Conference: Arabidopsis Informatics Workshops, UK and Arlington, VA

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Intellectual Merit:This proposal requests support for two related workshops to discuss the evolving needs of the Arabidopsis community for database support. The current Arabidopsis database TAIR is at a crossroads concerning content, sustainability, and integration with database resources for other plants and other organisms. The expanding amount of DNA sequence data, expression analysis, protein interaction data, phenotypic characterization and other data for both Arabidopsis and numerous other plants requires new vision to ensure that data are deposited, curated and made available appropriately. An entire new approach to biological research has as its underpinnings the facile recovery and analysis of these vast amounts of data. The first workshop, organized by the Multinational Arabidopsis Steering Committee and with all onsite support provided by the BBSRC, will be held in the UK in Spring 2010. This proposal covers cost for travel of the US participants to this first workshop. The UK workshop will comprise presentations and breakout sessions on the current state of informatics and databases in Arabidopsis and other plants. The workshop will generate an outline that will be presented to informatics experts, plant biologists and representatives from synthesis centers and the commercial sector at a second workshop, organized by the North American Arabidopsis Steering Committee to be held in the US May10-11, 2010 in Washington, DC. The majority of the current proposal is a request for support of the US workshop organization and attendance. This second workshop will discuss the issues raised by the UK meeting with the intent to generate potential solutions. A final report containing analysis and recommendations from both workshops will be produced. Broader Impacts:Defining the informatic needs of the biological community and how to manage these data are ongoing challenges. Working towards solutions for data access is critical to the entire Arabidopsis community, as well as to researchers in all fields of science. Therefore, the outcome of this workshop will have wide-ranging impact in the field of plant research and the larger area of biological sciences.