TIGR-NIST Announce Distinguished Speakers Series Titled "DNA, Genetics and Biotechnology"

Leaders in genetics and biomedical research will discuss how revolutions in these fields are impacting science, health care, business and society in a special lecture series jointly sponsored by The Institute for Genomic Research and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

The first TIGR/NIST Distinguished Speakers Series will present academic, government and industry leaders in eight talks from September 1994 to May 1995.

The first scheduled speaker in the series is C. Thomas Caskey on Sept. 9, from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. in the NIST Green Auditorium. Dr. Caskey is director of the Human Genome Center at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. His research interests include genetic abnormalities and human disease. He has published numerous papers on the genetic basis of muscular dystrophy.

Other speakers will include: J. Craig Venter, president/director, The Institute for Genomic Research; W. French Anderson, director of Gene Therapy Laboratories, University of Southern California, Los Angeles; Russell F. Doolittle, professor of biology and chemistry, University of California, San Diego; Harold Varmus, director, National Institutes of Health; M.R.C. Greenwood, associate director for science, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; and Mary-Claire King, professor of genetics and epidemiology, University of California, Berkeley.

All of the talks will be given in the Green Auditorium of NIST's Administration Building, Gaithersburg, Md., and are free and open to the public. The first such venture for both TIGR and NIST, the series will present internationally known scientists in a region with one of the highest concentrations of biotechnology firms and genetics researchers in the country.

NIST's co-sponsorship of the Distinguished Speakers Series reflects its new commitment to focusing resources in the broad area of DNA technologies in the Biotechnology Division of NIST's Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory. In addition to DNA technologies, which include standards for DNA identification, NIST's Biotechnology Division has dedicated research programs in structural biology, bioprocess engineering and biosensor technology.

In addition, NIST's Advanced Technology Program recently announced a five-year, $145 million program, "Tools for DNA Diagnostics," to develop compact, automated DNA analysis technologies to enable fast, inexpensive detection and diagnosis of human, animal and plant diseases.

TIGR, a research institute located in Gaithersburg, Md., was established in July 1992. In its first year of operation, TIGR has become the world's largest facility devoted to large-scale DNA sequence analysis. TIGR scientists are identifying more than 12,000 genes per month and anticipate identifying the majority of human genes by 1995.

As a non-regulatory agency of the Commerce Department's Technology Administration, NIST promotes U.S. economic growth by working with industry to develop and apply technology, measurements and standards.

For more information on the Distinguished Speakers Series, contact Damar Hawkins, TIGR, at (301) 869-9056.