International Rat Omics Consortium (IROC)

Rats are widely used in translational addiction neuroscience, but their omics resources have lagged behind those available for smaller rodent models. Laura Saba, Boris Tabakoff, Robert Williams, and colleagues established IROC to advance omics data and analytical tools for laboratory rats. The consortium connects researchers who generate, analyze, and curate omics data with those who develop analytical tools or use these resources. Participants include university laboratories in the United States and Europe, the Rat Genome Database, NCBI, EBI, and NIH institutes.

IROC meets monthly by Zoom, except during the summer. Recent topics have included the mRatBN7.2 and GRCr8 reference genomes, telomere-to-telomere genome assemblies, the rat pangenome, 3D chromatin interactions, single-nucleus omics, epitranscriptomics, annotation of the rat reference genome, and AI-based tools for omics analysis.

To participate in a meeting, contact Hao Chen.