Special WALS Event Looks at the Future of the Genomics Revolution

Participants include (clockwise from top l) NIH director Dr. Francis Collins, Dr. Claire Fraser of the Institute for Genome Sciences at the University of Maryland, Dr. Charles Rotimi of NHGRI and Dr. Eric Lander of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

The NIH Director’s Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series (WALS) will host a lecture and panel discussion on Jan. 13, in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the first complete bacterial genome, the 20th anniversary of the publication of the human genome and the 15th anniversary of the first human metagenome.

This lecture and panel discussion will be led by NIH director Dr. Francis Collins and will feature Dr. Eric Lander, president and founding director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Dr. Claire Fraser, director of the Institute for Genome Sciences at the University of Maryland, and Dr. Charles Rotimi, chief of the Metabolic, Cardiovascular and Inflammatory Disease Genomics Branch at NHGRI. The panel is titled “Fueling the next genomic revolution: Maximizing the impact of bacterial, human and human metagenome genomic knowledge and technology.”

The event is from 3 to 4:30 p.m. and will be held via videocast at https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=40165.

Collins and invited speakers will discuss highlights of the last quarter century of achievements in pathogen, commensal and human genomics; current promises and challenges in genomics; and views on what is next in genomics, including future opportunities in integrative omics, functional genomics and genomic engineering.

For more information and reasonable accommodation, contact the WALS office at (301) 594-6747 or WALSoffice@od.nih.gov at least 5 days before the lecture. The WALS 2020-2021 season will continue with all lectures held remotely. Refer to https://oir.nih.gov/wals for more information.