Worm Breeder's Gazette 15(5): 2 (February 1, 1999)
These abstracts should not be cited in bibliographies. Material contained herein should be treated as personal communication and should be cited as such only with the consent of the author.
Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, 1012 Fairchild, 1212 Amsterdam Avenue, MC 2446, New York, NY 10027
A small group of C. elegans researchers will be discussing future genomic and
genetic resources for C. elegans research as part of a more general discussion in a
workshop on Non-mammalian Models in mid February at NIH. We would like to have
input from the entire C. elegans community on the following questions. Please respond
by email to mc21@columbia.edu by February 7. We will collate the responses and post
a summary of the results of the discussion at the meeting in the newsgroup.
1. What are the resource needs for C. elegans?
a. Identify the resources for structural (e.g., maps, ESTs, cDNAs,genomic sequence) and functional (e.g., genome-wide mutagenesis, technologies for phenotype analysis) analyses, as well as technologies, that are needed to facilitate research on C. elegans. Include cost estimates for these.
b. Prioritize these needs.
2. Are the database resources for C. elegans meeting the community needs? Is the information easily accessible and useful? If not, how can this be improved?
3. What needs to be done to facilitate the use of C. elegans and/or data generated with this model for those without expertise, e.g., geneticists working on other organisms? What can be done to facilitate interactions between organism communities?
4. Consideration of other model organisms:
a. What needs are not being met by work on Saccharomyces cerevisiae, C. elegans, Drosophila melanogaster, zebrafish, and Xenopus (the five organisms that are the primary focus of the meeting)?
b. Are there any candidates for other models that fill these unmet needs?
Thanks for your help.
Marty Chalfie