DOE Joint Genome Institute 7th Annual Meeting on March 20-22, 2012

The 7th Annual Genomics of Energy and Environment Meeting of the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute will be held at the Marriott in Walnut Creek on March 20-22, 2012. The talks will focus on genomics research in the fields of clean energy generation and the environment. Keynote speeches will be delivered by Steven Benner, Distinguished Fellow of The Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution and Carl Zimmer, a science writer for The New York Times.

Since 2005, the DOE Joint Genome Institute has focused on the application of genomics to bioenergy and environmental issues. Organisms are selected for sequencing based on their relevance to the DOE missions, judged by an independent peer review process. Many of the projects focus on one of three key aspects: the development of biofuel feedstocks; the identification of enzymes that can effectively break down plant fibers into sugar; and the development of processes to ferment plant-derived sugars into liquid biofuel.

The annual meeting draws several hundred researchers working in the fields of genomics, bioenergy, carbon cycling and biogeochemistry from around the world. To learn more about this year's event, visit http://bit.ly/JGI_UM.

Provided by DOE/Joint Genome Institute