From medicago from net.bio.net Wed May 21 05:26:01 2008 From: medicago from net.bio.net (medicago@net.bio.net) Date: Wed May 21 08:58:11 2008 Subject: [Medicago] New conference event for calendar Message-ID: <7768701FBD6B4D4F9FD0141957CAB6E60444C574@EXCH1.central.ad.ucc.ie> The Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference is returning to Europe this August and will be hosted by University College Cork in Cork, Ireland. The annual ABIC conference brings many of the world's largest agriculture, fisheries and food biotechnology companies to the host country (many Fortune 500 companies) and this year is no exception. At ABIC 2008 in Cork, there will be many hot topics under discussion and debate including innovations in areas such as biofuels and bioenergy, animal and plant breeding, fisheries biotech, molecular pharming, dairy and food, including dedicated sessions on policy, regulatory affairs and business strategies. Registration for the conference has now opened and full details of ABIC 2008 are available on the conference website. http://www.abic.ca/abic2008/html/program.html From medicago from net.bio.net Wed May 28 02:07:44 2008 From: medicago from net.bio.net (medicago@net.bio.net) Date: Wed May 28 02:07:52 2008 Subject: [Medicago] Medicago steering committee suggestions Message-ID: Dear Medicago community=2C = =A0 = =A0 = I am writing to ask you all for advice and suggestions for future Medica= go resources=2E = =A0 = As an update=2C the Medicago steering committee currently has the follow= ing members=3A Jean-Michel An=E9=2C Julia Frugoli=2C Greg May=2C Pascal = Ratet=2C Richard Thompson=2C Uli Mathesius (chair for this year)=2E = =A0 = I suggest that the committee could tackle the following issues=2C with y= our help=3A = =A0 = 1=2E=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 Medicago stock centre(s)=3A Currently there ar= e several stock centers for various biological material for Medicago=2E = Jean-Marie Prosperi and Magalie Delalande maintain a website (http=3A//w= ww=2Emontpellier=2Einra=2Efr/BRC-MTR/) which hosts the INRA genetic reso= urces collection and links to the other collection sites=2E = =B7=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 Any comments to this website would be welcome=2E= =A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 = =B7=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 For the future=2C what would you like the stock= centres to provide=3F = =B7=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 Should they operate independently or can we pro= vide a central structure that keeps all records=2C provides communicatio= n between different centres etc=3F = 2=2E=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 Medicago website and email list=3A The Medic= ago=2Eorg website is currently the main website for Medicago research=2C= and the Legume Information System gives broader information about legum= e resources (http=3A//www=2Ecomparative-legumes=2Eorg/)=2E = =B7=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 It would be good if users regularly provide fee= dback of those sites=2E = =B7=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 What do you see as the future role of these sit= es and what support would we need for that=3F = =B7=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 What do you think are specific features that th= ese sites are missing=3F = =B7=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 Can we make more use of the Medicago email list= =3F The Arabidopsis email list seems to be used a lot=2C often for techn= ical questions and job postings etc=2C and this doesn=92t seem to happen= as much with the Medicago server=2E = 3=2E=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 New resources=3A What new resources would be= good to have=3F I suggestion I have is a similar tool to the Arabidopsi= s site for comparative gene expression analyses=2C it=92s called CressEx= press (http=3A//www=2Ecressexpress=2Eorg) and I emailed the authors of t= hat site who said that they are planning to apply for funding for extend= ing that tool for other species=2C for example Medicago=2E = =B7=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 Would that be useful=3F In that case we could m= aybe support their case=2C even just through a joint supporting letter=2E= = =B7=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 If anyone has got suggestions for new tools ple= ase let the Medicago committee know=2E = 4=2E=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0 Medicago handbook=3A We have an online handboo= k for Medicago that lots of people have contributed to and we will keep = updating (http=3A//www=2Enoble=2Eorg/MedicagoHandbook)=2E I wrote a prev= ious email last month about this and I will get back to everyone shortly= to summarize all your responses=2C sorry about the delay=2E = =A0 = Any comments and suggestions=2C including things I didn=92t mention here= are very welcome=2E = =A0 = Best wishes Uli Mathesius Dr Ulrike Mathesius School of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Linnaeus Way Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200 Australia From medicago from net.bio.net Wed May 28 12:56:08 2008 From: medicago from net.bio.net (medicago@net.bio.net) Date: Thu May 29 08:43:45 2008 Subject: [Medicago] Medicago steering committee suggestions Message-ID: <200805281756.m4SHu8A21294@cricket.bio.indiana.edu> Dear Medicago folks, Here is a suggestion for this small point on mail-list usage. A few of you could resolve to post a message each month, or each week, to 'prime the pump' for discussion. Post some tidbit of research news from your lab, or questions about methods that don't work the way they do for others. As the current Bionet administrator, I notice that a few messages to a list at regular intervals will bring in more discussion, e.g. to remind folks in a community like this that they have common topics to talk about. The Arabidopsis email list is a good one to emulate; they do have 10x as many subscribers. But Medicago folks can make up for numbers with the excitement of a new model organism, with new discoveries, to discuss. -- Don Gilbert Bionet admin. -- d.gilbert--bioinformatics--indiana-u--bloomington-in-47405 -- gilbertd@indiana.edu--http://marmot.bio.indiana.edu/