Since its inception in 2000, WormBase has been striving to meet the needs of our users--the C. elegans research community and anyone who is interested in worm biology and genomics. As an information database, our goal is to provide useful information and to make it easier for users to find it.

Highlights of WormBase features: Genome browser: tools to search the genome for a sequence, C. briggsae alignment, SNP, transposon insertion or Gene Knockout Consortium allele.

Gene information: mutant phenotype, expression pattern, microarray analysis, expression map, RNAi experiment, description and functional annotation, mapping, marker and strain.

Cell information: cell, lineage, pedigree and neuronal wiring.

Other: batch download (FASTA, GFF, ACeDB), paper and meeting abstract, author information, C. elegans community news.

During the meeting, we will discuss our progress on database content and WormBase web site navigability. We will run a workshop to provide hands-on tutorials. Most importantly, we will be there to listen to your suggestions, requests and complaints.

We will also announce the winner of our logo contest at the meeting. Please make your submissions at http://www.wormbase.org/about/logo_contest.html.