Source: GORDON RESEARCH CONFERENCES, INC submitted to NRP
2025 QUANTITATIVE GENETICS AND GENOMICS GORDON RESEARCH CONFERENCE AND GORDON RESEARCH SEMINAR
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1033322
Grant No.
2025-67015-44165
Cumulative Award Amt.
$50,000.00
Proposal No.
2024-08076
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Dec 15, 2024
Project End Date
May 6, 2025
Grant Year
2025
Program Code
[A1201]- Animal Health and Production and Animal Products: Animal Breeding, Genetics, and Genomics
Recipient Organization
GORDON RESEARCH CONFERENCES, INC
512 LIBERTY LN
WEST KINGSTON,RI 02892-1502
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
This application seeks partial support for the Gordon Research Conference (GRC) and Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) on Quantitative Genetics and Genomics to be held in Renaissance Tuscani II Ciocco, Luca, Italy on February 16-21, 2025.The GRC and GRS aims to (1) Promote communication between scientists in the field of quantitative genetics and genomics, (2) Foster new collaborations among scientists with different backgrounds, and (3) Build a community for early career researchers (ECR). We will achieve these objectives by offering an outstanding and diverse outline of speakers and through a conference format that is design to promote interactions among scientists. The main theme for the 2025 GRC will be the interplay between genetics and the environment.
Animal Health Component
40%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
50%
Applied
40%
Developmental
10%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
3033999108050%
2012499108050%
Goals / Objectives
Aim 1: Promote communication between scientists in the field of quantitative genetics and genomics. Our program is composed of speakers and discussion leaders with diverse research focus-animal, plant, human, and microbial research-which will attract attendees from the different disciplines to participate in our conference. For all sessions, at least 50% of the time set aside for speaker presentations is for discussion. Daily poster sessions will allow attendees to present and discuss their work with other attendees.Aim 2: Establish new collaborations among scientists with different backgrounds. We prioritized inviting speakers from a diverse set of countries and research environments, who work on different aspects of the same topics, and who are able to provide different perspectives, methods and outlook. Our sessions cover a range of topics of interest, but are unified in addressing our conference theme. To encourage attendance from around the world, we prioritized inviting those from underrepresented populations and plan to advertise widely through mailing lists, societies, social media and our own research networks.Aim 3: Build a community for early career researchers (ECR). Our one-day seminar (GRS) that takes place before the main conference (GRC) begin. The GRS is programmed to give PhD students and postdocs an opportunity to interact with each other and build their own research networks before they meet with more senior attendees at the main conference (GRC). We also have a dedicated mentoring session aimed at addressing questions and issues important to the career development. Our GRS format has been exceptionally helpful at previous meetings in building a cross-disciplinary community of ECRs, many of whom have now become regular attendees of our conference and have taken on mentoring roles for other ECRs.
Project Methods
The 2025 GRC on Quantitative Genetics and Genomics is being organized by the co-chairs, Drs. Josephine Pemberton and Na Cai, and vice-chairs, Drs. Gustavo de los Campos and Cassandra Spracklen, with assistance from past chair Dr. Guilherme Rosa. Current chairs were co-chairs during the previous 2023 GRC on Quantitative Genetics and Genomics. The Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) that will precede the conference is organised by co-chairs Dr Husain Agha and Ms Lianyun Huang.

Progress 12/15/24 to 05/07/25

Outputs
Target Audience:Participants of all status were targeted including graduate students, post docs, assistant professors, associate professors, professors, research scientists, research directors, editors/journalists.The conference was well attended with 155 participants from diverse professional backgrounds. The breakdown of participants included the below: Professional Background: • Graduate Students = 37 • Professor = 26 • Post Doc = 29 • Assistant Professor = 11 • Associate Professor = 12 • Research Scientist/Engineer = 28 • Research Director = 8 • Editor/Journalist = 3 • Administrator = 1 Background: • Academic = 112 • Academic/Insustrial = 29 • Government =2 • Industrial = 12 The seminar was well attended with 47 participants from diverse professional backgrounds. All continued on to attend the associated conference. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The keynote talk on the first day of the seminar provided insights into cutting-edge science in gene-by-environment interaction, while the mentoring session on the second day assisted trainees in building their careers in the fast-moving fields of quantitative genetics and genomics. There was a one-hour panel discussion, where senior scientists, from both academia and industry, answered questions from trainees about career development in quantitative genetics and genomics. These scientists served as mentors and were available to answer questions from participants throughout the GRS and GRC. The discussion covered topics such as service and its implications in academia and industry, identifying directions in a rapidly expanding field in quantitative genetics and genomics, gaining and managing independence at work, and soft skills such as writing, presenting and networking. At the GRC and the following GRS, speakers, discussion leaders, poster presenters and attendees simultaneously contributed to and benefited from thecollective skills and experience shared throughout the conference. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The Quantitative Genetics and Genomics GRC was a premier, international scientific conference focused on advancing the frontiers of science through the presentation of cutting-edge and unpublished research, prioritizing time for discussion after each talk and fostering informal interactions among scientists of all career stages. The conference program included a range of speakers and discussion leaders from institutions and organizations worldwide, concentrating on the latest developments in the field. The conference was five days long and held in a remote location to increase the sense of camaraderie and create scientific communities, with lasting collaborations and friendships. In addition to premier talks, the conference had designated time for poster sessions from individuals of all career stages, and afternoon free time and communal meals allowed for informal networking opportunities with leaders in the field.For this meeting we were thinking about how quantitative traits vary in time and space through interactions between genetics and ontogeny or environmental variation. Our overarching themes included a focus on longitudinal studies, which might include disease trajectories, developmental trajectories, environmental change, selection and response and genotype by environment interactions. In particular, we aimed to discuss how the hundreds of genetic associations we have found for complex traits in humans, animals and plants may be transformed into biological understanding, an ongoing and challenging endeavour. Applications of these themes included sustainability in agriculture and environmental management, management of infectious disease, and precision medicine. The Quantitative Genetics and Genomics GRS provided a unique forum for young doctoral and post-doctoral researchers to present their work, discuss new methods, cutting edge ideas, and pre-published data, as well as to build collaborative relationships with their peers. Experienced mentors and trainee moderators facilitated active participation in scientific discussion to allow all attendees to be engaged participants rather than spectators.The focus of this year's meeting was on exploring genetic, environmental and ontogenic effects, and their interactions, in quantitative genetics. We discussed trajectories of complex diseases, longitudinal studies, and evolutionary pathways. Additionally, we explored how differences in the environment, across both time and space, influence phenotypes and how genes interact with those environmental factors.We also covered infectious disease management and precision medicine, addressing the challenges we need to overcome and opportunities for future research. The presentations encompassed statistical, computational, and experimental methods. GRC was grateful for the funding provided by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for 29 conference attendees and 17 seminar attendees. The funds were spent in line the goals of the proposal and the conference chairs focused their efforts on providing support for selected participants to attend the 2025 Quantitative Genetics and Genomics Conference and Seminar. At the end of the conference, participants had the opportunity to elect future conference chairs and evaluate the meeting's scientific content, diversity of the program, and overall atmosphere. Feedback collected was extremely positive and future conference chairs will use the community's comments to ensure future iterations of the meeting continue to serve the mission of the organization and the needs of the field. General sentiments expressed included: There were ample opportunities for networking between junior and senior scientists, creating a welcoming environment. Scientific content was cutting edge. Speaker pool was engaging. The Conference Evaluation Committee and GRC Board of Trustees reviews all conference evaluations at the end of the conference season, using feedback provided by the communities to determine which meetings should be approved for future scheduling.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2025 Citation: Conference Program: https://www.grc.org/quantitative-genetics-and-genomics-conference/2025/ Seminar Program: https://www.grc.org/quantitative-genetics-and-genomics-grs-conference/2025/