The OMGN is an international network of researchers with a focus on the molecular biology and genetics of Oomycetes.

About Oomycetes

Because of their economic impact as plant pathogens, molecular, genetic and genomics studies are well advanced in many oomycete species. These organisms have served as lead species for the entire Stramenopile lineage, a major radiation of crown eukaryotes, distinct from plants, animals and fungi. The oomycete molecular genetics community has a strong culture of collaboration and communication, and sharing of techniques and resources. In the late 1990s an international network of researchers started to meet once every year and established the Phytophthora Molecular Genetics Network. A few years later the network was renamed Oomycete Molecular Genetics Network, abbreviated as OMGN. With the blossoming of genetic and genomic tools for oomycetes, many new investigators, from a variety of backgrounds, became interested in oomycete molecular genetics and genomics. Subsequently, the network has attracted researchers whose interests extend beyond genetics and genomics to many aspects of oomycetes and diverse organisms with which they associate.

Goals

The network has the following goals:

1. Promote communication and collaboration, and minimize duplication of effort, within the worldwide oomycete research community.
2. Promote the entry and participation of new investigators in the field of oomycete genomics and biology, particularly junior faculty.
3. Foster diversity, in every dimension, within the community.

The annual OMGN meeting serves to meet these goals.

Membership

The OMGN is open to all researchers with an interest in oomycetes and from disciplines ranging from molecular genetics, genomics, biology, population biology, ecology, either at an experimental or a computational level. Investigators new to the field are always welcome, for example, those interested in saprophytes and animal pathogens. Upon request members are included in the mailing list omgn-users@lists.oregonstate.edu. Nik Grünwald maintains this mailing list. Participants of the annual OMGN meeting should be notified that they can subscribe to the mailing list at this website: https://lists.oregonstate.edu/mailman/listinfo/omgn-users

You can read about our govenerance structure here

Meetings

We hold annual meetings, often in conjunction with larger, more general Plant Pathology conferences. The 2023 meeting was a satellite event to ICPP in Lyon. You can read about our past meetings here.