6th Annual MapNet Speakers

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Plenary Speakers MapNet Satellite Meeting September 2nd & 3rd 2010

Richard W. Michelmore is the Director of the Genome Center at the University of California at Davis. He received BA and PhD degrees in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge, UK. He has been on the faculty at Davis since 1982. He is currently a Professor in the Departments of Plant Sciences, Molecular & Cellular Biology, and Medical Microbiology & Immunology. As the founding Director of the Genome Center since 2003, he has overseen the establishment of a research center with 16 new faculty and five genomics technology cores that serve the whole campus. More details can be found at http://genomecenter.ucdavis.edu. Dr. Michelmore has published over 125 scientific papers describing his research that focuses on comparative and functional plant genomics and biotechnology with an emphasis on disease resistance (http://michelmorelab.ucdavis.edu). His interests span basic research into the molecular basis of specificity in plant-pathogen interactions to applied plant genetics. His multidisciplinary research utilizes a synthesis of molecular, genetic, and evolutionary approaches. In addition, his program coordinates and hosts the bioinformatics component of the Compositae Genome Project (http://compgenomics.ucdavis.edu/). His teaching has covered the impacts of biotechnology and genomics on agriculture and society as a whole.

Chris Jenkinson - My research interests involve Genetic/Genomic analysis of type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and related disorders. We use a variety of Molecular Genetics approaches to identify DNA variants that increase susceptibility to disease. Despite the challenge presented by these diseases, years of painstaking research effort are finally beginning to bear fruit. This is due to a fortunate confluence of technology and knowledge: (1) the completion of the human genome sequence, and that of hundreds of other organisms which provide us with comparative sequence information; (2) high throughput genotyping methods, such as DNA microarrays, which allow rapid highly parallel measurement of DNA sequence variation and gene expression; (3) high speed computing; (4) novel sophisticated data processing and statistical algorithms for analyzing the avalanche of genetic information provided by these new high throughput technologies. In recognition of the profound breakthroughs in understanding how genes contribute to human complex disease, in December 2007, Science magazine named human genetic variation as the scientific breakthrough of the year. A genome wide association study of complex disease published in 2007 in the journal Nature was voted Medical Article of the Year, 2008 by the online community of biomedical research scientists. Genetics is currently one of the most exciting and challenging areas of science. The genetic revolution will continue to exert a profound influence on our understanding of Biology and the treatment of human disease for decades to come. http://profiles.uthscsa.edu/?pid=profile&id=0V71EU3FI

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