Dear Collegues,
the 2000 Meeting of the WHO Schistosoma Genome Network will take place from
March 30-April 1 2000 at Smith College, Northampton, Connecticut, USA. The
meeting will be run as a joint meeting with the WHO Filarial Genome Network
and is being co-organised by Phil LoVerde and Steve Williams (co-ordinators
of the Schisto and Filaria Networks).
With the formalised change of emphasis of the WHO Steering Committee from
"Parasite Genome" to "Functional Genomics", its possible future merger with
the Pathogenesis Committee, and the (hoped for) initiation of large scale
genomic sequencing, the Network is at a crucial point in its development.
It is also possible that, for the forseeable future, this may be the last
opportunity that the Network has to meet in its present form. Consequently,
vital decisions about future research directions will be discussed.
As usual, this Meeting is open to any schisto researcher group wishing to
attend. However, our funding is extremely limited (significantely more so
than in previous years). In order to maximise funds, the Meeting is being
timed to allow a Saturday stopover and to coincide with a McConnellel Clark
Filarial Meeting at Smith College (so Schisto has a >50% share of the WHO
Meeting funds). The co-organisers have already issued specific invitations
to those TDR-funded individuals who the Networks can support financially.
Some other Network members are using their own funds to attend. Anyone else
is also welcome to attend but, regretably, must do so entirely at their own
expense. If you wish to attend at your own expense, please contact me as
soon as possible so that the necessary arrangements can be made.
The Meeting will start with a joint Schisto / Filaria session on
Thursday 30/03/00, from 8-10 pm. On Friday 31/03/00, the Networks will
meet separately and on Saturday 01/04/00 there will be both separate
meetings and
joint sesions. The meeting will conclude on the Saturday night.
Thank you and best wishes,
David.
David A. Johnston,
Secretary to the WHO Schistosoma Genome Network,
Biomedical Parasitology Division,
Dept. of Zoology,
The Natural History Museum,
Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, England, UK.
***PLEASE NOTE NEW PHONE / FAX NUMBERS***
Tel: 020-7942-5566
Fax: 020-7942-5566 / 5518 / 5054
(from outside the UK: 44-20-7942 ****)
***PLEASE NOTE NEW PHONE / FAX NUMBERS***
eMail daj at nhm.ac.ukhttp://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted_sites/schisto/
The Biomedical Parasitology Division is a WHO Collaborating Centre for the
identification of schistosomes and their snail hosts.
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