The Vertebrate Genome Project (VGP) released 101 new, genomes, which they dub as “high quality chromosome level” assemblies. GIGA held a very well received session on its own, and interacted with other EBP groups, such as i5K. EBP continued to push its mission to obtain genomes from about 9000 eukaryotes at the family level in its three year Phase 1. A big component of this will be provided by the UK’s Tree of Life Project, which will sequence at least 66,000 species with Wellcome Trust funding to the Sanger Sequencing over the next 10 years (https://www.sanger.ac.uk/science/programmes/tree-of-life), including many invertebrates. EBP is gaining momentum with this project and other collaborations. GIGA and our sister group i5K will likely provide important components of EBP in the future.
Lopez Lab @ NSU 