Leading international genome scientists in Montreal
Nationwide Public Symposia celebrating 50th anniversary of discovery of the double helix
On Tuesday, October 22nd, Eric Lander and Jean Weissenbach, two winners of the 2002 Gairdner Foundation Awards on genomics research, will be at the Centre Mont-Royal as part of a national symposium celebrating the 2002 Gairdner Foundation Awards for Excellence in Medical Science and marking the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the double helix. Dr. Thomas J. Hudson, Director of the Montreal Genome Centre (McGill University Health Centre) will chair the event being hosted by Genome Quebec and Frontiers in Science.
As founder and Director of the Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genome Research, Eric Lander and his colleagues have identified numerous human genes and have pioneered in the application of genomics to biomedical research, such as methods for analyzing complex genetic traits. Among diseases of special interest to his group are cancer, diabetes, hypertension and dwarfism. Dr. Lander's talk is entitled "Genomic Information: Driving a Revolution in Biomedicine".
Dr. Jean Weissenbach, Director of Genoscope, the French National Sequencing Centre, is recognized for his work in human molecular genetics, particularly his studies of the human sex chromosomes, linkage mapping and the mapping and cloning of disease genes. His studies of linkage led to the construction of the first extensive map of the human genome and greatly accelerated this field, while his own research on disease genes and his extensive network of collaborations demonstrated the usefulness of unpublished data from the genetic linkage map. Dr. Weissenbach's talk is entitled "The DNA sequence of the pufferfish tetraodon nigroviridis a tool to analyze the human genome".
Organized in conjunction with Genome Canada, The National Genome Symposium includes public lectures from coast to coast by some of the world's top researchers in the field of genomics. For the symposium schedule see www.gairdner.org/symposium.html.
