genome Institute has focused on the application of genomics to bioenergy and environmental issues. Organisms are selected for sequencing based on their relevance to the DOE missions, judged by an independent peer review process. Many of the projects focus on one of three key aspects: the development of biofuel feedstocks; the identification of enzymes that can effectively break down plant fibers into sugar; and the development of processes to ferment plant-derived sugars into liquid biofuel.

The annual meeting draws several hundred attendees from around the world. For further information, visit http://www.jgi.doe.gov/meetings/usermeeting/.

The DOE Joint Genome Institute is now accepting proposals for the 2011 Community Sequencing Program portfolio. Letters of intent from researchers must be received by March 30, 2010. The next deadline for the quarterly review of microbial resequencing proposals is April 7, 2010. To submit a proposal, go to http://proposals.jgi-psf.org/

For more information and media registration, contact David Gilbert, DOE Joint Genome Institute Public Affairs Manager at degilbert@lbl.gov.

WHO: Researchers working in the fields of genomics, bioenergy, carbon cycling and biogeochemistry

WHAT: 5th Annual User Meeting on Genomics of Energy & Environment

WHERE: Marriott in Walnut Creek (2355 North Main Street, Walnut Creek, California 94596)

WHEN: 1 pm, Wednesday, March 24, 2010 to 12 noon, Friday, March 26, 2010

Provided by DOE/Joint Genome Institute