BIO5/Biodesign symposium to feature genomics pioneer Venter
Summary:
A March 19 symposium at the University of Arizona, jointly sponsored by the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University and the BIO5 Institute at UA, will feature a quintet of leading researchers and theorists who are helping to shape the nascent field of synthetic biology. Among the presenters will be Craig Venter, one of the key scientists involved in mapping the human genome.
Full Story:
Genomics pioneer J. Craig
Venter. (Photo courtesy of J.
Craig Venter Institute)
A March 19 symposium at the University of Arizona, jointly sponsored by the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University and the BIO5 Institute at UA, will feature a quintet of leading researchers and theorists who are helping to shape the nascent field of synthetic biology. Among the presenters will be J. Craig Venter, one of the key scientists involved in mapping the human genome.
Other presenters at the BIO5/Biodesign symposium, which will address both scientific and ethical considerations associated with synthetic biology, include Jay Keasling of the University of California at Berkeley, Pamela Silver and Jack Szostak of Harvard University Medical School, and Gerry Epstein of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Venter, president of the J. Craig Venter Institute, a genomic-focused research institution, gained international attention in the 1990s first for sequencing the DNA of numerous microbes, and then for leading a private-sector effort, coincidental with the work of the Human Genome Project, to sequence the human genome. In September 2007, he made headlines for publishing the entirety of his own genetic blueprint.
Dr. Venter's research team is currently concentrating on creating a synthetic chromosome and organism; in January, the Venter Institute announced that its scientists had synthesized and assembled the genome of a bacterium; the team's next task will be to create a cell based on that bacterial genome.
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