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May 28, 2015  |  General

Microbial Madness: Talks, Posters, and SMRTest Microbe Grant Program at ASM 2015

For some people, Mardi Gras and beignets are big attractions in New Orleans — but for us it’s all about the annual conference of the American Society for Microbiology. With more than 8,000 attendees, ASM 2015 will take place at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center from May 30 to June 2 and will feature some of the leading scientists in the field.

At 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 31, in La Nouvelle Orleans Ballroom B, Jing Li from Tsinghua University will discuss the detection and importance of three DNA methylation motifs in the genome of Streptococcus pneumonia. Shortly after, Julie Segre from NIH/NHGRI will discuss the use of SMRT® Sequencing as part of an effort to track the spread of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae at the NIH Clinical Center. Long reads from the PacBio® system were instrumental in determining the sequence of events in a recent outbreak. Her presentation will take place in room 339, at 3:00 p.m.

As long reads have become a necessity to finish de novo microbial assemblies, you’ll also find plenty of SMRT Sequencing data in the poster sessions. There are more than 35 posters including PacBio data this year; check out the full list.

We’re pleased to announce our new grant program which enables one lucky winner to get his or her project sequenced on the PacBio system. To enter the SMRTest Microbe Grant Program, just fill out a short grant application describing your proposed project and how it would benefit from the long reads and high consensus accuracy of SMRT Sequencing. The winner will receive up to four library preparations and a sequencing run using a maximum of one SMRT Cell 8Pac.  In addition, our co-sponsors of the grant program, the Institute for Genome Scienceswill provide sequencing and bioinformatics support for the winner. Entries are due by June 27 and you do not need to attend ASM to enter.

If you are attending ASM, you can learn more about the grant program or about SMRT Sequencing by stopping by the PacBio booth (#764) or the Institute for Genome Sciences, a PacBio certified service provider (#776). We look forward to seeing you in New Orleans!

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