11th International Conference on Canine and Feline Genetics and Genomics
Dear Participants,
Welcome to the 11th International Conference on Canine and Feline Genetics and Genomics at the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville, Alabama, October 2-5, 2022. Huntsville is known as the Rocket City for its role in putting astronauts on the moon. The Huntsville skyline even shows off a 363-foot-tall Saturn V moon rocket. Today, Huntsville sits at the intersection between its historied aerospace industry and its burgeoning biotech industry. This International Conference has occurred every two years since 2002, apart from the delay last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The conference alternates between Europe and the United States and has documented the many milestones reached in the fields of canine and feline genetics. Over this time, we have witnessed the development of amazing resources for genetic and genomic research coupled with wonderful studies using these tools for understan- ding canine and feline origins, diversity, biology, health, and disease. We have a very full and exciting scientific program planned. One hundred and one abstracts were submitted, and the Scientific Committee has selected 35 for oral presentations, with all other abstracts being presented at one of the two poster sessions. Ten selected posters from young scientists will additionally be highlighted in short poster flash talks. We will have a one-day Workshop on Sunday, October 2, which will feature presentations on genome assembly and annotation, large-scale genotyping/phenotyping, and updates from the 99Lives, Dog10Kgenomics consortia. We also have two very exciting keynote speakers: Heather Mefford, MD, PhD, is a faculty at St. Jude’s Research Hospital whose research aims to understand the genetic basis of neurologic and neurodevelopmental diseases, particularly severe forms of epilepsy. Jeremy Schmutz is a Faculty Investigator at HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology and co-director of the HudsonAlpha Genome Sequencing Center.
The social program includes a Sunday night reception at the Jackson Center and on Tuesday, October 4, a dinner under the Saturn V Rocket at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center.
We are grateful to our main sponsor, Nestle Purina, who has supported and made this event possible for the last 20 years. We look forward to welcoming you all to Huntsville, and enjoying an exciting and collaborative scientific workshop and conference.
With best wishes,
Gregory Barsh, MD, PhD Faculty Chair and Investigator, Smith Family Chair in Genomics PloS Editor in Chief
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