Genome Alberta's Official Newsletter
Genome Alberta Newsletter GeneSnips - April 20, 2009
Genome Alberta News
MLA Breakfast
Genome Alberta will be hosting a breakfast-to-go for MLA’s and invited Alberta government employees on April 27th from 7:30a to 9:00a at the Matrix Hotel , Amber B room in Edmonton.
Take a few minutes this week to call your MLA and remind him to attend and if you are a government employee and want an invitation, drop a note to Mike Spear at mspear@genomealberta.ca
Science Funding
TVO (a public-community network in Ontario) recently focused on science funding in Canada. ‘The Agenda’ hosted by Steve Paikin is an evening current affairs program which tackles a wide range of topics. On April 13th the subject was ‘Science in Peril’ with panelists Mohamed Elbestawi , Vice-President, research & international affairs, at McMaster University, Jim Turk, Executive Director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, Andrew Weaver a climate scientist at the University of Victoria, and the author of Keeping our Cool: Canada in a Warming World, and Jim Woodgett, a senior investigator and director of research with the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital.
To view a video of the complete panel dicussion go to: http://www.tvo.org/TVO/
WebObjects/TVO.woa?video? TAWSP_Dbt_20090413_779473_0 The program also included an interview with Carmen Charette talking about the Canada Research Chair Program. http://www.tvo.org/cfmx/
tvoorg/theagenda/index.cfm? page_id=7&bpn=779473&ts=2009- 04-13%2020:00:35.0 BIOAtlanta
BIO2009 takes place this year from May 18-21 in Atlanta, Georgia. Genome Alberta’s Communication Director Mike Spear is a guest blogger at the event which include media access to many of the session, panelists, and speakers. If you can’t attend BIO be sure to follow Genome Alberta’s blog at www.genomealberta.ca/blogs for reports from the event or http://convention.bio.org/ during BIO for a full range of blog postings, news, and event information.
Age of Personalized Genomics.
The final agenda and speakers are now available at the 5th International DNA Sampling Conference website. Head for www.genomealberta.ca/APG for all the details. Call for abstracts open: Closes May 15, 2009
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GE3LS Digest
Stem cell policy needs to be flexible says U of A researcher – April 3, 2009
http://www.expressnews.ualberta.ca/article.cfm?id= 10088
Scientists all over the world are coming up with new ways to make stem cells. This is controversial and Tim Caulfield feels the research needs attention from policy makers. Caulfield, who is joint-appointed in the Faculty of Law and School of Public Health at the University of Alberta, brought together a mix of policy experts, scientists and senior scholars to look at the challenges surrounding legislation for stem-cell research. The result was a paper published in the April edition of Cell Press. "The real theme of the paper shows that it's incredibly difficult to create legislation that's going to be able to respond to the advances in science," said Caulfield. "It's an important theme because governments all over the world are struggling to create a regulatory regime that can handle [those] advances."
Do-it-yourself DNA testing: Helpful or harmful?: Dozens of companies want to predict your medical future – April 9, 2009
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29898227/wid/11915773
Anna Peterson is only 27, but she's already watched her mother and her aunt develop breast cancer. She also saw her grandmother's eyesight fail from macular degeneration. So Peterson, a graduate student in Ottawa, Ontario, took her health care into her own hands and did what millions of others of all ages are doing: She opted for an at-home genetic test. When the results from the $985 test from deCODEme arrived in her e-mail, Peterson felt relief learning that she didn't have an elevated genetic risk for macular degeneration.
Valerie Berenyi: Bioethicist probes hot issues of the day – March 23, 2009
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Health/Valerie+Berenyi+ Bioethicist+probes+issues/ 1417970/story.html
Reproductive technology allows us to do many things we could never do before, spurring whole new debates about right and wrong. In her work, Juliet Guichon, a medical bioethicist in the faculty of medicine at the University of Calgary, grapples with the many questions 21st century medicine raises for society and for vulnerable individuals. The hot topic of reproductive technology--one of Guichon's areas of expertise--has news media frequently calling her for commentary.
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Genome Alberta in Pictures
It’s called Zoomoo and if you want to know how it relates to genetics go to our blog at www.genomealberta.ca/blogs
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