Whitehead Press Seminar 2001: New Horizons in the Post-Genome World

Now that the hoopla surrounding the genome papers has settled down a bit, you may be wondering what's next? Nothing short of a technological revolution in biomedicine, according to Eric Lander, Director of the Whitehead Institute Center for Genome Research. But of the countless new technologies on the horizon, which ones will improve our health and lifestyles and which ones will fall by the wayside? The Whitehead Institute's sixth annual press seminar, "New Horizons in the Post-Genome World," will clue you in to the ones you should keep your eye on.

With the human genome in hand, scientists are poised to discover new disease genes, identify new drugs, and develop therapies custom-tailored to fit patients' genetic profiles. But to do that they must build new tools--the next generation of DNA chips, cell and protein arrays, and bioinformatic programs--to help fulfill the promise of the human genome. Also, making their way down the pipeline are new therapeutic approaches including stem cells, cloning, tissue engineering, and gene therapy.

At the Whitehead press seminar this year, leading scientists will tell you where we are headed in these emerging areas. Joshua LaBaer, director of the Harvard Institute of Proteomics, will elaborate on the new buzz word in town--proteomics. MIT's Linda Griffith will discuss the challenges of engineering artificial organs. And, Eric Lander, Sridhar Ramaswamy, Rudolf Jaenisch, and David Altshuler--all of the Whitehead Institute--will tell you about the latest in DNA diagnosis of cancer, cloning, and SNPs.

We expect an impressive audience of reporters and science writers from newspapers, magazines, and journals, including your colleagues from The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Newsweek, ABC, and NBC. We hope to add your name to the list.

Press seminar registration materials are enclosed. There is no fee to attend the seminar, but we need to hear from you in advance. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Amy DiGangi at 617-258-7270 or [email protected]. Also, visit our web site at www.wi.mit.edu.