Pathway to Increase Standards and Competency of eDNA Surveys (PISCeS) International Conference
POSTPONED!
PISCeS 2020 at the University of Guelph has been postponed due to COVID-19 considerations and associated travel restrictions. A new date will be announced soon.
The University of Guelph’s Biodiversity Institute of Ontario (BIO), Department of Integrative Biology & College of Biological Sciences are pleased to host a second eDNA conference on May 28-29, 2020. Academia, regulators, and industry will join in a discussion on Pathways to Increase Standards and competency of Environmental DNA Surveys. The intent is to explore and inform public policy, industry strategies and future research.
Conference: Thursday, May 28 - Friday, May 29, 2020
Training Workshops: eDNA Analytical Methods - Wednesday, May 27, 2020
NEW! eDNA Sampling - Saturday, May 30, 2020
The Training Workshop session will include an introduction to the eDNA approaches, including qPCR assay design, NGS data analysis, and introduction to sampling collection. More details coming soon.
Registration
| Registration Type |
Early Bird Rate (Until Feb. 14) |
Regular Rate (Feb. 14 - Apr. 30) |
Late Rate (May 1-22) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Student and Postdoc Registration - Conference and Workshop Session | $150.00 | $200.00 | $270.00 |
| Student and Postdoc Registration - Conference Only | $100.00 | $150.00 | $200.00 |
| Student and Postdoc Registration - Training Session Only | $50.00 | $50.00 | $70.00 |
| Student and Postdoc Registration - Workshop Session on May 30th | $0 | $25.00 | $25.00 |
| Regular Registration - Conference and Training Session | $250.00 | $300.00 | $370.00 |
| Regular Registration - Conference Only | $200.00 | $250.00 | $300.00 |
| Regular Registration - Training Session Only | $50.00 | $50.00 | $70.00 |
| Regular Registration - Workshop Session on May 30th | $0 | $25.00 | $25.00 |
Registration Deadlines
- Early Bird Registration Fee- Due February 14th, 2020
- Regular Registration Fee - Due April 30th, 2020
- Late Registration Fee - Due During May 2020
Abstracts
Submission Deadline: March 8th, 2020
Submit your abstract by email to pisces@uoguelph.ca following the submission guidelines:
- When submitting your abstract use the following format in the email subject: Abstract Submission_LastName_Submission type
- Abstracts must be submitted as a PDF file.
- Use the provided template to prepare your abstract. Download the template here.
- Submitted abstracts may not exceed 250 words (excluding title, author names, affiliations, and keywords).
- Abstracts should include the following sections: Research topics, Submission type (oral or poster presentation), Title, Author(s), Institution(s), Abstract, Keywords.
- The main (presenting) author's name should be marked with an asterisk (*)
- Submitters should select up to 3 research topics (see below) that most closely correspond to the research to be presented.
- Abstracts should be written in plain English.
- References should not be cited in the abstract unless they are absolutely essential, in which case full bibliographic information must be provided.
- Abstracts will be selected by a peer-review process.
Research Topics:
- Mesocosms
- Marine
- Freshwater
- Aquatic
- Terrestrial
- Conservation
- Invasive Alien Species
- Target detection
- Metabarcoding
- Methods development
- Theoretical
- Applied
- Policy and regulatory applications
Confirmation of Acceptance: March 30th, 2020
PISCeS Keynote Speakers
Dr Kat Bruce
Director, NatureMetrics
www.naturemetrics.co.uk
Dr. Michael K. Young
Research Fisheries Biologist
National Genomics Center for Wildlife and Fish Conservation,
Rocky Mountain Research Station
https://www.fs.fed.us/rm/boise/AWAE/projects/the-aquatic-eDNAtlas-project.html
Dr. Ian Salter
Marine Biogeochemistry and Microbial Ecology
Faroe Marine Research Institute (Havstovan)
Dr. Melania Cristescu
Canada Research Chair in Ecological Genomics
Editor-in-Chief, Genome
Associate Professor
Department of Biology, McGill University
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/journal/gen
http://biology.mcgill.ca/faculty/cristescu
Training Workshops
eDNA Analytical Methods Workshop - Wednesday, May 27, 2020
The eDNA Analytical Methods workshop will focus on targeted (morning) and passive metabarcoding (afternoon) approaches to detect eDNA.
Morning session: Targeted detection
The workshop will reveal the inner workings of targeted qPCR-based eDNA tests. It will cover attributes of a good targeted qPCR-based eDNA test, considerations in test design and validation, and how to identify and mitigate false positives and negatives. Examples of useful reporting parameters will be given.
Afternoon session: Metabarcoding
The workshop will lead a discussion of what core basic analysis steps are included in all metabarcoding workflows, what these mean and what the implications are for eventual analysis. The session will address read merging, primer removal, depreplication, quality filtering, chimera searching, tag jumping, filtering rare haplotypes and the controversy over quantification in metabarcoding work. Case studies and example analysis platforms will be compared to demonstrate the similarities in these core steps and to show the impact of choices.
Instructors:
|
Dr. Caren Helbing Professor Department of Biochemistry & Microbiology and Centre for Biomedical Research University of Victoria |
Dr. Elizabeth L. Clare Senior Lecturer School of Biological and Chemical Sciences Queen Mary University of London |
eDNA Sampling Workshop: Saturday, May 30, 2020
The eDNA Sampling workshop will explore a variety of sample collection methodologies for both professionals (e.g. using dedicated equipment) and citizen science collaborators (e.g. using inexpensive DIY kits).
More details coming soon.
The eDNA Sampling Workshop is sponsored by GEN-FISH
PISCeS Local Organizing Committee
|
Robert Hanner
Associate Professor
Biodiversity Institute of Ontario
Centre for Biodiversity Genomics
Department of Integrative Biology University of Guelph
rhanner@uoguelph.ca
519-824-4120 ext 53479
|
Tzitziki Loeza-Quintana
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Department of Integrative Biology
University of Guelph
tloezaqu@uoguelph.ca
|
Scientific Program Committee
|
Scott Tarof, Terrestrial Ecologist Certified Ontario MNRF Wetland Evaluator Azimuth Environmental Consulting, Inc. starof@azimuthenvironmental.com
|
Mary Murdoch, Senior Principal, Ecosystems Technical Leader – Canada Stantec Consulting Ltd. mary.murdoch@stantec.com |
Alfried Vogler, Professor Imperial College London |
Thank You PISCeS Sponsors!
PLATINUM LEVEL SPONSORS:
GOLD LEVEL SPONSORS:
SILVER LEVEL SPONSORS:
BRONZE LEVEL SPONSORS:
To become a sponsor or to learn more, please email pisces@uoguelph.ca denoting “sponsorship” in the subject header of the message.
PISCeS Social Media
For updates and information, please follow us on Twitter
Watch all talks from PISCeS 2018 on our YouTube channel PISCeS_eDNA. Make sure to subscribe for updates.
Sign up to receive relevant updates about eDNA and PIECeS. To be added to the mailing list, send an email to pisces@uoguelph.ca denoting "add me to the list" in the subject header.
PISCeS Inquiries
Please direct general inquiries to:
Robert Hanner, PhD
Associate Professor
Biodiversity Institute of Ontario
Centre for Biodiversity Genomics
Department of Integrative Biology
University of Guelph
rhanner@uoguelph.ca
519-824-4120 ext 53479
File attachments
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 Environmental DNA, A new open access journal dedicated to the study and use of environmental DNA | 142.27 KB |