Rice is the most important food crop in the world and an important experimental system for genomics research. The completion of the genome sequence of rice in December 2004 will open a new and exciting chapter in the quest to functionally characterize all of the approximately 50,000 genes in rice. A systematic approach to characterizing these genes will allow dissection and understanding of regulatory networks and evolutionary selection events controlling such complex traits as yield, biotic and abiotic stresses, reproductive barriers, epigenetics and flowering time.
To celebrate the completion of the rice genome and learn about the latest developments in structural, functional and evolutionary genomics research, the Second Annual Symposium on Rice Functional Genomics will be held in Tucson, Arizona, on November 15 - 17, 2004. The international organizing committee includes 16 rice scientists from 9 different countries. Themes to be covered include functional genomics, comparative genomics, genome sequencing and annotation, genetics and rice breeding, proteomics and metabolomics, biotic and abiotic stress, and diseases of rice. After the meeting, up to 10 will be hosted for a week of training on Bacterial Artificial Chromosome (BAC) library construction and screening, physical mapping of genomes, sequencing, annotation, and microarray analysis. Priority will be given to researchers from developing countries, young investigators and scientists from small institutions.
