Genome Alberta's Official Newsletter

Genome Alberta Newsletter GeneSnips - November 18, 2008

 

Genome Alberta News

Imagining  Science

It took a lot of time and effort on everyone’s part and they were still putting the finishing touches on the exhibit a few hours before ‘show time’,  but Imagining Science made its debut on November 14^th in Edmonton. The project began in the Fall of 2006 as an idea between Tim Caulfield (GE³LS Principal Investigator and Canada Chair in Health Law and Policy) and his brother Sean (artist and Canada Research Chair in Printmaking). They wanted to bring together artists, scientists, and social commentators to look at the effects of new developments in the life sciences. They got the ball rolling more formally in the summer of 2007 with a 3-day multi-disciplinary workshop in Banff and all the work put in by the brothers, the GE³LS team, the U of A and other partners and sponsors has truly paid off.

There was an excellent turn out for the opening panel discussion with Alta Charo, Jim Evans, and Michael Hayden followed by the official opening of the exhibit. The next day featured an open forum with many of the artists talking about their pieces in the exhibit and about their work in general. The Imagining Science Project also features a collection of essays published by University of Alberta Press with contributions from the likes of Francis Collins, Jay Ingram, Hank Greely and Edna Einsiedel.

Genome Alberta has been one of the main co-sponsors of the project since the idea began to take shape and we are pleased with the exhibit, the essay collection, and the positive reviews all aspects have received to date and we encourage everyone to make a point of checking out the work.

It runs at the Alberta Gallery of Art from now until February 1^st of 2009 and you can purchase copies of the book there or through the University of Alberta Press.

Thousand Plant Genome Project

The day before Imagining Science made its debut, an equally successful launch took place for the Thousand Plant Genome Project. The $2 million project is an International collaboration reaching from Alberta down into the U.S. and over to China. The project is being led by Dr. Gane Wong the new Research Chair in Biosystems for iCORE with support from Alberta Advanced Education and Technology, the Alberta Agricultural Research Institute, the University of Alberta, the Beijing Genomics Institute, Musea Ventures and Genome Alberta.

As the project name implies, the goal is to sequence the genome of 1,000 plants with the promise of better crop production, environmental conservation, and the development of new bio-products and medicinal compounds.

Alberta’s Advanced Education and Technology Minister Doug Horner said the “project not only aims to improve human health and help the environment, but could also be the seed for a whole new bio-products industry in Alberta to diversify our vital agricultural sector”.

Speakers at the event included Genome Alberta CEO  Dr. David Bailey, Randy Goebel of iCORE, Minister Horner, and of course Dr. Gane Wong. You can the full press release on Alberta Advanced Education’s website.

Joint Call for Proposals

Genome Canada and the Italian National Research Council (CNR) Life Sciences Department, have launched a Joint International Call for Letters of Intent for joint research projects focusing on the application of genomics research in the area of human health. Genome Canada and the CNR are working to raise funds for this joint initiative. When funding becomes available, Letters of Intent that fall within the areas defined in the call will be invited to submit full proposals for peer review. LOIs must be forwarded to Genome Alberta on or before January 15, 2009. Genome Alberta will then provide feedback to you before the LOI is submitted to Genome Canada on or before January 31, 2009. Additional details can be found on the Genome Canada website www.genomecanada.ca or you can contact Dr. Gijs van Rooijen at vanrooijen@genomealberta.ca

Position Papers in Strategic Research Areas

A third round of the position paper process has been initiated with the objective of defining Genome Canada’s strategic research themes to be included in its federal budget submission for 2009-2010. Expression of Interest will be due on/before December 15, 2008. A detailed description of the Position Paper process is available at www.genomecanada.ca  Please contact Genome Alberta at vanrooijen@genomealberta.ca if you like more information.

Latest Edition of Canadian Bioinformatics Help Desk Newsletter

http://gchelpdesk.ualberta.ca/news/05nov08/cbhd_news_05nov08.htm

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GE³LS Digest

This is a sample from the GE³LS Digest put out on a regular basis by Genome Alberta’s GE³LS team. If you’d like to receive the full digest, email rhyde-lay@genomealberta.ca

Genome database to spark research, unease – October 19, 2008
http://www.biotechniques.com/default.asp?page=news&subsection=article_display&id=300
Ten volunteers are preparing to share with the world what is arguably their most personal possession: their decoded DNA, along with medical history, ethnic background, and other traits. These pioneers are participating in the Personal Genome Project (PGP), a Harvard University–based research group whose initiative is to provide more openly available genetic information in order to further genetic and medical research. Because the common issues surrounding privacy have been sidestepped by gaining complete consent from the “PGP 10,” as they call themselves, the database—which the project hopes to expand to include 100,000 participants—will include phenotypic information, which has typically been avoided in other databases due to privacy concerns. Complete, open access to this type of data is expected to help researchers better understand how outward traits and genes are linked. In allowing the partial genomes of the 10 volunteers to remain openly accessible, the PGP hopes to also confront the stigma surrounding the concept of a public genome. It is, as the New York Times aptly described, “[a]s much a social experiment as it is a scientific one.” Dr. George M. Church, a human geneticist at Harvard, who is the leader of the PGP and also a participant, concedes that it is unknown how the availability of this information will affect its participants. “We don’t yet know the consequences of having one’s genome out in the open, but it’s worth exploring,” he told the Times.
Others are not so swift to agree. “There will be new uses of this data that people can’t anticipate,” said Kathy Hudson, director of the Genetics and Public Policy Center at Johns Hopkins University, “and they can’t do anything to get it back.”

TIME's Best Inventions of 2008 - November 3, 2008
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1852747_1854493_1854113,00.html
1.The Retail DNA Test
Before meeting with Anne Wojcicki, co-founder of a consumer gene-testing service called 23andMe, I know just three things about her: she's pregnant, she's married to Google's Sergey Brin, and she went to Yale. But after an hour chatting with her in the small office she shares with co-founder Linda Avey at 23andMe's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., I know some things no Internet search could reveal: coffee makes her giddy, she has a fondness for sequined shoes and fresh-baked bread, and her unborn son has a 50% chance of inheriting a high risk for Parkinson's disease.
Learning and sharing your genetic secrets are at the heart of 23andMe's controversial new service — a $399 saliva test that estimates your predisposition for more than 90 traits and conditions ranging from baldness to blindness. Although 23andMe isn't the only company selling DNA tests to the public, it does the best job of making them accessible and affordable. The 600,000 genetic markers that 23andMe identifies and interprets for each customer are "the digital manifestation of you," says Wojcicki (pronounced Wo-jis-key), 35, who majored in biology and was previously a health-care investor. "It's all this information beyond what you can see in the mirror."

Achievements of the National Plant Genome Initiative and New Horizons in Plant Biology
http://dels.nas.edu/dels/rpt_briefs/plant_genome.pdf
The National Academies have released a new primer on the achievements and promise of plant genome sciences. Based on an expert consensus report from the National Research Council, the booklet explores the potential of the National Plant Genome Initiative -- a federal multiagency project that coordinates research in plant sciences to understand and ultimately harness plants' properties to help meet agriculture, nutrition, energy, and human health needs. For example, by knowing how plants cope with less water, rising temperatures, and other environmental stresses, scientists could develop crops that withstand changing climate conditions. Sections of the booklet examine mutations and manipulation of food crops, the promise and challenges of biofuels, environmental stewardship, biomedical advances, and how scientists can maximize the use of plant sciences. Free electronic and hard copies of the booklet are available at http://nas.edu/plant_genome/

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Genome Alberta in Pictures

It isn’t easy to do justice to the Imagining Science Exhibit with mere pictures so you’ll have to visit the exhibit in person at the Alberta Gallery of Art. It runs until February 1st , 2009 in the temporary home for the Gallery space at Enterprise Square at  100-10230 Jasper Ave , Edmonton.

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