 Okay, I'd like to call to order what is the 76th meeting of the National Advisory Council for Human Genome Research. Welcome, everyone. As I was joking with some folks earlier this morning, I'm glad council meeting was this week and not two weeks ago because two weeks ago, the D.C. area was not in any sort of shape to have an in-person meeting involving this advisory council. But fortunately, the weather cooperated this week, at least so far, so it's good to see all of you. Congratulations to all Broncos fans out there, condolences to Panthers fans out there. To me, the best part of the Super Bowl is that once it's over, it means you're only about a week or two away from spring training baseball starting. So that's, to me, the best part of the Super Bowl. So, any case, I will turn this over to Rudy to deal with the various business items. Okay. Good morning, everyone. Let me remind you that the council meeting is being webcast live and it will be archived. So, we're making history here, folks. Consider how you want to be remembered. Let's begin with introductions. As is our custom, we have five new council members coming on board. This is their beginning of their four-year term of service. So Brent Gravely. Brent is the John and Donna Crennicki Professor of Genomics. He's the Associate Director of the Institute for Systems Genomics at the University of Connecticut Health Center. Brent's research interests include the regulation of gene expression by small RNAs and regulation of alternative splicing. He works in both human and drosophila systems and is a long-standing member of both the ENCODE and MODENCODE consortia. Brent has served on over 30 NIH peer review panels, including four years as a standing member of the Molecular Genetics Study Section, and he has served as an ad hoc member of the National Advisory Council for General Medical Sciences. He served on the editorial boards of multiple scientific journals, including RNA, BMC Molecular Biology, BMC Genomics, Genome Biology, and currently serves as an editor on the journal RNA. Welcome, Brent. Gail Henderson. Gail is Professor in the Department of Social Medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. Gail was trained in sociology and has a long-standing research interests in both public health, global health inequities, and clinical research ethics. She's been an active member of the LC research community for more than 15 years, and she is currently Principal Investigator on one of NHGRI's Centers of Excellence in LC Research at UNC. That research program examines how risk and benefits of gene transfer research are understood and described by investigators and participants in such studies. Gail is also a long-standing involvement in public health and social science research activities in China and Thailand, and she has received funding from both child health and allergy and infectious disease institutes of NIH to support that work. Gail has a commendable record of service on NIH peer review panels, including a three-year tour of duty on the Standing LC Study Section, where we serve together. And she has served on the editorial boards of the American Sociological Review, Genetics in Medicine, and the Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics. Well, Mark Johnston, Mark is Professor and Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Mark's lab has studied glucose signaling and response in yeast for many years, and through this model system he has made seminal observations about the mechanism of transcriptional regulation in that pathway. His lab has also used computational methods in cross-species comparative genome analyses to identify transcriptional regulatory sequences and identify the genomic sites used by transcription factors. Mark served four years as a standing member of the Microbial Physiology and Genetics Study Section, as well as multiple special emphasis panels for NIH. He has served on the editorial boards of Molecular Genetics and Genomics, yeast, genome research, molecular and cellular biology, eukaryotic cell, and as the Associate Editor of Genetics. In 2004, he served as the President of the Genetic Society of America. Mark is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Microbiology, and he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2012. Welcome, Mark. Jonathan Prichard. Jonathan is Professor in the Department of Genetics and Biology at Stanford University, and he's been an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 2008. Jonathan was trained in mathematics and statistical genetics, and his lab developed statistical and computational methods to analyze genomic data with a specific interest to understand how genetic variation affects phenotypic traits as well as gene regulation. Jonathan also studies how genetic variation affects natural selection and evolution in humans and other species. Jonathan has served as an ad hoc reviewer for NIH, NSF, and Welcome Trust. He's on the editorial board for Current Biology and has served as an Associate Editor for PLOS Genetics and Molecular Biology and Evolution, and he currently serves on the board of reviewing editors for science. Jonathan was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2013. Welcome, Jonathan. And David Walt. David is Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Tufts University and the Director of Tufts Institute for Innovation. David is also an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 2006. David's research interests are focused on technology development. His pioneering work on microways was foundational to the development of array-based sequencing approaches. He is one of the founding scientists of Illumina and currently serves as the Chair of Illumina Scientific Advisory Board. More recently, David's lab has worked on technologies for single molecule detection and methods to enable macromolecules to be studied at the single cell level. His research has led to David's involvement with multiple technology development companies as the founder, president, or scientific director of Execure Therapeutics, Altaview Incorporated and Quanterix Corporation, and I suspect that's an incomplete list. David has served as a peer reviewer for NSF and over 20 review panels for NIH, including four years as a standing member of the Bioanalytical and Biophysical Technology Studies Section. He has served on too many advisory boards for me to enumerate today, but they include both private industry and public institutions. David is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Welcome, David. We also have some new hires here, some new staff members at NHGRI. When I call your name, would you please stand up so the council members can identify you. Deanna Ingersoll. Deanna is the new Chief of the Grants Management Branch here at NHGRI. She arrived about a month ago. Prior to coming to NHGRI, Deanna worked at the National Institutes for Allergy Infectious Disease for ten years, and she attained the rank of LEADS Grants Management Specialist there. At NHGRI, the Grants Management Branch is closely involved in the organization and running of the council meetings. So in all future council meetings, you'll see her in the background. Welcome, Deanna. Barbara Thomas, she is. Barbara is the new Health Science Administrator for the Center for Inherited Disease Research, which we all refer to as CIDR. She has responsibility for the CIDR Peer Review Access Committee, the CIDR Board of Governor meetings, weekly interactions with the CIDR investigators at Johns Hopkins, and advising CIDR applicants and grantees. In addition, Barbara has a part-time appointment in the NHGRI Scientific Review Branch, so in the future she'll be organizing peer review meetings, the applications of which will be coming to this council. Prior to arriving at NHGRI, Barbara served as the Scientific Review Officer of the GCAT study section for the past eight years. Thank you, Barbara. Sonia Juma. Sonia is a health policy analyst with the Policy and Program Analysis Branch in the Division of Policy, Communications, and Education. Sonia graduated from Duke University in 2015 with a master's degree in Bioethics and Science Policy. Sonia will be working on projects related to human subjects research, reform, consent, and health disparities. Thank you. And Cecilia Dupache. Cecilia is a new scientific program specialist in the Division of Genomic Medicine. And by new, I think this is her first day, so let's be nice to Cecilia, not scare her away. Thank you, Cecilia. We have two members of the Council liaison, Mike Watson, from the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics. He's joined us in person. And Ellen Giarelli from the International Society of Nurses and Genetics is viewing remotely. We also have one visitor, Min Zhang. He's come all the way from Purdue University to spend the day. OK, the Council minutes from the September 2014 meeting were presented to you in the Electronic Council Book, which I will probably refer to as the ECB for the rest of the day. At this point, I will accept any comments or revisions that anyone has to give. Hearing none, can I have a motion to approve the minutes? Second? All in favor? Any opposed? Any abstaining? Thank you very much. Let me call your attention on the open session agenda to the future Council meeting dates. Please take note of them. Please get them into your calendars. Share them with your administrative assistants. If you see a conflict, a scheduled conflict with any of these dates, please notify me and, more importantly, notify Comfort Brown as she's in charge of your travel. I think that's it. I'm going to turn things over to Eric for the directors. OK.