Genome Alberta's Official Newsletter

Genome Alberta Newsletter GeneSnips - May 18, 2009

 

Genome Alberta News

BIO2009 in Atlanta

Genome Alberta is Atlanta bound for the annual BIO International Convention. Representing Genome Alberta will be Communications Director Mike Spear, TRIA Project Manager Matt Bryman and CEO David Bailey.

We’re part of the Alberta Pavilion organized by BioAlberta and we’d like to thank Ryan, Sandra, Aggie and everyone else involved for all their work in making it possible. We have 2 displays hot off the press to show off our Hydrocarbon Metagenomics and PhytoMetaSyn (aka Synthetic Plant Biology) projects.  Our other major presence will be the portable version of the 4D CAVEman. Dr. Christoph Sensen full version of the CAVE is a little tough to take on the road but at the request of the BIO organizers the ‘lite’ version will be set up at booth 4561 with Jung Soh and Mei Xiao running the demonstrations and explaining to the conference attendees what the project is all about.

Alberta’s Minister of Advanced Education Doug Horner is at BIO again this year as is Industry Canada Minister Tony Clement. Both department’s are key to Genome Alberta’s success and we’re looking forward to them stopping by the booth to see our projects and maybe see into the future of genomics research.

Integrated Bioinformatics Platform (IBP)Meeting

Chuka Okeke is organizing an IBP Conference in Banff on May 28^th &  29^th this year.  The IBP Platform's members, the Scientific Advisory Board,  Principal Investigators, Principal Leader Dr. Christoph Sensen, and Genome Alberta representatives will be in attendance.  They will be discussing the Platform going forward and the newly awarded ABC projects.

The platform will be supporting several of the ABC projects:

1. Synthetic Biosystems for the Production of High Value Plant Metabolites.
2. Metagenomics for Green Production and Extraction of Hydrocarbon Energy
3. Genozymes for Bioproducts and Bioprocess Development
4. Total Utilization Flax Genomics (TUFGEN)

 For more information contact cokeke@genomealberta.ca

Imagining Science Nominated for Alberta Book Publishing Award

The Imagining Science book put together as part of the Imagining Science Exhibition was nominated for a 2009 Alberta Book Publishing Award in the Scholarly and Academic Category.  The awards gala was on May 8^th and unfortunately the team lost out but it was an honour to have the book recognized in the first place. Genome Alberta, the GE³LS project team, and a host of other funders and co-sponsors supported the exhibit and development of the book which is a collection of essays from well know artists and scientists. Go to the University of Alberta Press website for more on the book or to our photo-sharing site on Picasa (http://picasaweb.google.com/MikesGene ) where we have 4 albums of pictures from the exhibit and associated events.

The team can also be proud of the recognition from the Bookbinders’ Guild of New York where Imagining Science took first place in both the four-colour subcategory and in the overall category of Scholarly and Professional  books.

Latest Canadian Bioinformatics Newsletter

The Canadian Bioinformatics Help Desk is part of the Integrated and Distributed Bioinformatics Platform for Genome Canada, which  is supported by Genome Alberta and Genome Canada.

CBHD publishes are regular newsletter which you can find at:  http://gchelpdesk.ualberta.ca/news/15may09/cbhd_news_15may09.htm

Nanotechnology and Forest Products

2009 International Conference on Nanotechnology for the Forest Products Industry will be held June 23^th-26^th in  Edmonton, Alberta. The theme for the conference is “Unlocking the Potential of Nano-Enabled Biomaterials”.  The conference will include a tour of the 20,000 sq metre National Institute for Nanotechnology research facility located at the University of Alberta.

For more information go to www.tappi.org/09nano

Science Policy in Canada

The first major conference on science policy is slowly coming together and will take place on October 28^th -30^th.  The conference is definitely an event being organized from the ground up with no particular sponsor or organization behind it so should result in an interesting discussion to help shape the future of this country’s science policy. Though the agenda is not finalized there are some interesting keynote speakers that are sure to generate some attention. For more information go to www.sciencepolicy.ca

Another major event worth noting that will help generate some discussion around science policy is Science Day in Canada on May 27^th.  The day includes a symposium organized by the Public Policy Forum that will look at the state of science in Canada and the role of science in contributing to Canada's economic recovery and global economic competitiveness.

While participation in Science Day in Canada is by invitation only, a lunchtime keynote address by the Honourable Preston Manning entitled  "Stimulating an Ailing Economy: The Crucial Role of Science, Technology and Innovation" will be open on a registration basis. Contact mail@ppforum.ca for more information.

Age of Personalized Genomics.

The final agenda and speakers are now available at the 5^th International DNA Sampling Conference website. Head for www.genomealberta.ca/APG for all the details. Call for abstracts extended to June 1, 2009

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GE³LS Digest

Ontario Grants $2.7M for Genomics at Guelph – May 15, 2009
http://www.genomeweb.com/node/916843?emc=el&m=390292&l=6&v=5f90f5d9b1
Ontario has granted C$3.2 million ($2.7 million) for corn genomics research and DNA identification studies at the University of Guelph in Ontario, the university said today. The Ontario Research Fund has granted C$2.8 million for studies of the genomics involved in corn growth, and it has granted C$400,000 for the University of Guelph-based Canadian Centre for DNA Barcoding. These funds will be augmented in the future by private-sector support from the company Syngenta, theuniversity said, bringing the total in cash and in-kind support for the four-year project to over C$8.5 million. Most of those funds will go to studies conducted by the university's Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology that aim to identify genes that control plant growth. The researchers want to alter the genes' activity in order to improve the plant, specifically genes that regulate nutrient uptake so they can improve nitrogen efficiency.  Corn is an important commodity for Ontario, and is worth over C$1.5 billion per year to the economy.

The Beast Within: Implanting Animal Organs into Humans – April 13, 2009
http://www.good.is/post/the-beast-within-implanting-animal-organs-into-humans/?GT1=48001
Getting an organ these days is no easy task. Currently, there are more than 100,000 people on waiting lists for organ donations in the United States, but fewer than 30,000 transplants were performed in 2008. The Mayo Clinic estimates that in the United States, 17 people die each day while waiting for a suitable organ to come along….It’s quite the conundrum. So what to do? Increasingly, the argument for harvesting organs, tissues, and cells from animals is picking up steam. It sounds like the stuff of sci-fi, but a growing number of scientists are arguing for—and trying to accomplish—just that. The most recent experiment is in New Zealand, where a clinical trial will inject eight diabetic patients with pancreatic cells from pigs. This experiment has pushed the controversial field, known as xenotransplantation, under the public microscope once again.

Insurance Companies Refuse to Insure "Genetically Inferior" Customers – April 30, 2009
http://www.naturalnews.com/026164.html
Insurance companies have already begun using genetic tests as a basis for discrimination, researchers have revealed, in the first study providing conclusive evidence of genetic discrimination."Previous to this paper, only anecdotal reports of genetic discrimination have been available, with some commentators questioning whether or not the phenomenon actually existed," researcher Kristine Barlow-Stewart said. Researchers from the Center for Genetics Education at Royal North Shore Hospital in Australia surveyed more than 1,000 people who had taken advantage of clinical genetic services about any experiences that might have been related to discrimination. Following up on the self-reports with their own investigations, the researchers were able to confirm 11 cases of genetic discrimination.

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Genome Alberta in Pictures

This picture is part of the portable CAVEman display (part of the Four Dimensional Modeling of Genetic Disease Patterns which is on its way to BIO in Atlanta. You can see more pictures of the portable version of the CAVE at http://picasaweb.google.com/MikesGene/4DPortablePix#  and we’ll be posting more from Atlanta all next week.

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