Genome Alberta's Official Newsletter

Genome Alberta Newsletter GenOmics - February 20, 2012

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Genomics News

Alberta Budget

The Alberta Government tabled a new budget last week that in general, had some good news for Alberta science and research community. Genome Alberta’s President and CEO, David Bailey noted that “It was encouraging to see that the innovation agenda received additional funding and remains a strong focus for this government”.

Some highlight include:

• Alberta Innovates Corporations received increases to keep up with inflation
• Prion research received 3 year funding of 5 million dollars per year
• Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency received $39 million for this coming fiscal
• The Energy, Environment and Experiential Learning facility at the University of Calgary was included in the Capital Plan

There were also changes to the Scientific and Experimental Development Tax Credit that according to BioAlberta will enhance the program by about $ 25 million or 35% annually.

2012 Large-Scale Applied Research Project Competition in Personalized Health

A reminder that the new $65 million Genome Canada science competition has been officially announced and Alberta researchers are encouraged to apply. This competition aims to support projects that will demonstrate how genomics-based research can contribute to a more evidence-based approach to health and improving the cost effectiveness of the health care system.

You can visit the new web page related to the competition at http://genomealberta.ca/project-portfolio/gaph/ and the first important date to remember is the February 27th deadline to register with Genome Alberta if you are going to submit a proposal.

Please contact Heather Smith or Gijs van Rooijen by email or give us a call at 403-503-5220.

New program aims to help scientists develop business and commercialization skills

Leaders in Innovation: Accelerating Genomic Innovation in Life-science Enterprises (AGILE) is a new Executive Development Program focused on developing the business and commercialization skills of scientists from across Canada whose work touches on genomic science strategies or related fields. The interdisciplinary program utilizes expert faculty and eminent guest speakers to discuss the principles of strategic leadership, financial management, pharmaeconomics, business valuation, intellectual property, licensing and regulatory issues, financing, and the principles of business-plan development.

The program is run by the Richard Ivey School of Business at The University of Western Ontario and you can find more information on their website.

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GenOmics News - Top Stories

GenOmics is the life science news site developed and managed by Genome Alberta at a new url of http://genomicsnews.ca.

The site brings you the latest stories related to genomics, biotech, and GE3LS. You’ll often find news or background videos included with the stories, a wide variety of images and there is a calendar section.

As stories are received into our science newswires they are posted immediately and our front page features some of the top stories.
Be sure to visit us every day for the latest GenOmics news tailored for the Omics Generation.

Alabama’s “Genetic Information Privacy Act” & the Ongoing Need for Personal Genomics Leadership Jennifer K. Wagner, J.D., Ph.D., is a solo-practicing attorney in State College, PA and a research associate at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for the Integration of Genetic Healthcare Technologies.

New Mouse Reference Library Should Speed Gene Discoveries ( w/added video) Genetic information provided by a large group of specially designed mice could pave the way to faster human health discoveries and transform the ways people battle and prevent disease. In 15 papers published Feb. 16 in the Genetics Society of America journals Genetics and G3:Genes/Genomes/Genetics, researchers from North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, The Jackson Laboratory and other universities and labs across the globe highlight a new genetic resource that could aid development of more effective treatments for any number of human diseases.

Also in GenOmics:

• Time to bring human genome sequencing into the clinic
  Gholson Lyon is a physician-scientist currently working at the Utah Foundation for Biomedical Research and the Center for Applied Genomics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He will be starting as an assistant professor in human genetics at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory next month. He was asked him to write this guest post to provide some personal context to his thought-provoking commentary in Nature.
• A Flat Budget for NIH in 2013 - ScienceInsider
  There's little to cheer biomedical researchers in the president's budget proposal released today: the proposal would hold the National Institutes of Health's (NIH's) budget at the current level of $30.86 billion. While the budgets of most of NIH's 27 institutes are remaining flat, NIH would move some money around through "prioritization," said NIH Principal Deputy Director Lawrence Tabak after a press briefing today.

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Found on Twitter

The highest Tweets per second using the #SuperBowl identifier came at the end of the game: 12,233.
2nd highest was during Madonna's performance: 10,245.

That means a lot of people were busy exchanging thoughts and opinions on the U.S. football extravaganza. Life science related posts will certainly never reach those lofty numbers but there is a thriving community tweeting out information ranging from the latest controversy to hit the AAAS meeting in Vancouver, to a new mouse gene library. Here is a tiny sample of what we’ve come across over the last 2 weeks and you can find more on our re-vamped blog site at http://genomealberta.ca/blogs

Be sure to follow @GenomeAlberta and @mikesgene on Twitter.

• @cathennis Canada failing its oceans, biodiversity panel finds http://soc.li/CV8rUQF
• @CCRM_ca The Economist: #Stemcell #research is now bearing fruit http://economist.com/node/21543471
• @cswa_news Have you heard the story about Canada's muzzled scientists? You can follow it here: Muzzling of federal: http://fb.me/1fu9AWirx
• @Genomengin The fly: A genomics Rosetta stone? http://nblo.gs/tWPA7
• @PraxisMedHat Medicine Hat Research Vital in Battle Against Cancer |102.1 CJCY FM Medicine Hat http://t.co/s78ZKP3z #scichat #science #medhat #health
• @23andMe @ClevelandClinic joins @23andMe, @MichaelJFoxOrg in search for genetic clues to #Parkinsons http://bit.ly/w56MP5
• @ShipLives Gene library for mice: http://t.co/ipEWQN2z Genetics folks: this seems like a big deal. Is it? #scio12

These tweets come to you from a diverse Twitter community:

@cathennis Cath Ennis, now of Vancouver is an Expat Brit, now Canadian. She is also a scientist, writer, editor, grant wrangle, project manager; beer snob and she says a “geek”. http://occamstypewriter.org/vwxynot/

@CCRM_ca CCRM of Toronto is dedicated to supporting foundational technologies that accelerate the commercialization of stem cell- and biomaterials-based technologies and therapies. http://www.ccrm.ca

@cswa_news Twitter feed for the Canadian Science Writers' Association. Your tweeters this month are @romilla_k and @deadendrite http://sciencewriters.ca

@Genomengin Genome Engineering connects people who are interested in genome engineering at www.genome-engineering.com

@PraxisMedHat Praxis is Alberta’s Science and Technology Hotline. http://www.praxismh.ca/

@23andMe is a commercial genetic testing company based in Mountain View, California http://23andme.com

@ShipLives Matt Shipman of Raleigh, North Carolina says he gets “paid to explain things to people: sci/tech research, food, beer, sometimes other stuff”. He is founder of http://firststepproject.org/

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GE³LS Digest

To get your latest GE³LS news, visit our new webpage: http://genomealberta.ca/news/
You can subscribe to receive your bi-monthly edition direct to your email, cancel a subscription, and view all of our back issues.

Going public the next frontier for scientists

American Association for the Advancement of Science's leading thinkers in Vancouver to consider how best to convert research to action. Climate change scientist Andrew Weaver has paid a price for bringing his research to the public. His University of Victoria office contains a Wall of Hate.

Researchers weigh in on ethics of H5N1 research

In a commentary on the biosecurity controversy surrounding publication of bird flu research details, a bioethicist and a vaccine expert at Johns Hopkins reaffirm that "all scientists have an affirmative ethical obligation to avoid contributing to the advancement of biowarfare and bioterrorism," but that there are not sufficient structures in place to evaluate potential societal risks.

Professors debate 'Embryo Ethics' (video)

On Feb. 1, the HLS Federalist Society sponsored a debate on the philosophical and legal issues surrounding the field of embryonic research.

The event, “Embryo Ethics and the Law,” featured Christopher Tollefsen, a philosophy professor at the University of South Carolina, and HLS Assistant Professor Glenn Cohen, co-director of the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School.

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Events

Visit our web-based Calendar of Events at http://genomealberta.ca/connect-with-us/calendar-of-events/

ESRC Genomics Network Conference 2012 - Genomics in Society: Facts, Fictions and Cultures

The ESRC Genomics Network (EGN) was established in 2002, and this 2012 conference organised by Egenis, one of the Network partners, will present the scope of research excellence in the social sciences of current bioscience innovation and celebrate a decade of academic achievement in the social sciences.

When: April 23 - 24, 2012
Where: London UK

2012 National Health Law Conference: Global Health Challenges & the Role of Law

In the legal world we think we can meet challenges through law and litigation - for example human rights litigation - but to what extent is that true and what are the context and circumstances where law/litigation can really make a positive difference? And where is law simply used by vested interests to further inequities?

This conference will bring together leading scholars, policy-makers, practicing lawyers and health care professionals to explore how law can address global health challenges and make real progressive change.

When: May 4 - 5, 2012
Where: Metropolitan Hotel, Toronto

Register before March 1 to get the reduced early bird rate.
For more information visit the conference website.

Canadian Society of Plant Physiologists

CSPP/SCPV 2012 is one of Canada's largest gatherings of plant biologists and will feature plenary sessions led by international invitees on themes of genetic adaptation; water use; carbon flux; and biological rhythms. Parallel minisymposia will address a broad range of topics related to biochemistry, cell biology, development, ecology, evolution genomics, gene regulation, reproduction, stress, signaling & hormones.

When: June 25 – 27, 2012
Where: University of Alberta, Edmonton

Visit http://cspp2012.org/ for more information

Banff Conference on Plant Metabolism

The Banff Conference on Plant Metabolism will bring together an international group of scientists working in diverse areas of general and specialized plant metabolism. Major topics covered at the conference will include: plant lipids, metabolite transport, systems biology, terpenoid diversity, carbohydrates & cell walls, metabolic evolution and plant hormones.

When: June 28 – July 2, 2012
Where: Banff Centre, Alberta

Visit http://www.ucalgary.ca/plantmetabolism2010/ for more information.

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