New Drugs, Cancer and Diabetes Treatments Top ACS Boston Meeting in August

Developing new drugs, fighting cancer with nutrition, treating diabetes and measuring blood sugar levels non-invasively, are among the research scheduled to be presented at the American Chemical Society's 224th national meeting in Boston August 18-22.

In addition to research findings, several ACS technical divisions are featuring discussions on the role of chemists and biochemists in the nation's homeland security efforts. One such session will be held Wednesday, August 21 and is sponsored by Society President Dr. Eli Pearce and organized by the Division of Chemical Toxicology. Entitled, "The Chemistry and Biology of Terrorism and Homeland Security," it will focus on cutting-edge developments in anthrax biology and ultra-sensitive chemical and biological detectors. Speakers at this session will include Penrose Albright, Ph.D., assistant director for homeland and national security of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and James Hughes, Ph.D., director of the National Centers for Disease Control.

ACS, the world's largest scientific society, expects approximately 11,000 scientists to attend its meeting. More than 7,000 papers have been submitted for presentation at the technical sessions which will be held at the Hynes Convention Center, 900 Boylston St., and surrounding hotels.

In conjunction with the ACS meeting, a special "master class" will be held for science reporters on chemical genomics. Experts in this field will examine this new frontier of the post-genome world. Chemical genomics -- the integration of knowledge, the tools and the technologies from biology and chemistry -- is viewed as an area that can help researchers identify targets of medical interest and accelerate the discovery of new drug therapies. The "master class" is tentatively scheduled to be held Monday, August 19.

In addition to the scientific research, the American Chemical Society is hosting events focusing on science education, career development and chemistry's contributions to society. There will also be an exhibition Monday through Wednesday by more than 300 companies providing goods and services of interest to the chemical community.

Other symposia and topics on the Boston program are:

* Drug discovery using new genomic information* Chemistry and biology of nutritional supplements and cancer chemoprevention* Finding the chemicals that induce flavor in foods* The role of fertilizer nitrogen and phosphate in the environment * Adenosine receptors as potential drug candidates for the treatment of Parkinson's disease stroke, diabetes and asthma* Recent advances in the use of synthetic polymers for total joint replacements and the application of nanotechnology to orthopedic biomaterials * Progress in developing noninvasive and minimally invasive techniques for measuring blood glucose in diabetics, and* A discussion of astrobiology featuring the latest chemical evidence pointing to the possibility of finding life in outer space.