WormBase Workshop at International Worm Meeting 2015

by Leave a Comment

Thursday, June 25 – 1pm -2:30pm
Saturday, June 27 – 1pm – 2:30pm

For the 2015 International C. elegans meeting, WormBase will present two identical workshops to cover some of WormBase’s newer tools and data as well as ways in which the nematode research community may contribute data and annotations to the database. We will cover basics of data mining with WormMine (the WormBase instance of Intermine), introduce our instantiation of the JBrowse genome browser, and demo the new ParaSite website which hosts genome sequences for parasitic nematode species. We will discuss WormBase sequence data available in complementary resources such as Ensembl Genomes and the UCSC Assembly Hub for C. elegans. We will also provide a number of options for users to submit their own data using sequence variation data, gene concise descriptions and Gene Ontology annotations as examples.

CRISPR workshop at the 2015 C.elegans meeting

by Leave a Comment

CRISPR-based Strategies for Genome Engineering
Announcing the ā€œCRISPR revolutionā€ workshop to be held during the final plenary session of the 2015 International C. elegans Meeting,
June 28th, 10:30am ā€“ 12:00pm, Royce Hall Auditorium
Organizers: Mike Boxem, Daniel Dickinson, Alexandre Paix

CRISPR is a rapidly evolving technology that is quickly becoming an essential tool for every C. elegans lab. We would like to bring together representatives of the various groups that are developing CRISPR-based approaches for C. elegans to discuss current strategies for genome modifications. Specific topics to be discussed will include screening strategies, improving efficiency, target site selection, and guidelines for making different kinds of modifications. The workshop will conclude with an overview by Geraldine Seydoux of the status of CRISPR-based methods in C. elegans, based on previous reports and current methods presented in the workshop or elsewhere at the meeting.

For members of the community who are actively developing CRISPR methods, the workshop will serve as an opportunity to compare notes, share ideas, and stay current on the efforts of others. For those who are ā€œend usersā€ of these methods, it will be an opportunity to learn the latest approaches, obtain protocols, ask questions and seek advice.

Researchers who actively develop CRISPR-based approaches or are making technical improvements are invited to share their results and experiences. If you would like to speak at this workshop, please submit your abstract under the category ā€œV, Gene Regulation and Genomics, Novel Genetic Technologiesā€ to the 2015 C. elegans Meeting.

If you have questions about this workshop, contact Mike Boxem.

2nd Bridging the Divide Workshop to be held at the 2015 C. elegans Meeting

by Leave a Comment

ļ»æParasitic Nematodes: Announcing the 2nd ā€œBridging the Divideā€ workshop to be held at the 2015 International C. elegans Meeting (June 24th, 2:00pm ā€“ 5:00pm, Northwest Auditorium)

Each year infections of animals and plants by parasitic nematodes cause many billions of dollars of agricultural damage. Over a billion people worldwide, particularly in developing nations, are infected by nematodes and suffer from the resulting debilitating diseases. Currently, only a few investigators address problems of parasitic nematodes using C. elegans. To encourage and facilitate more interactions between the C. elegans and parasitic nematode communities, a workshop was held at the 2013 International C. elegans Meeting in which experts in plant, animal and human parasitic nematodes spoke on the life history and unique biology of these parasitic species and on outstanding issues in their field. A key goal of this session was to make C. elegans scientists aware of the issues and problems that parasitic nematode researchers face and pave the way for applying the powerful approaches and technologies that have advanced C. elegans research to parasitic nematodes.

We are hosting a modified version of this session at the start of the upcoming 2015 C. elegans meeting (our session and registration both take place in the afternoon of June 24) in which C. elegans researchers who have worked with other nematodes are invited to share their results and experiences. If you would like to speak at this session, please send your abstract(s) by May 21 to Marty Chalfie.

WormBase Help Desk at IWM 2011

by Leave a Comment

A live WormBase helpdesk will be present at the International C.elegans Meeting 2011 during the poster sessions. This is your opportunity to get hold of our curators, web team, text miners and data wranglers in person and ask them about anything.

If you can’t make it to the IWM2011 feel free to use the usual help@wormbase.org for feedback and questions.