Western Australia
July 22, 2009
Source:
GRDC
Perth will become “gene central”
for the world’s leading genome scientists this November, and
Australia’s grain industry will be among the major
beneficiaries.
The GRDC sponsored
OECD-GenomeAssociation-OZ09 conference will be held at the
University of Western Australia (UWA) 9-12 November 2009. The
major focus of the conference is on applying the incredible
advances in human and animal genome mapping technology to grain
crops.
According to conference convenor, UWA Professor Wallace Cowling,
major advances are occurring through genome association mapping
in humans, animals and some plant species.
“The challenge of this OECD conference is to provide plant
breeders with a clear path towards the application of
association mapping to plant genetic improvement,” Professor
Cowling said.
“For this reason, we have speakers who represent human genetics,
where genome-wide association is pinpointing genes associated
with human disease, and animal breeding, where genome-wide
association is being exploited to accelerate genetic
improvement.
“While emphasising Brassica crops, the conference aims to find
ways of applying the new association genetics to all grain crops
– by bringing together world leaders in plant breeding,
biometrics, and molecular genetics with outstanding visiting
speakers from animal breeding and human genetics.”
Professor Cowling said this was the first time an OECD
international conference had been held in WA and it would
provide a major boost for Australia’s plant breeders – which
would ultimately impact productivity in the national grain
industry.
“For the plant breeding community this is a wonderful
opportunity to hear from some of the world leaders in genome
mapping and associated technology from within and outside plant
breeding, and learn new ways of applying that technology in
Australia,” Professor Cowling said.
Leading the list of international speakers is Professor Bruce
Weir, Chair and Professor of Biostatistics at the University of
Washington, USA, whose paper will help delegates to link the
tremendous advances in human and animal association studies with
advances in crop breeding.
For more details, go to
www.oecd-genomeassociation-oz09.com.
Conference “early bird” registration closes on 30 July 2009.
Contributed abstracts and papers are encouraged. |
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