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Member Awards:
ASHG member Dr. Victor A. McKusick, a Johns
Hopkins professor widely considered the father of
medical genetics, has been awarded the prestigious
Japan Prize in Medical Genetics and Genomics,
an honor that is awarded to only a select few of the
world’s top geneticists. As the recipient selected
for this year’s Japan Prize, the international
scientific community recognizes Dr. McKusick as a
pioneer in the field of medical genomics and
genetics research who has demonstrated a lifelong
record of outstanding achievements. A past-president
of ASHG and an Allan Award winner, ASHG has long
valued Dr. McKusick’s leadership and research
vision. ASHG acknowledges his revolutionary
contributions to science, which have had a
significant impact on the field of medical genetics,
helping it advance and evolve into what it is today.
Three ASHG members have been appointed as the
Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)
Patient-Oriented Investigators for 2007.
Congratulations to Vivian G. Cheung, MD,
Friedhelm Hildebrandt, MD, and Elizabeth C. Engle,
MD, for receiving this honor.
ASHG member David B. Allison, PhD, received
the
Presidential Award for Excellence in Science,
Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM)
from the National Science Foundation.
ASHG member Carol Greider, the Daniel Nathans
Professor and director of Molecular Biology and
Genetics in the Johns Hopkins Institute of Basic
Biomedical Sciences, will share the
2007 Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize with two GSA
members, Elizabeth H. Blackburn, of the
University of California, San Francisco, and
Joseph G. Gall, of the Carnegie Institution. The
researchers were recognized for their outstanding
contributions to basic research in biology and
biochemistry.
GSA member Nina V. Fedoroff, PhD, a
geneticist and molecular biologist at Pennsylvania
State University, was named
Science and Technology Adviser to the U.S. Secretary
of State, Condoleezza Rice.
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ASHG Gets a New Look Online: Updated, Redesigned Web
Site Launched in February 2008
- Kristen Long, Communications Manager
ASHG will launch a redesigned and updated Web site
on February 15, 2008, featuring two primary
changes/additions. First, a new design and layout
that will make our site more user-friendly and
easier to navigate for ASHG members and other
visitors. The site will also feature new content and
more resources for ASHG members, scientists and
health care professionals, the media, and the
general public, including:
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Consumer education in genetics (fact sheets and
articles on basic genetics information and
family health history)
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A new ASHG online newsroom with information and
resources for the media, including the ASHG
online press kit and materials (e.g., press
releases, fact sheets about the Society, story
ideas on hot topics in human genetics,
multimedia and image resources)
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An ASHG news clips archive, where reporters can
search for previous media coverage of the
Society by date or keyword
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The newly created ASHG Expert Speakers Panel: a
resource for reporters to request media
interviews and to gather information about
members of the ASHG Board of Directors who have
volunteered to serve as media contacts for the
Society.
We envision that the overall impact of this effort
will lead to greater awareness about ASHG, its role
as a leader in human genetics, and the resources it
offers.
ASHG appreciates the hard work of Ray Wolfe, Web
Coordinator, in launching our new site. Please visit
soon and let us know what you think of the changes
we’ve made. Send your comments to
Kristen Long.
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DID YOU KNOW?
On January 8, the CMS National
Health Expenditure Accounts Team published a
report on the cost of healthcare in the
journal Health Affairs. The report states
that health care spending in 2006 increased
by 6.7% to $2.1 trillion, or $7,026 per
capita. To read the full text of the report,
please visit:
www.healthaffairs.org.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has
launched an extensive Web-based collection
of genetic and clinical information. Funded
by the National Heart, Lung and Blood
Institute (NHLBI), the data set includes the
Framingham Heart Study. For more
information, please visit
NHLBI’s Web site.
Research!America and partners launched the
“Your Candidates-Your Health: Presidential
Primaries 2008” Web site, which features the
2008 presidential candidates’ answers to
questions about health and research issues.
The site also includes a public opinion poll
on the same questions. For more information
about the campaign and to view the
candidates’ responses, visit:
www.yourcandidatesyourhealth.org .
The National Center for Research Resources
announced the expansion of the Clinical and
Translational Science Award (CTSA)
consortium, which enables researchers to get
new treatments to patients more quickly and
efficiently. For more information, please
visit the
CTSA Web site.
A transdisciplinary team of faculty members
and students at Arizona State University (ASU)
has begun a research project to address the
growing lag between emerging technologies
and the policies and ethics that govern
them. The group received an $80,000 grant
for the project, titled “Addressing the
Growing Gap Between Rapidly Emerging
Technologies and Ethical, Legal and Policy
Capabilities,” which will examine issues
surrounding unregulated new technologies in
the areas of genetics and biotechnology,
among others, and recommend solutions for
improving the timeliness and flexibility of
regulatory processes. Please visit the
ASUNews Web site for more information.
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Genetics Course Announcements:
The University of Miami
Institute for Human Genomics & Vanderbilt
University Center for Human Genetics
Research invite ASHG members to attend:
GENETIC ANALYSIS OF COMPLEX HUMAN DISEASES
COURSE
Sonesta Bayfront Hotel
and Suites,
Coconut Grove, FL
May 5-8, 2008
This comprehensive, four-day
course is directed toward
physician-scientists and other medical
researchers. The course will introduce
state-of-the-art approaches for the mapping
and characterization of human inherited
disorders with an emphasis on the mapping of
genes involved in common and genetically
complex disease phenotypes.
Application Deadline:
March 1, 2008
More details are available
here,
or contact Dori McLean, Course
Administrative Co-Coordinator, at:
dmclean@med.miami.edu.
49th
ANNUAL SHORT COURSE IN MEDICAL &
EXPERIMENTAL MAMMALIAN GENETICS
This year’s course at The Jackson Laboratory
in Bar Harbor, Maine, will run from July 20
through August 1, 2008. This two-week course
includes daily lectures in the mornings and
evenings and mini-symposia, workshops,
tutorials and demonstrations in the
afternoons. Most aspects of human and
medical genetics are covered including
genomics, proteomics, model systems,
cytogenetics, biochemical and molecular
genetics, population genetics, linkage and
association analyses, and the basics of
clinical genetics. Special emphasis in this
year’s course will be on common pathways
underlying disorders. Scholarships are
available for students, including predocs
and postdocs. For applications, or for more
information on the Course and scholarships,
please visit the
2008 Short Course website, or contact
Nancy Place at
nancy.place@jax.org.
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Upcoming Conferences & Events: |
American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG)
ACMG 15th ANNUAL CLINICAL GENETICS MEETING
Phoenix Convention Center & Hyatt Regency
Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ
March 12-16, 2008 |
NatureConferences Foundation, IPSEN, Nature
Neuroscience and Nature Genetics Present:
EPIGENETICS AND BEHAVIOR CONFERENCE
Houston, TX
March 31, 2008
Attendance at this meeting is FREE on
application. Applications are due by Feb.
11, 2008. To apply visit:
www.nature.com/natureconferences/eandc/epigen/registration.html
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The
Association of Professors of Human and
Medical Genetics (APHMG)
APHMG 14TH ANNUAL WORKSHOP
Omni La Mansion Del Rio Hotel, San Antonio,
TX
April 9-11, 2008
The agenda for this meeting includes
presentations and discussions about Medical
Genetics residencies, medical school
curriculum, graduate education, and planning
for the future focus of APHMG. All human
geneticists interested in these topics may
attend the meeting. For more information,
please visit:
http://genetics.faseb.org/genetics/aphmg/aphmg1.htm
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Rutgers University
Conference/Call for Proposals:
DNA, RACE, AND HISTORY CONFERENCE
Center for Race and Ethnicity, Rutgers
University, New Brunswick, NJ
April 18-19, 2008 |
The
American Society for Microbiology (ASM)
ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION
(CUE)
Endicott College, Beverly, MA (near Boston,
MA)
May 30-June 1, 2008 |
University of Washington
“Genome Dynamics and Instability in the
Aging Brain” – international meeting at
Asilomar, California, June 13-17, 2008. Of
interest to human and molecular geneticists,
this meeting will include discussions on the
genetics of aging and on Alzheimer disease.
Contact: Dru Leistritz at
dru2@u.washington.edu |
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Research Grants from $50,000 to $100,000 Available
from National Marfan Foundation
 Requests
for Proposals (RFP) are now available form the
National Marfan Foundation (NMF), which will award
three $50,000 one-year grants or two $50,000
one-year grants and one two-year $100,000 grant in
2008. The application deadline is April 1, 2008.
Grant awards are announced in the Fall, with funding
beginning in January 2009.
“Advances in Marfan syndrome research over the past
five years have opened the door to a lot of new
questions about the disorder, including the exact
cause and potential treatments,” said Dr. Josephine
Grima, Vice President of Research and Legislative
Affairs for the NMF. “It is our hope that
researchers from an array of disciplines will bring
their expertise and experience to the study of
Marfan syndrome so as to advance understanding and
management of the disorder at an even faster pace.”
The NMF’s Research Grant Awards are made possible by
the Foundation’s family funds and many members and
friends of the NMF who contribute to the program.
For additional information about the NMF Research
Fund and the application procedures, contact Dr.
Josephine Grima, 800-8-MARFAN, ext. 17, or
jgrima@marfan.org.
The RFP and guidelines are also available on the
NMF’s web site.
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< Previous Page
SNP-IT is published online four times a year,
in February, May, August and November. Copyright by
The American Society of Human Genetics.
Please direct all SNP-IT inquiries to
Kristen Long, Communications Manager, at
klong@ashg.org
For Society information, please
contact the ASHG Administrative Office, 9650
Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20814-3998. Telephone:
301-634-7300; fax: 301-634-7090,
society@ashg.org
or visit ASHG on the Web:
www.ashg.org |
