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Issue 74 of the Genetics Society Newsletter JANUARY 2016 | ISSUE 74 GENETICS SOCIETY NEWS In this issue The Genetics Society News is edited by Manuela Marescotti and items for future • Medal awarded issues can be sent to the editor, by email • Meetings to [email protected]. • Student and Travel Reports The Newsletter is published twice a year, with copy dates of July and January. Cover image from the 2016 Genetics Society Autumn Meeting Functional genetic variation in the non-coding genome 10 – 11 November 2016, The Royal Society, London A WORD FROM THE EDITOR A word from the editor Welcome to ISSUE 74. 2016 has just begun and the ideal way Besides these two exciting articles to ease into the New Year is to take you will find a number of reports a break from the bench and to leaf written by the scientists supported through the new issue of the Genetics by the Genetics Society to organise Society newsletter with a cup of or to attend a genetics-related coffee! event. I would like to highlight In particular, you will find a very that these articles are no less topical interview granted to Kat interesting than the two mentioned Arney by Professor Alison Woollard, above. In fact, these articles upon being awarded the JBS clearly convey the enthusiasm Haldane lecture, because of her burning in you after a conference, great commitment and ability to where you had the opportunity communicate genetics. Professor to bring together scientists of the Woollard and Kat went together same field to network and build through the “genetic revolutions” up new collaborations that will mentioned by Alison during her benefit their research; or, that of a JBS Haldane lecture. I am not going young scientist, having presented to spoil the surprise, but I will say their work to a highly specialised that one of these revolutions, in audience that gave useful inputs for Professor Woollard’s opinion, is their study. the controversial topic of “genome To conclude, I think that this editing”. In fact, interestingly, this enthusiasm is a great fuel and issue is also addressed by another inspiration to go back to work, after article, authored by a novice scientist, the holidays, and plan the next but a promising one. David Walker experiments…and, hopefully, the (the author and a veterinary student) next holidays! imagines the consequences of the Read on and enjoy. “genetic revolutions” on human Best wishes, evolution and, thus, our future. Manuela Marescotti David Walker (the author and a veterinary student) imagines the consequences of the “genetic revolutions” on human evolution and, thus, our future. 2 . GENETICS SOCIETY NEWS . ISSUE 74 ISSUE 74 . January 2016 For more details please contact: The Genetics Society Charles Darwin House 12 Roger Street London CONTENTS WC1N 2JU Switchboard: +44 0203 793 7850 Email: [email protected] Web: www.genetics.org.uk Meeting Announcements 4 - 5 The Genetics Society Journals 2016 Meeting Heredity External Meetings Diary www.nature.com/hdy Managing Editor: Prof. Michael Bruford Sectional Interest Groups 6 Heredity Editorial Office, Cardiff University, Cathays Park, Cardiff, CF10 3AX Genetics Society Business 7 - 11 Genes and Development Genetics Society Meeting Report 12 - 14 www.genesdev.org Building the brain: from genes to circuits and cognition Editor: Dr T. Grodzicker Genes & Development, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Genetics Society Sponsored Events 26 - 35 500 Sunnyside Boulevard, Woodbury, New York, 11797, USA The Scottish Drosophila Meeting Annual Conference and AGM 2015 Committee members Second international conference on Mendelian randomization President Features 15 - 18 Prof Wendy Bickmore, University of Edinburgh The science that will transform our future Vice-Presidents Genetic Revolutions Prof Malcolm Logan, King’s College London Book: Herding Hemingway’s Cats Prof Rebecca Oakey, King’s College London Prof Alison Woollard, University of Oxford Travel Reports 19 - 29 Actin and microtubule cytoskeleton in cell motility and Honorary Secretary Prof Tanya Whitfield, University of Sheffield morphogenesis EACR-AACR-SIC Honorary Treasurer Gordon Research Conference on Red Cells Prof Anne Donaldson, University of Aberdeen Dicty 2015 Scientific Meetings Secretary 15th European Society for Evolutionary Biology Meeting Mrs Dominique Kleyn, Bioindustry Association CSHL- The Eukaryotic DNA Replication & Genome Maintenance Newsletter Editor Dr Manuela Marescotti, EMBL Symposium-The Mobile Genome The Brainwave-Discovery Ltd, Edinburgh Genome Engineering: The CRISP/Cas Revolution 2015 CSHL- Neurobiology of Drosophila Postgraduate Representative Ms Lynsey Hall, University of Edinburgh Introduction to RAD-seq Data Analysis CHRO 2015 Ordinary Committee Members 65th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Human Dr Kay Boulton, University of Edinburgh Genetics Dr Marika Charalambous, Queen Mary, University of London Prof Elizabeth Fisher, University College London Prof Richard Flavell, London Heredity Fieldwork Grant Report 31 Dr Jim Huggett, LGC, Teddington Multi-host pathogens of honeybees and wild bumblebees Prof Mark Jobling, University of Leicester Prof Judith Mank, University College London Training Grants 32 - 34 Dr Jonathan Pettitt, University of Aberdeen Geometric Morphometric and Phylogeny course Dr Michael Simpson, King’s College London “Optic Microscopy & Imaging in the Biomedical Sciences” workshop Dr Martin Taylor, University of Edinburgh CTR Placental Biology Course Dr Douglas Vernimmen, The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh Prof Eleftheria Zeggini, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Cambridge Studentship Reports 35 - 46 Design and Print Wrt-2 expression and regulation in C.elegans Collaborate Agency Using CRISPR-Cas9 to generate an FLC deletion in the www.collaborate.agency Arabidopsis genome Novel roles for exoribonuclease Dis3L2 in cell Advertising in Genetics Society News proliferation represents an opportunity to reach Investigation of gene function in zebrafish a large community of professional Genetic analysis of AGMo-1 geneticists. For rates please email Torsional stress in genomic DNA [email protected] Synthetic Spindle Assembly Checkpoint arrest Alternative isoforms of Cdkl5 Validating weighted burden gene based association tests www.genetics.org.uk . 3 2016 Genetics Society Autumn Meeting Functional genetic variation in the non-coding genome 10 – 11 November 2016, The Royal Society, London We are awash with whole genome sequencing data from normal Confirmed Speakers tissues and cells from a very wide variety of organisms from bacteria To be announced. to humans. In addition, there are equally large sets of data derived You can keep up to date by from human clinical samples. We have learnt that sequence visiting www.genetics.org.uk variation between individuals may be associated with differences in gene expression which in turn can lead to changes in phenotype Scientific Organisers and to disease. However, most of this variation is not currently Wendy Bickmore, University of Edinburgh, UK interpretable because, apart from changes affecting the tiny fraction Doug Higgs, University of Oxford, UK of the genome that codes for proteins, we do not understand the Chris Ponting, University of Edinburgh, UK functional significance of most genome variation. Martin Taylor, University of Edinburgh, UK Our challenge is to distinguish functional from non-functional Richard Flavell, Ceres Inc, USA variants, and to understand how they cause changes in phenotype Award Speakers between individuals and throughout evolution. This meeting brings together scientists using genetics, genomics, computational, cell Felicity Jones, Max Planck Institute, Germany (Balfour 2016) and developmental biology to discuss how to identify functional Duncan Odom, Cancer Research UK (Mary Lyon 2016) elements in the non protein-coding portion (99%) of the genome Ben Lehner, Center for Genomic Regulation, Spain (Balfour 2015) and to determine how they affect gene expression. Such elements include distal regulatory elements driving spatial and temporal gene expression and non-coding RNAs. Speakers at the meeting will be chosen to draw on examples from multiple plant and animal species. for registration, visit www.genetics.org.uk 5 EXTERNAL MEETINGS DIARY We will happily include any announcements for genetics-based meetings in this section. Please send any items to the editor. Fundamentals of Clinical Genomics Genomics of Rare Disease: Beyond the Exome 13—15 January 2016 13—15 April 2016 Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, UK Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, UK www.clingensoc.org/news-events/events/ https://registration.hinxton.wellcome.ac.uk/events/ fundamentals-of-clinical-genomics-2016/ item.aspx?e=575 Genomic Practice for Genetic Counsellors Genomics of Brain Disorders 3—4 February 2016 25—27 April 2016 Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, UK https://registration.hinxton.wellcome.ac.uk/events/ https://registration.hinxton.wellcome.ac.uk/events/ item.aspx?e=573 item.aspx?e=576 Mouse Models of Disease NGS 2016 Glasgow Conference: Applications & Data 9—11 February 2016 Analysis Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, 27—28 April 2016 Cambridge, UK IET Glasgow: Teacher Building, 14 St Enoch Square, https://registration.hinxton.wellcome.ac.uk/events/ Glasgow G1 4DB item.aspx?e=488 https://biotexcel.com/event/ngs-2016-glasgow/ Translational Bioinformatics Workshop 16th International Xenopus Conference 22—26 February 2016 28 August—1 September 2016 Guy’s Hospital, London, SE1
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