ROCKVILLE, Md. --A child born in 2010 should benefit from better health and disease diagnosis, improved foods, more efficient clean up of toxin spills, and a more "realistic" view of evolution, thanks to the current revolution in applying biotechnology to the flood of new gene sequencing data. Leading experts will discuss what's in store for the 2010 genomic generation at a special symposium, "Advancing the Frontiers of Biotechnology" at the University System of Maryland's Shady Grove Campus (directions below), 8:30 a.m., November 9.
The free symposium will be held in honor of the inauguration of Jennie Hunter-Cevera, Ph.D., as the second president of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute (UMBI) on November 10, also at USM, Shady Grove.
"It is indeed an honor for UMBI to host such a distinguished group of speakers (list below) in the heart of Maryland's "Genomic Junction" who will discuss the future of biotechnology," says Hunter-Cevera. She was most recently head of the Center for Environmental Biotechnology and director of the Department of Environmental Biology and Biochemistry for the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California.
At the inaugural symposium, experts will discuss likely changes for the post-2010 "genomics" generation, including:
- Preventing Infections: Analysis of all the genes of both humans and human disease-causing microorganisms will give drug designers pinpoint accuracy to treat infectious diseases from influenza to AIDS on a patient-to-patient basis.
- Monitoring Cancer Treatments: Tissue microarray technology, so far replacing microscope slide tests in 100 laboratories in the world, will help clinicians get 9,000 different analyses of 1,000 tissue samples at once for a rapid diagnosis of cancer type, progression, and patient risk factors.
- Green Manufacturing: Computer analysis of microbial enzyme genes will help manufacturers, e.g. paper mills, to limit use of sulfur and other potential toxins in paper and pulp making. Also cells of genetically engineered trees may release natural enzymes when heated for processing into paper.
- Cleaning Up Toxic Metal Spills: Exposing living samples of metal-bound microbes to the powerful infrared light of synchrotrons will lead to selecting or genetically engineering microbes with genes to efficiently degrade chromate and other toxic contamination waste from a variety of industries.
- Raising Disease-free Crops. The genomes of plants and their microbial enemies will reveal specific plant/pathogen interactions at the cellular level, leading to possible elimination of some destructive crop diseases.
- Solving Neurological Mysteries, e.g. Alzheimer's Disease. Researchers have discovered potential "alterations" in glycosylation, or sugar units attaching to proteins, in diseases such as Alzheimer's.
- Writing Intimate Strangers' "Owner's Manual": Although intimately linked with life on Earth, the world of microorganisms is the least understood rhelm of biology. Microbial cells have intricate organizations and complex responses to ever-changing environments. The Microbial Genome Program, a spin off of the Human Genome Program, will be a virtual parts list of microbe DNA.
- Viewing a "Real" World: Traditional "family" tree graphs no longer provide an accurate view of evolution, especially for genealogies of bacteria that do not reproduce sexually. Scientists can now analyze 10,000 gene sequences at once, giving them for the first time 3-D graphs of the true "biological terrain."
Directions to USM, Shady Grove (12 miles Northeast of Washington, D.C.): from Interstate 95 (695), the Capital Beltway: I-270 north to exit 8, Shady Grove Road west. Follow 1.5 miles. Cross Darnestown Road. Turn right onto Gudelsky Way and take immediate left to Gudelsky Drive. Follow to parking area. Visit the UMBI inaugural page at www.umbi.umd.edu.