Genome Alberta's Official Newsletter
Genome Alberta Newsletter GenOmics - May 31, 2010
- May 31, 2010 -
In this Update:
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Genomics News
2010 Applied Research Competition Information Session
Genome Alberta will be hosting an information webinar on Tuesday, June 1st at 10:30a MDT, to review the guidelines and requirements for funding under the new Genome Canada Science Competition.
Dr. Gijs van Rooijen, Chief Scientific Officer for Genome Alberta, will go over the application process and be on hand to answer questions. Topics to be covered will include important deadline dates, co-funding requirements and important criteria for successful applications. The first competition deadline is June 15th so if you are interested in applying for funding this webinar will be important to you.
The webinar will be moderated by Genome Alberta's Communication Director Mike Spear. Attendees should have speakers on their computer to make the most of the presentation and there will be time for Dr. van Rooijen to answer general questions. You must pre-register for this webinar at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/
register/258496880 If you are unable to attend the webinar the presentation and a recording of the event will be posted on the Genome Alberta website at http://genomealberta.ca by the next day.
Tim Caulfield Receives New ELSI Funding
The Cancer Stem Cell Consortium has approved $500,000 in funding over 4 years for Tim Caulfield as the ELSI Team Project Leader on the project From the Lab to the Clinic: ELSI Issues in Cancer Stem Cell Research, led by John Dick and Jean Wang (both from the U of T) . The project seeks to identify, characterize and develop methods of destroying leukemia stem cells. The research project involves the use of a large tissue bank, engages industry partners and will, it is hoped, lead to valuable therapeutics for patients with intractable leukemia. Caulfield, the GE3LS leader for this project, and his team will undertake research that is relevant to each of these realms and phases. Specifically, the Caulfield’s team will explore GE3LS issues related to the three primary research areas: tissue banking (research ethics); commercialization and medial tourism (translation).
Genome Canada is one of the members of the Cancer Stem Cell Consortium.
OGI Launches Fund to Support Open Access to Genomics Publications
The Ontario Genomics Institute has announced the launch of a new fund to support free and unrestricted access to scholarly research papers on genomics published in high impact journals. The OGI Genomics Publication Fund will contribute up to $3,000 per publication to genomics researchers in Ontario wishing to make their papers available as Open Access from the earliest date of publication. Open Access publication means providing access to material via the Internet in such a way that the material is free for all users to read and use.
Applications for the fund can be submitted any time and support will be given on a first come, first served basis.
For more information please visit the OGI website at http://www.ontariogenomics.ca/
Genome B.C. Research Program Manager
A Research Program Manager is required for a 1 year, non renewable, maternity replacement contract.
Education and experience requirements include:
- M.Sc. or Ph.D. in life sciences (or equivalent education & work experience);
- Understanding of genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics and associated technologies; and,
- Demonstrated skills in financial analysis and budgeting.
For more information please see the full job posting on the Genome B.C. website.
Latest Edition of Canadian Bioinformatics Help Desk Newsletter
http://gchelpdesk.ualberta.ca/news/14may10/cbhd_news_14may10.htm
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GenOmics Top Stories
GenOmics has a whole new platform code underneath it now and we think you’ll love what you see. At the recent BIO International Convention in Chicago the new look was described as a “work of art” and we modestly agree. Navigation is easier, users can more easily post or mash up stories from around the web and now have the option of creating new content of their own or writing a blog. There is a calendar feature we are slowly building up and encourage you to add your own events. We’ve increased the number of wire stories that are automatically posted to the site and you can find those stories under the newswire tab.
The front page has better looking images and we hope the new story selection will be able to replace most of the biotechnology news digests you receive in your e-mail Inbox on a regular basis. There is a web based version available at http://facebook.genomealberta.
ca or the full Facebook application at http://apps.facebook.com/genomics Whichever version you check out you can read as many stories as you want without ever having to register but we hope you’ll sign up and post your own news, stories, pictures, and comments.
Here are a few highlights from GenOmics this week where not surprisingly, most of the news focused on the announcement from Craig Venter.
Craig Venter has neither created--nor demystified--life
Synthetic biology research gets a hearing
Retina created from human embryonic stem cells-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Found on Twitter
Twitter is just for the young or those with nothing to say. Here are just a few interesting people and tweets we’ve seen online lately.
For a more complete listing and maybe a little digital food for thought, please see our latest blog post “ As the Old Sing, So the Young Twitter”
@andrewhessel Only two weeks until the H+ Summit at Harvard -- Rise of the Citizen Scientist. http://bit.ly/96VcBl
@astrolisa Gorgeous #Radiolab segment on Henrietta Lacks, with audio of her daughter and @RebeccaSkloot. Fascinating, moving. http://bit.ly/d8wx0N
@edyong209 In which I get irritated at a new Nat Neuro paper, which claims to find a biological basis for acupuncture. http://bit.ly/9Z7B82
@idtdna New insights into molecular evolution: prospects from the Barcode of Life Initiative (BOLI) http://ow.ly/1QRxj
@Jabaldaia What does open innovation implies for the management of R&D? The cases of two multinational firms (PDF) http://bit.ly/cWtl8F #openinnovation
@nutrigenomics Ageing deeply affects the structure of the human gut microbiota, as well as its homeostasis w/ the host's immune system http://bit.ly/b2xPu9
@stevesilberman Who profits from online "e-patient" groups? http://nyti.ms/d24Mo8 #health
Here’s a rundown of this week’s featured Tweets:
- @andrewhessel describes himself as Building DIYbiotech Founding Director, CEO at Pink Army Cooperative. Co-Chair, Bioinformatics and Biotechnology at Singularity University
- @astrolisa is the handle for New York based science writer Lisa Grossman also online at http://likearadiotelescope.
wordpress.com/ - @edyong209 Ed Yong is science writer & blogger @ Not Exactly Rocket Science and freelance journalist living in London, England
- @idtdna is the company account for Integrated DNA Technologies in Iowa
- @Jabaldaia is Jose Baldaia, a scientist based in Portugal
- @lindaavey is a co-founder of 23andMe and says her work now is all about instigating a healthquake
- @nutrigenomics is a Professor of Molecular Nutrition, Nutrigenomics, and Gut Health at Wageningen University NL, and says he is a nutritional science 2.0 advocate
- @stevesilberman lives in San Francisco and is a longtime writer for Wired and other national magazines. He says he us curious about nearly everything, particularly science and media
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GE3LS Digest
For
more information about GE3LS Digest, please visit http://www.genomealberta.ca/
Is chemotherapy about to become a thing of the past? – May 14, 2010
When Harvey learned that his melanoma had spread to his lungs in the winter of 2008, he started planning for his death. Despite a down market, he liquidated his stock-market assets to ensure his wife wasn’t doubly burdened. He moved the investment firm in which he is a partner to a smaller space. He didn’t take an office – he figured that with his fatal skin cancer he wouldn’t live long enough to use it. He hated waste. “Everybody goes,” Harvey (who asked that his surname not be used) said matter-of-factly in the boardroom of his downtown Toronto office. More than two years later, Harvey, wearing a navy blue suit and tie, is at work on a sunny spring day. Aged 77, he self-consciously pats his thinning scalp. “I used to have a full head of hair,” he explains.
Should We Tinker With Plant Genes? –May 21, 2010
Re “Genetically Engineered Distortions,” by Pamela C. Ronald and James E. McWilliams (Op-Ed, May 15), which says critics have “demonized” this technology needed to help people in the poorest countries:
I think that there are many in the organic food movement who recognize that genetic engineering has a role to play in the future of food. But concerns about what it should be, and who should be making that decision, are valid. I am all for nonprofit groups and university researchers working to alleviate starvation in the third world. I trust their motivations and scientific integrity. I have no such faith in agribusiness.Traditional small family farming, with natural fertilizers and crop rotation, should be the starting point for discussion, not viewed as some fringe agenda. Organic farmers are not wrong to want to hang on to the gains of thousands of years of agricultural learning, the benefits of biodiversity and foods’ naturally adaptive systems.
(Genomics note: In this link the editors of GenOmics have added a video about the recent U.S. National Research Council Report on Ag Biotech )
Craig Venter, the flamboyant US molecular biologist and entrepreneur, has been at it again. Not content with first-equal position in the race to give a complete description of the human genome, he has now announced that his team have created the world’s first synthetic life form. The editor of the journal Artificial Life has described this as “a defining moment in biology”. Dr Venter himself has claimed that his success has changed his “view of the definition of life and of how life works”. Well, he would do, wouldn’t he? Before we get too excited, we should note that he has not actually “created artificial life”, as the headlines proclaim. He has synthesised DNA from basic chemicals; but lone DNA is not life. More, much more is needed. In this case, it was provided by an existing bacterium whose usual humble duty is to cause mastitis in goats. Into this the DNA was inserted. Yes, the resulting minute organism was new life but nearly all of that new life was taken off the shelf from nature.
(Genomics note: In this link GenOmics editors have added a Science Channel video on the science behind the achievement )
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Events
We have a new Calendar of Events page on our website at http://www.genomealberta.ca/
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International Association for Plant Biotechnology Congress
June 6-11, 2010
St. Louis, MissouriSpeakers and sessions will cover a range of topics including:
- climate change and its effects on agriculture
- advances in plant science: tolerance to heat, drought, insects and diseases
- advances in biofuels and other biorenewables from plants
- state-of-the-art sessions on epigenetics, 3D models, stem cell in in vitro toxicology, and innate immunity
- biosensors, animal-plant interactions, and impact of bioactive molecules on animals
- metabolic engineering of plants/cells for pharmaceuticals and nutriceuticals
- agriculture and biotechnology in developing countries
- biosafety, regulatory structures, ethics and social benefits, and commercialization
- germplasm preservation
For more information please go to http://www.iapb2010.org/
default.asp
World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing
June 27th to 30th, 2010
Gaylord National Resort and Convention Centre, Washington, D.C.
This is the 7th World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing and it has become the world's largest industrial biotechnology event for business leaders, investors and policy makers in biofuels, biobased products, and renewable chemicals.
There will be plenary session, a full breakout program, investor session, and a poster session. For the full agenda you can go to http://bio.org/worldcongress/program/ 10th World Congress of Bioethics
July 28-31, 2010
Singapore
http://www.bioethics-singapore.org/wcb2010/ The GEEE! in Genome
May 1, 2010 –September 5, 2010
Prince George, British Columbia
http://nature.ca/genome/index_e.cfm
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