by Sabrina Toro, on behalf of the ZFIN and Alliance teams
The Zebrafish Information Network (ZFIN; zfin.org) is one of the founding members of the Alliance of Genome Resources (Alliance; alliancegenome.org). The Alliance aims to provide a unified, comparative view of animal model and human data to facilitate foundational and translational biomedical research.
The ambitious effort to unify variant and allele information is currently underway, with the objective to compare human and animal model variants and alleles, their consequences, and the phenotypes they might induce.
Genomic coordinates and nucleotide change(s) of alleles/variations are becoming crucial information in order to make the variants/alleles and associated phenotype data relevant and accessible for display, prediction, cross-species comparison, and translational research application. Genome browsers (such as JBrowse) and tools to predict the effects of variants on transcripts and proteins (such as the Ensembl Variant Effect Predictor) require this genomic coordinate information. Precise genomic coordinate locations must include the genome build, chromosome and base number(s) in order to properly locate any variation. This detailed information is rarely reported in publications and therefore is often unavailable for alleles/variants recorded at ZFIN.
We need the zebrafish community’s help to obtain this missing information, and ultimately make the zebrafish alleles/variants information more relevant and valuable to the research and clinician community. If you have the build version, chromosome, genomic coordinates and nucleotide change of your mutant, or if you have any sequence data which would help us determine the location, please add this information to the genomic coordinates Excel file and submit to Sabrina@zfin.org. Feel free to contact us (sabrina@zfin.org) for more information, or with questions or comments.
Key Dates:
Abstract submission open: April 1, 2019
Abstract submission deadline: May 15, 2019
Early registration deadline: June 31, 2019
Cover page design competition deadline: July 31, 2019
4th ZPPM Conference: Sept 18 – 20, 2019
3rd Neuroscience Workshop: Sept. 18, 2019
Organizer: Zebrafish Centre for Advanced Drug Discovery (ZCADD), Toronto, Canada
Awards: ZebraPeutics Award X1; Travel Awards x3; Poster Awards x 6; Cover Design Award x1
4th ZPPM Conference Organizing Committee:
- Randall Peterson (Co-Chair, University of Utah, USA)
- Didier Stainier (Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Germany)
- Han Wang (Soochow University, China)
- Sarah Childs (University of Calgary, Canada)
- Xiao-Yan Wen (Chair, ZCADD, St. Michael’s Hospital, Canada)
3rd Z-BRAIN Neuroscience Workshop Organizing Committee:
- Edward Burton (Co-Chair, University of Pittsburgh, USA)
- Marika Kapsimali (IBENS, Paris, France)
- Christopher Barden (Treventis Corp, Toronto, Canada)
- Kessen Patten (INRS Institut Armand-Frappier, Montreal, Canada)
- Xiao-Yan Wen (Chair, ZCADD, St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, Canada)
Conference website:
https://www.zebrafishcentre.com/conference-2019/
Conference e-mails:
Dear Colleagues:
Each year, the International Zebrafish Society (IZFS) presents two prestigious awards at its annual International Zebrafish Conference – the George Streisinger Award and the Chi-Bin Chien Award. IZFS is currently seeking nominations from the zebrafish community for consideration by our Awards Committee. Nominations are due January 28, 2019.
The George Streisinger Award recognizes a senior investigator who has done sustained and foundational work that has opened new possibilities within the zebrafish field that benefit our research today. Submit applications to awards@izfs.org in a single PDF file that includes:
- A statement (up to one page) describing the key contributions of the nominee to the field, co-signed by two or more members of the community who support the nomination.
- A list of up to ten publications or links to online resources or databases that illustrate the central contributions of the nominee to the field.
For more information, go to https://www.izfs.org/page/StreisingerAwardNew.
The Chi-Bin Chien Award will be given to an outstanding graduate student, postdoctoral trainee, or recently appointed faculty member from any country who has made significant contributions to the field of zebrafish research and has exhibited the generosity that characterized and motivated Dr. Chien. Submit applications to awards@izfs.org in a single PDF file that includes:
- A one-page statement from the nominee describing his/her research and its importance to the advancement of zebrafish research.
- The nominee's C.V.
- Letter of recommendation from the mentor.
- Letter of recommendation from one additional scholar.
For more information or to make a donation to this award, please go to https://www.izfs.org/page/CBCAWARDNOM
We hope to see you in Suzhou, China in June at the 14th International Zebrafish Conference (https://www.izfs.org/page/2019IZFC) where these awards will be presented to our honored colleagues.
Thank you,
Mary Mullins
IZFS President
Dear Colleagues:
As the local organizing committee, we cordially invite you to attend the 14th International Zebrafish Conference (IZFC), which for the first time will be held in the Asia-Pacific region, the Suzhou International Expo Center, Suzhou, China, June 12 (Wednesday) – June 16 (Sunday), 2019.
Suzhou is well known for its ancient gardens and picturesque scenery. Just like the great traveler Marco Polo described as "Heaven on Earth" and "Venice in Orient", Suzhou features a unique style of “small bridges, running water and households". Suzhou also is one of the most developed areas in China with a booming economy and highly modernized metropolitan districts. There are two major international airports connecting the world to Suzhou：the Shanghai Pudong International Airport and the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, which are approximately 75 miles or 45 miles away from Suzhou, respectively.
Following the traditions of both the Madison and European Zebrafish Conferences, you will enjoy keynote speeches, awardee lectures, plenary session and concurrent session/workshop talks, and poster sessions, covering all areas of studies using zebrafish and other fish models.
To emphasize the importance of trainee and junior faculty professional development, both Trainee Professional Development Workshops and Junior Faculty Workshops will be held on June 12, 2019, the first day of the conference. The Trainee Professional Development Workshops are devoted to scientific and career development activities for trainees (primarily graduate students and postdocs), including a keynote address and a series of workshops on various topics as well as one-on-one blitz discussions, and providing opportunities for the next generation of zebrafish researchers to learn from and interact with faculty members in a more informal and intimate setting. The Junior Faculty Workshops aim to foster the growth and success rate of the next generation of zebrafish researchers by learning from and interacting with established faculty members in a more informal and intimate setting, and a panel of experienced members of the zebrafish field will participate in each meeting, to provide tips and advice to junior faculty members and answer questions.
In addition, the Meet the Professor sessions will provide trainees the opportunity to interact with experienced faculty members in the zebrafish field and to foster scholarly conversation throughout the conference.
To help us craft the scientific program of the 14th IZFC, we launch Call for Session or Workshop Proposals. Any fish independent investigator will be encouraged to submit a proposal for a plenary session, a concurrent session or a concurrent workshop for our conference, and the Conference Program Committee will select sessions and workshops from these proposals. For those who need financial assistance to attend the Conference, please fill out the Travel Award Application Form. In addition, the Conference Logo Competition is open.
✔ Please register for the Conference at http://2019IZFC.suzhou.zfish.cn.
✔ Please submit your Session or Workshop proposal and/or Conference logo artwork by February 28, 2019.
✔ Submit travel award application form by February 28, 2019.
✔ Interested sponsors and exhibitors, please contact Dr. Zhaomin Zhong (Tel: +86 15895562190, Email: zhongzhaomin@suda.edu.cn) or Conference Secretariat (the14thIZFC_suzhou@vip.163.com).
We are looking forward to welcoming you in Suzhou, China in June 2019!
Sincerely,
Local Organizing Committee
Han Wang, Feng Liu, Yonghua Sun, Jing-Wei Xiong, Jiu-lin Du, Lingfei Luo, Zilong Wen, Tao Zhong, Bo Zhang, Ying Cao, Jinrong Peng and Anming Meng