EDITORIAL |
The Genome Stability Network
Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Heath Park, Cardiff, CF14 4XN
Institute of Cancer Research, Brookes Lawley Building, Cotswold Road, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5NG
Mutagenesis is pleased to publish in this issue a review article by Elizabeth Bilsland and Jessica Downs entitled "Tails of histones in DNA double-strand break repair". Dr Downs is a member of the committee of the recently established Genome Stability Network. For many years researchers involved in the field of DNA damage and repair in the UK were brought together through the activities of the DNA Repair Network. Although it was never constituted as a formal society, its members were kept informed of meetings and events via distribution of regular newsletters from Andrew Collins and colleagues at Cambridge. One of the highlights of the DNA Repair Network was an annual one-day meeting usually held in London in December. Latterly these meetings were organised by Nigel Jones and his colleagues at Liverpool University.
After a hiatus of a few years, a group of like-minded researchers came together with the aim of reinvigorating the Network. The group was renamed the Genome Stability Network to reflect advances in the field and its increasing importance to the wider scientific community. The mission of the Network is to promote the idea that the study of genome stability is fundamental to understanding the biology of the cell and human health. The Network aims to bring together laboratory scientists, epidemiologists, clinicians and all others with an interest in genome stability to pursue a multi-disciplinary approach. The Network promotes the use of model organisms and intends to provide a forum for meetings, workshops and other activities.
The Network's committee is comprised of both university- and research institute-based scientists. It is chaired by Christopher Jones (Cardiff Univ.) with Simon Reed (Cardiff Univ.) acting as Secretary with Fiona Benson (Lancaster Univ.) as Treasurer. The other committee members are Simon Boulton (CRUK, Clare Hall), Keith Caldecott (Sussex Univ.), Grigory Dianov (MRC, Harwell), Jessica Downs (Cambridge Univ.), Kevin Hiom (LMB, Cambridge), and Nigel Jones (Liverpool Univ.). In July 2004, appropriately during the presidency of Andrew Collins, UKEMS formally accepted the Genome Stability Network as an affiliated interest group. The Network is grateful for financial support from UKEMS.
A further aim of the Network is to encourage postdoctoral workers and students to present their work. To this end the first scientific meeting of the Genome Stability Network was held in Cambridge on January 7th 2005 and generously hosted by the Laboratory of Molecular Biology. The meeting was preceded by an evening reception on the 6th January sponsored by Abcam. At the meeting over 180 delegates heard presentations by twenty speakers.
Interested individuals are encouraged to join UKEMS (http://www.ukems.org/) and are invited to join the Network's mailing list by contacting genomestabilitynetwork{at}cf.ac.uk. The Network's web site contains further details and publicises other meetings of interest. The URL is http://www.genomestabilitynetwork.cf.ac.uk.
Other review articles reflecting the interests of the Genome Stability Network will appear in Mutagenesis in due course. The Editors would also like to encourage investigators to submit their original research in this important field to the journal.
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