UCSF Institute for Human Genetics Celebrates with Symposium on October 28

The UCSF Institute for Human Genetics is hosting a special symposium on Thursday, Oct. 28 to celebrate its fifth anniversary.

The event runs from 9 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. and will be held at the Millberry Union Conference Center at 500 Parnassus Ave.

Symposium talks will cover topics ranging from the metabolic syndrome, to cancer, to Neanderthal genetics, and will illustrate how today’s research methodologies can be used to probe more deeply into questions of health, disease and human evolution.

Presenters include both local and invited speakers, including:

• Catherine Schaefer, PhD, from Kaiser Permanente, and Pui Kwok, MD, PhD, from UCSF, who will speak about a recently funded large genomic and epidemiologic project on aging;
• Alan Shuldiner, MD, from the University of Maryland, who will talk about the metabolic syndrome in the Amish;
• Deborah Nickerson, PhD, from University of Washington and Elaine Mardis, PhD, from Washington University, who will speak about the latest developments in whole-genome sequencing;
• James Evans, MD, PhD, from the University of North Carolina, who will speak about clinical translation of genomic information;
• Svante Paabo, PhD, from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, who will discuss recent work comparing the genome sequence of Neanderthals with modern humans; and
• Terry Magnuson, PhD, from University of North Carolina, the Charles and Lois Epstein Visiting Professor, who will lecture on epigenetics and mouse development.

The event also will feature a poster session that will highlight UCSF genetics research on a variety of human diseases and developmental issues.

The UCSF Institute for Human Genetics serves as a focal point for campuswide activities in human genetics and has faculty members spanning the four schools – dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy.

“Since the establishment of the Center for Human Genetics in 2005, and then the Institute for Human Genetics in 2007, human genetics research, education and clinical programs at UCSF have flourished as never before, and the University has become a world leader,” says Neil Risch, PhD, director of the institute.

“Over this time we have successfully recruited nearly 20 new faculty members to UCSF, who along with their resident colleagues have produced some of the most significant contributions to human genetics over the past half decade. This symposium will highlight some of that research as part of the poster session. We are also honored to have a stellar group of invited speakers to help us celebrate this auspicious occasion.”

Here is the agenda for the October 28 event:

9 a.m. Welcome, Neil Risch, PhD, Lamond Family Foundation Distinguished Professor in Human Genetics, Director, UCSF Institute for Human Genetics

Sam Hawgood, MBBS
Dean, UCSF School of Medicine

9:15 a.m. A Resource for Genetic Epidemiology Research in Adult Health and Aging

Neil Risch, PhD
Lamond Family Foundation Distinguished Professor in Human Genetics
Director, Institute for Human Genetics

Catherine Schaefer, PhD, Director, Research Program on Genes, Environment and Health
Kaiser, Division of Research

Pui-Yan Kwok, MD, PhD
Henry Bachrach Distinguished Professor

10:15 a.m. Epigenetics, Chromatin Remodeling and Mouse Development

Terry Magnuson, PhD
Sarah Graham Kenan Professor
Chair, Department of Genetics
Vice Dean for Research, School of Medicine
University of North Carolina
Charles J. and Lois B. Epstein Visiting Professor in Human Genetics and Pediatrics

11 a.m. Break

11:15 a.m. Genetics of the Metabolic Syndrome: Lessons from a founder population

Alan Shuldiner, MD
John A. Whitehurst Professor of Medicine
Director, Program in Genetics and Genomic Medicine
Head, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Nutrition
University of Maryland School of Medicine

11:50 a.m. Next-Generation Mendelian Genetics and Beyond

Deborah Nickerson, PhD
Professor, Genome Sciences
University of Washington

12:25 p.m. Lunch

1:50 p.m. Large-scale Cancer Genomics Studies

Elaine Mardis, PhD
Associate Professor, Washington University
Co-Director, Genome Sequencing Center

2:25 p.m. Cutting up the Cow; Coping With Genomic Information in Medicine

James P. Evans, MD, PhD
Editor-in-Chief; Genetics in Medicine
Bryson Professor of Genetics and Medicine
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

3 p.m. Poster Session

4:30 p.m. Analyses of Pleistocene Hominin Genomes

Svante Paabo, PhD
Professor, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Director, Department of Genetics

Related Link:

UCSF Institute for Human Genetics