Annual Meeting of the AGD 2011

in Potsdam, October 28-29

Topic: Impact and Challenges of Comprehensive Rare Variant Analyses

Dear Friends and Members of the AGD,

The advent of the so-called ‘New Generation Sequencing’ (NGS) technologies has paved the way to comprehensively analyzing the variability of individual genomes. Rare variants, in particular rare single nucleotide variants (SNVs), small insertions and deletions can now be studied at unprecedented depth. These technological improvements have brought back into focus the question as to the particular role of rare SNVs in human disease etiology. Tremendous amounts of NGS data on disease-associated SNVs are currently being generated. In addition to their value in basic research, these data are also thought to bear great potential for facilitating improvements in terms of disease prevention, diagnostics, and treatment.

The 2011 meeting of the AGD will address the above issue in four sessions:

Session 1 - The role of rare variants in complex diseases
Session 2 - The triumph of NGS in Mendelian disease genetics
Session 3 - The yield of cancer genome sequencing
Session 4 - Prospects of genomics-based medicine

The complete scientific program can be downloaded here.

From the presentations given at the meeting and from the (hopefully vivid) discussions, we expect fruitful impulses for future developments, not only in research but also in our health care systems.

You are cordially invited to participate in the 2011 AGD meeting, held at Potsdam on October 28 and 29, 2011. We are convinced that the meeting program is very attractive, and that the excellent speakers will manage to inspire you and your future work. The pleasant atmosphere of the “Seminaris SeeHotel Potsdam” and of its surroundings at the Templiner See is ideally suited for such a high-profile scientific meeting, providing recreation for both body and mind.

We are looking forward to seeing you in Potsdam.

Sincerely yours,