Workshops
The 2007 JGI User Meeting kicked off with three in-depth workshops on Wednesday, March 28. The IMG and JGI 101 sessions were held at the Marriott Hotel, and the Eukaryotic Annotation workshop was held at the JGI conference center.
IMG
Time: 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Location: Walnut Creek Marriott, California Ballroom
Audience: Users and potential users of the Integrated Microbial Genomes (IMG) and IMG with Microbiome Samples (IMG/M) data analysis systems.
The goals of the IMG workshop were to (1) provide an overview of IMG, especially the new functionality that has been added since the previous user review in March 2006, including extensions that respond to the feedback from this review, and (2) to discuss ongoing extensions of IMG in three areas: (a) quality of gene models, (b) depth and breadth of functional annotations, and (c) analytical tools.
This was an entirely web-based workshop. Participants were who brought their own wireless-capable laptops were able to participate in the demonstrations via wireless internet access.
Eukaryotic Annotation
Time: 9:00 am. to 12:00 pm., or 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Location: JGI Conference Center
Audience: 2005-2007 eukaryotic genome project proposers, their collaborators, and new members of those communities for which genomes will be annotated during 2007.
The JGI Genome Portal offers an interface to several bioinformatics tools for analysis of genomes sequenced, assembled, and annotated at JGI. Genome Portals for over 20 eukaryotic genomes are publicly available and support distributed community-driven manual curation and analysis for all of them. The goal of this workshop was to train new members of the user community on how to use the basic functions of the JGI Genome Portal for genome analysis and manual curation of predicted genes and functions. Attendees learned how to navigate through the genome, analyze gene families and pathways, seach for genes of interest, evaluate gene structures using available evidence and if necessary change them, assign gene names and functions. This was a hands-on tutorial using laptop computers.
JGI 101
Time: 1:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Location: Walnut Creek Marriott, California Ballroom
Audience: Anyone who wants to learn the basics of collaborating with JGI.
This workshop offered an opportunity to learn the ins and outs of JGI sequencing operations and analysis. From writing successful proposals to working with sequence data and online tools, participants learned how to get the most out of the JGI experience. Discussions included how the production sequencing facility handles samples, what project managers need from collaborators, and users can work with JGI to keep projects on track.