U.S.- New Zealand Workshop in Rosaceae Genomics

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0554740KorbanThis award supports the participation of American postdocs and graduate students in a U.S.- New Zealand joint workshop for scientists on rosaceae genomics to be held in Napier, New Zealand. The co-organizers are Professor Schuyler Korban at the University of Illinois and Dr. Susan Gardiner in the Plant Gene Mapping Office at HortResearch in Palmerstson North, New Zealand. The Rosaceae family includes a group of important fruit and ornamental crops, and offers a model system for research in fundamental biology of flowering and fruiting woody perennial plants. This family includes several important genera that account for most of our important deciduous fruit crops including apple, pear and stone fruits such as peach, cherry, plum, apricot, and almond, as well as other valuable ornamental plants including roses and hawthorn. Rapid progress is now being made in developing genomic resources for Rosaceae, including the release of over 200,000 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) into the public database. Over half of these ESTs have been generated by U.S. researchers and the other half by the New Zealand researchers. The U.S. and New Zealand research teams have recognized the importance of combining their resources and efforts in order to maximize the progress made in both genomic resources development and functional genomics research. The goals of the research workshop are to: 1) identify well-defined bilateral U.S.- New Zealand Rosaceae genomics research efforts that are of mutual benefit; 2) establish strategies for carrying out research collaborations; 3) coordinate future U.S.-New Zealand scientists linkages; and 4) coordinate future U.S.-New Zealand young scientists (postsdocs and students) exchanges. In addition, the postdocs and students supported by this award will remain in New Zealand for an additional week. This will enable them to participate in a hands-on internship program that will involve bench experience and interaction in several laboratories at HortResearch that are involved in Rosaceae genomics. The co-organizers have complementary scientific expertise in the field. This enables them to evaluate and attract the best researchers to participate in the Rosaceae genomics meetings. Current Rosaceae genomics programs in the US and New Zealand are in unique positions to lead the way in pushing the frontiers of genomics research in this important family of higher plants. Coordinating and collaborating with NZ scientists will have a major impact on our US knowledge of this important family. This partnership will enhance the training, educational, international experiences and exchanges in the U.S. Results of this collaboration will further lead to outreach efforts to teach high school teachers, youth, and the general public about genomics and its impact on human lives.