The 2018 IMGC will take place at the beautiful Wyndham Grand Rio Mar Beach Resort & Spa from November 11-14.

Important Dates:

July 31  Scholarship Application Deadline 

August 15 Early Registration Deadline

August 15 Abstract Deadline

October 11 Hotel reservations at group rate deadline

At Wyndham Grand Rio Mar Beach Resort & Spa, we believe in the restorative power of nature. Whether you yearn for a Caribbean golf getaway, crave an oceanfront escape, or you and the one you love need a little time under the sun and stars, there's no place like Puerto Rico. Ours is the only resort on the northeast coast, with over 1 mile stretch of golden beach access and 500 acres of on-site recreational fun, including Rio Mar Casino, 2 golf courses, miles of trails, and 5 eclectic restaurants and lounges.

The Chapman Lecture  entitled "Genome-Wide Dynamics of Chromatin Modifiers" will be presented by Terry Magnuson.

Terry Magnuson is Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Magnuson’s research focuses on the role of chromatin remodeling complexes regulating development and disease states. Magnuson is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the AAAS. He was named a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences, a Basil O’Connor awardee from the March of Dimes, and he received the distinguished Alumnus Award from Weill Cornell University. In addition to his contributions to science, Magnuson is actively involved in service to the scientific community at the local, national, and international level. He is President elect of the Genetics Society of America, serves on the NIH Council of Councils, and also is on the advisory board for the NIH ‘All of Us’ program. Magnuson is a member of the National Academies Forum on Regenerative Medicine. He was the founding chair of the Department of Genetics and Director of the Carolina Center for Genome Sciences at UNC Chapel Hill. He created the Cancer Genetics Program in the UNC Lineberger Cancer Center and also served as Vice Dean for Research in the UNC School of Medicine.

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

Bruce Beutler, UT Southwestern and 2011 Nobel Laureate will present "Mutagenesis with real-time assignment of cause and effect".

Andrew Pospisilik, Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics, Freiburg, Germany

Elizabeth Bryda, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO

Elizabeth Bryda earned a PhD in molecular genetics at Rutgers University and went on to receive post-doctoral training with Lorraine Flaherty at the Wadsworth Center, positionally cloning kidney and hearing loss genes in mouse models of polycystic kidney disease and Usher syndrome respectively.   She has continued to embrace comparative medicine approaches to studying human diseases using a variety of animal models from rodents to zebrafish and applying state-of-the art genetic engineering technologies.  She is currently a Professor of Veterinary Pathobiology in the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Missouri and serves as the Director of the MU Animal Modeling Core.  She is the Director of the NIH-funded Rat Resource and Research Center (RRRC) which serves as a repository for important rat genetic models as well as provides animals, embryonic cell lines and rat-related services to the global biomedical research community.  She is a 2017 recipient of the Zoetis Award for Veterinary Research Excellence and a 2018 recipient of the Academy of Science-St. Louis James B. Eads Award for outstanding achievement in technology.      

Elizabeth Bryda's talk “Animal Modeling in the Era of Precision Medicine”, will be about using various animal models to “prove” the pathogenicity of two independent rare human variants in kids with cystic kidney disease.

Sally Dunwoodie, Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute , Sydney, Australia

Sally Dunwoodie gained a PhD researching the genetics of muscle development, at the Children’s Medical Research Institute, University of Sydney. She undertook postdoctoral training in embryology at the National Institute for Medical Research in London. There she identified numerous genes necessary for normal mammalian embryogenesis. She has defined genetic causes of congenital vertebral defects with diagnostic genetic tests now available worldwide. Sally is embracing some of the newest genomic technologies to identify disease-causing mutations in hundreds of families with heart defects, among others. She is also exploring the impact that environmental factors and gene-environment interaction have on embryogenesis. She has received awards including the ANZSCDB Emerging Leader Award, was a 2016 finalist in the NSW Premier's Woman of the Year Award, and won the NSW Premier’s Prize for Excellence in Medical Biological Science in 2017. Sally Dunwoodie heads the Embryology Laboratory and the Chain Reaction Program in Congenital Heart Disease Research at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute in Sydney. She is a Professor in the Faculties of Medicine and Science at the University of New South Wales.

Brief schedule:

The secretariat of the IMGS will meet on Saturday, 11/10.

There will be workshops on Sunday morning, 11/11, followed by the Trainee Symposium from 1-6PM.

The main meeting will begin with a welcome reception on 11/11 and sessions from Monday through Wednesday.

Topics:

Abstracts from any topic in Mammalian Biology are eligible! 

Scholarships will be available to trainees (students or post docs).  You must be an IMGS member for 2018 to apply.  Scholarships will be limited to one per laboratory.  For more details, see the Scholarships page.

Scientific Organizing Committee:

Fernando Pardo-Manuel de Villena

David Threadgill