Participation Report The 6th AMMRA and 7th SALAS Regional Conference, Singapore
The 6th Asian Mouse Mutagenesis and Resource Association (AMMRA) [1] council meeting was held on November 29, 2011 at the Matrix Building, Biopolis, Singapore. Subsequently, the 7th Singapore Association for Laboratory Animal Science (SALAS) and 6th AMMRA Regional Conference 2011 were jointly held on November 30-December 2 at the Concorde Hotel, Singapore. The delegates from RIKEN BioResource Center (BRC), Drs. Yuichi Obata (Director), Yoichi Gondo (Mutagenesis and Genomics Team), Shigeharu Wakana (Technology and Development Team for Mouse Phenotype Analysis, Japan Mouse Clinic), and Atsushi Yoshiki (Experimental Animal Division) participated in the 6th council meeting to discuss several issues regarding the organization of AMMRA. Professor Gao Xiang at the Model Animal Research Center (MARC), Nanjing University, China was appointed as the next AMMRA Chairperson of the Board of Directors with terms through the 2012 and 2013. Besides, RIKEN BRC has been approved to join in the Board of Directors. To strengthen informatics of AMMRA, all participants agreed to set up an IT work group and nominated Dr. Hiroshi Masuya, RIKEN BRC as a leader of the IT work group. We reported on our recent progress in mouse genomics research, participation in the international mouse phenotyping programs and mouse resources at RIKEN BRC (figures below). In addition to receiving progress reports from each member organization, Dr. Tom Weaver provided interactive comments and suggestions for our future collaboration with the International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium (IMPC) [2]. We had fruitful discussion and exchanged valuable information during the meeting. The 7th AMMRA meeting is planned to be held jointly with the Asian Mouse Phenotyping Consortium meeting at MARC, Nanjing in March 2012 and will be hosted by Professor Gao Xiang, In the 7th SALAS Regional Conference, we presented the following topics to our colleagues in Singapore and exchanged relevant information.
▶  Yoichi Gondo: New reverse genetics for human disease modeling with the next generation sequencing of the whole mouse exome.   ▶  Matuso Kamitani: Air-conditioning technology for laboratory animal facilities. Mr. Kamitani is an engineer at Hitachi Plant Technology Ltd. and collaborates with RIKEN BRC to develop new technologies that reduce energy consumption costs.   ▶  Atsushi Yoshiki: RIKEN BRC large scale mouse resources and user guide.
(report by A.Yoshiki)
[1] The AMMRA was founded in 2006 to strengthen Asian networks. It promotes mutual collaboration in mouse mutagenesis and the use of mouse resources generated within Asian scientific networks. [2] IMPC is comprised of a group of major mouse genetics research institutions and national funding organizations and was formed to develop an encyclopedia of mammalian gene function. IMPC's program allows researchers from across the world to have easy access to all of the resources and information created by the 'knockout mice' program. IMPC has been launched on September 29, 2011. RIKEN BRC and MARC have become IMPC members from Asia.
Dr. Gondo presented recent progress in mouse genomics research by using the next generation sequencing. Dr. Wakana reported on his participation in the IMPC Kick-Off Meeting held in Washington DC on September 29-30 and in the InfraCoMP Kick-Off Meeting held in Munich on November 14-15. He provided the latest information to Asian colleagues on the global collaboration efforts of the IMPC and the European Infrafrontier programmes. Drs. Yoshiki and Obata reported current status of mouse resources and a production plan of knockout mice for the IMPC project at RIKEN BRC. Group photo at the 6th AMMRA council meeting, taken by Margaret Chang, National Laboratory Animal Center (NLAC), Taipei, Taiwan. (Front row, left to right) Gao Xiang, MARC, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China (The next AMMRA Chairperson) Naomi Nakagata, CARD, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan Hyoung-Chin Kim, Biomedical Mouse Resource Center, KRIBB, Korea Thomas A. Weaver, Mary Lyon Centre, MRC Harwell, UK Kenichi Yamamura, CARD, Kumamoto University, Japan (The current AMMRA Chairperson) Barbara Knowles, Institute of Medical Biology, A*STAR, Singapore (Organizer) Sathivel Ponniah, Biological Resource Centre (BRC), Biopolis, Singapore (Organizer) Yuichi Obata, RIKEN BRC, Japan Manickam Arun Kumar, BRC, Singapore (Organizer) Mark W. Moore, IMPC, Wellcome Trust, UK Shigeharu Wakana, Japan Mouse Clinic, RIKEN BRC, Japan (Back row, left to right) Chi-Kuang Leo Wang, NLAC, Taipei, Taiwan Si-Tse Jiang, NLAC, Tainan, Taiwan Ki-Hoan Nam, Biomedical Mouse Resource Center, KRIBB, Korea Masahito Ikawa, Genome Information Research Center, Osaka University, Japan Je Kyung Seong, College of Veterinary Medicine, Seoul National University, Korea Yoichi Gondo, Mutagenesis and genomics team, RIKEN BRC, Japan Han-Woong Lee, Laboratory Animal Research Center, Yonsei University, Korea Atsushi Yoshiki, Experimental Animal Division, RIKEN BRC, Japan Yu-Chia Su, NLAC, Taipei, Taiwan