The International Mammalian Genome Conference

The International Mammalian Genome Society (IMGS) was established in 1990 to foster and stimulate mammalian genetics research in areas ranging from genome annotation, sequence comparison and functional genomics to mutagenesis and quantitative trait analysis, and to represent the concerns of its members in their professional activities. For over 33 years, the IMGS has sponsored the annual International Mammalian Genome Conference (IMGC), which provides a forum for scientific and policy discussions, and a venue for scientists in training to network with leaders in mammalian genetics and to present their work at an international venue. The objective is to provide scholarships for the annual IMGC for students and postdoctoral fellows, particularly targeting URGs. Previous conferences have been highly successful at providing a forum for the mammalian and biomedical genetic community and a venue for student and postdoctoral scholars to present their research and interact with leaders in the mammalian genetics community. Substantial enhancements have been implemented for these conferences with the goal of improving the benefit of the IMGC to the broader mammalian genetics community and increasing participation by scientists-in-training. The improvements include sessions on large-scale resources and infrastructure, phenotyping for pre-clinical models, rigor and reproducibility, mentorship sessions, and participation by scientists-in-training on the IMGS Secretariat. With recent discoveries in human genetic analysis now being translated to functional studies in relevant model systems, the importance of a meeting with a focus on the optimal utilization of these resources is clear.