Multinational Arabidopsis Steering Committee

Dear Members of the International Arabidopsis Research Community,

In conjunction with the 14th International Conference on Arabidopsis
Research held last summer in Madison, USA, the Multinational
Arabidopsis Steering Committee (MASC) held its annual business
meeting. With this letter sent to every member of the Arabidopsis
Research Community we want to explain the purpose of the MASC and
invite everyone to make use of the resources we are making available.

The MASC is a committee made up of Arabidopsis researchers from 14
countries around the world where Arabidopsis Functional Genomics
Research is taking place. Membership on the committee is determined
by the countries represented, and is open to any country or group of
countries that desires representation.
The goals and specific responsibilities of the MASC are:
* To coordinate programmatic aspects of the Arabidopsis
research world-wide
* To facilitate open communication and free exchange of data,
materials and ideas among the Arabidopsis research community
* To monitor and summarize progress of scientific activities of
participating laboratories
* To identify needs and opportunities of the Arabidopsis
research community and communicate them to funding agencies of
participating nations
* To periodically update and adjust the course of the
=46unctional Genomics Project

More information about the MASC, our role within the Arabidopsis
research community and our goals and responsibilities can be found at
[Only registered users see links. ]

The most important aspect of our work is the establishment and
maintenance of communication and coordination among Arabidopsis
researchers around the world. To facilitate these goals, the
following actions were taken during 2001-2003:
* The full-time MASC coordinator is Isabell Witt for the year
2004 funded by the German Science Foundation (DFG). From 2001-2003
Rebecca Joy was the NSF funded fulltime coordinator.
* A MASC web site has been established at the TAIR website by
Rebecca Joy
[Only registered users see links. ] It
contains information about the committee itself, as well as the
functional genomics projects ongoing in countries with representation
on MASC. There are several useful links to databases, MASC
subcommittees and representatives of all countries listed that are
members of MASC:
* Argentina
* Australia and New Zealand
* Austria
* Canada
* China
* European Union
* France
* Germany
* AFGN Abstracts
* Italy
* Japan
* The Netherlands
* Nordic Arabidopsis Network
* United Kingdom
* United States
* 2010 Abstracts

* MASC reports from 2002 and 2003 can be downloaded as PDF
files on this page

To make major contributions to the coordination of International
Arabidopsis research, and especially the ongoing world-wide
=46unctional Genomics projects, the MASC instituted a system of
subcommittees, each of which will track progress toward the goals
outlined for the Functional Genomics community in the 2002 planning
document. These subcommittees are composed of members of the
Arabidopsis community with expertise in each of the four following
areas:

* Bioinformatics
Members of the Subcommittee:
* Fabrice Legeai
* Sean May
* Klaus Mayer
* Yasukazu Nakamura
* Sue Rhee
* Chris Town (Chair)
* Yves van de Peer

* ORFeomics cDNAs and Clone-based Functional Proteomics
Members of the Subcommittee:
* Pierre Hilson (Chair)
* Kazuo Shinozaki
* Ian Small
* Chris Town

* Multiparallel Analytical Tools, including whole-genome
markers, microarrays, and phenotype analysis
Members of the Subcommittee:
* Gerco Angenent
* Mike Beale
* Jerry Cohen
* Paul DuPree
* Oliver Fiehn
* Mary Lou Guerinot
* Heribert Hirt
* Martin Kuiper
* Keith Lindsey
* Sean May
* Lutz Nover
* Kiyotaka Okada
* G=F6ran Sandberg
* Motoaki Seki
* Mike Sussman

* Reverse and Forward Genetics Stocks including markers and
natural variation
Members of the Subcommittee:
* Steve Henikoff
* Minami Matsui
* Ian Small
* Mike Sussman
* Satoshi Tabata
* Paola Vittorioso
* Bernd Weisshaar (Chair)
* Expanded in 2003 by
* Thomas Altmann
* Maarten Koorneef
* Magnus Nordborg
* Randy Scholl

Representatives to each of the subcommittees will be encouraged to be
in frequent contact with Arabidopsis colleagues in their country or
region who are contributing to research in their field. In turn, each
member of the Arabidopsis community is encouraged to be in contact
with their MASC representative or subcommittee representative to
communicate where his or her research fits into our community efforts
and where he or she sees needs or new opportunities.

The MASC has been formed and continues to operate with the
realization that the only way we will make the significant progress
toward understanding the Arabidopsis biological system that must be
made in the next few years is by acknowledging that we are all
working toward the same goals, and that to achieve them we must all
work together. We invite comments and participation from the
community always but especially now would like to encourage you
because the MASC report 2004 will be available at the 15th
International Conference on Arabidopsis Research
[Only registered users see links. ] This report should contain like in the past a
summarizing update on Arabidopsis Research world wide and should show
where Arabidopsis Research will be in the future.

On behalf of the MASC,

Isabell Witt, executive secretary and coordinator


The MASC web site can be accessed at:
[Only registered users see links. ]

The 2002 MASC planning document, entitled "The Multinational
Arabidopsis thaliana Functional Genomics Project: Beyond the Whole
Genome Sequence" is available for download at
[Only registered users see links. ].



Dr. Isabell Witt
MPI of Molecular Plant Physiology
Am Muehlenberg 1
14476 Golm
Germany
++49 (0) 331 5678308
[Only registered users see links. ]