For Immediate Release
Yvonne
M. Psaila
Director
of Marketing & Communications
Keystone
Symposia
(970)
262-2676
Nobel Laureates to Speak at Keystone
Symposia RNA Silencing Conference
SILVERTHORNE,
CO, April 17, 2009 – Keystone Symposia on Molecular and Cellular Biology will
convene its conference on “The Biology of RNA Silencing” on April 25, 2009 at
the Fairmont Empress Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia. This will be an
opportunity to hear two Nobel Laureates within the speaker line-up.
Andrew
Fire of Stanford University will deliver a keynote address on the evening of
April 25 on “Adventures in the Small RNA-ome.” On
Monday morning, April 27, Craig Mello of the University of
Massachusetts Medical School will present on “Complexity of RNA Silencing in C.
elegans.” Both scientists shared the 2006 Nobel Prize
in Medicine for their pioneering work discovering how certain RNA molecules can be used to turn off specific
genes in animal cells – a phenomenon known as RNA interference, or RNAi.
Also
speaking on April 27 will be David Baulcombe, winner
of the 2008 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award. A scientist at the University of
Cambridge, Baulcombe won that award along with Victor
Ambros of the University of Massachusetts Medical
School and Gary Ruvkun of Harvard Medical
School/Massachusetts General Hospital for work on small RNAs
and gene regulation.
The
four-day conference will bring together more than 400 leading researchers from
around the world working in different branches of RNA silencing to share their
findings and facilitate a deeper understanding of the breadth and complexity of
small RNA-related phenomena. RNA silencing pathways control an ever-expanding
range of biological phenomena; defects in these pathways lead directly to
disease, and RNA molecules can be used as powerful therapeutic agents. Our
ability to harness RNA silencing for therapeutic purposes depends critically on
our knowledge of the underlying biology.
The conference’s scientific organizers are Witold Filipowicz of Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research in Switzerland
and Erik Sontheimer of Northwestern University in the
USA. Both also have done groundbreaking RNA work.
For
more information about the conference, visit www.keystonesymposia.org/9D6.
About Keystone
Symposia
Keystone
Symposia on Molecular and Cellular Biology, a 501(c)3
non-profit organization, has been conducting open, international scientific
conferences since 1972 and has been headquartered in Summit County, Colorado
since 1990 when it left the University of California at Los Angeles. Annually,
Keystone Symposia holds more than 50 meetings involving more than 13,000
scientists from around the world.
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