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PROGRAM
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Keynote Speakers Invited Session and Workshop Speakers Social Program Student Support Scheme Johnson & Johnson Research Pty Limited (JJR) Student Prize Award
Keynote Speakers
Elizabeth Blackburn Wylie Burke John Burn Aravinda Chakravarti Michael Conneally Kay Davies Dian Donnai Robert Elston Richard Gibbs Jenny Graves Peter Harper Edison Liu Leena Peltonen Ken Storey David Weatherall
Invited Session and Workshop Speakers
Population Based Biobanks
Professor Paul Burton
Dr Thomas Hudson
Professor Andres Metspalu
Professor Yusuke Nakamura
Professor Lyle Palmer
Dr Giorgio SirugoMethylation and Familial Cancer
Dr Manel Esteller
Dr Young-In Kim
Dr Joanne YoungState of the Art Advances in Reproductive Genetics
Professor Diana Bianchi
Professor Yuk Ming Dennis Lo
Professor Ronald Wapner
Dr Leeanda WiltonHuman Chromosome Structure and Behaviour
Dr Nigel Carter
Professor Andy Choo
Professor Thomas Cremer
Professor Huntington WillardThe Genetics of Sex Determination
Dr Larry Jameson
Dr Harry Ostrer
Professor Andrew Sinclair
Associate Professor Eric VilainDysmorphology: Science to Surveillance
Professor Judith Allanson
Senior Investigator Leslie Biesecker
Professor Raoul Hennekam
Professor Stephen Robertson
Associate Professor Pornswan Wasant
Professor Dan DonnaiProgress in the Treatment of Paediatric Immunopathies by Gene Therapy
Professor Claudio Bordignon
Dr Manuel Grez
Professor Marina Cavazzana-CalvoComplex Disease Gene Mapping
Dr John Blangero
Professor Michael Goddard
Dr Jonathan Haines
Dr Michel Georges
Dr Aarno PalotiePsychosocial Genetic Counselling
Dr Barbara Biesecker
Ms Lynn Hulston
Mr Ivan Maccioca
Dr Katherine Schneider
Dr Jon WeilGenetic Education: Diverse Audiences and International Perspectives
Dr MaryAnne Aitken
Associate Professor Silvia Castillo
Professor Peter Farndon
Mr Joesph McInerneyGenetics and Public Health in Developing Countries
Professor Olu Akinyanju
Professor Alan Bittles
Dr Jose Maria Cantu
Professor Jean-Jacques Cassiman
Professor Arnold Christianson
Professor Michael Katz
Dr Antonia Paula Marques de Faria
Dr Victor Penchaszadeh
Dr Ashraf Samavat
Professor Jai Rup Singh
Associate Professor Pornswan WassantThe beginnings of Human Cytogenetics
Professor Maj Hulten
Professor Patricia Jacobs
Dr Janet Rowley
Professor Grant Sutherland
Professor Lore ZechGenome Plasticity; Past, Present and Future
Professor Gertjan B van Ommen
Dr Evan Eichler
Dr Vivian Cheung
Dr Steven SchererComplex Genetics and Neurodegenerative Disorders
Professor Margaret Pericak-Vance
Dr Stephen Sawcer
Professor Shoji Tsuji
Dr Jeffery VanceSynergies of Genetic Factors and Infectious Agents in the Actiology of Disease
Professor Ruth Itzhaki
Dr Mary Susan Burnett
Professor Allan CrippsPharmacogenomic Approaches to Complex Diseases
Professor Aldons Lusis
Dr Ruty Mehrian-Shai
Professor Giuseppe Novelli
Professor Juergen Reichardt
Dr Allen RosesGenetics of Skeletal Development
Professor Kathy Cheah
Professor Valerie Cormier-Daire
Dr David Rimoin
Dr Nigel MorrisonClinical GenomicsGenetics
Professor Daniel Pinkel
Professor Mike Stratton
Dr Walter Koch
Professor David BowtellGenes and Intelligence
Associate Professor Linda Van Aelst
Professor Hans-Hilger Ropers
Professor Nicholas Martin
Professor Seth GrantMolecular Mechanisms of Aging
Dr Robin Holliday
Dr Martin Holzenberger
Doug Wallace
Dr Chris OttolenghiPeopling the Planet
Professor Lynn Jorde
Professor Richard Villems
Dr Geoff Chambers
Professor Luba Kalaydjieva
Dr Rebecca CainHigh Throughput Strategies and Techniques for Genomics Research
Professor Lisa Shaffer
Professor Olaf Riess
Dr Michael Bonin
Dr Frank Middleton
Dr Charles Cantor
Professor John MattickRegulatory Compliance in Clinical Genetics
Dr Michael Morris
Professor Elisabeth Dequeker
Dr Desiree du Sart
Professor Sangot Marzuki
Dr Simon PattonThe Human Genome Project
Professor David Weisbrot
Professor Gert Matthijs
Associate Professor Sandy Taylor
Professor Margaret Otlowski
Dr John Sulson
Dr Kristin Barlow Stewart
Social Program
Welcome Reception
Date: Sunday August 6, 2006
Time: 17:00 - 18:00 Official Opening, Great Hall 18:00 - 19:30 Welcome Reception, Plaza Ballroom
Venue: Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre
Registered Delegate/Student = included in delegate fee; Registered Accompanying Person = included in accompanying person fee; Additional Tickets = A$45.00All delegates are invited to attend the Official Opening of the Congress and Welcome Reception. The Congress will be officially opened by giving recognition to the traditional custodians of the land, and introductions by leading identities from Government and the field of human genetics. Enjoy some typical Queensland hospitality, great entertainment and delicious food at the Welcome Reception, held at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, our venue for the Congress.
Accompanying Persons' Orientation And Morning Tea
Date: Monday August 7, 2006
Time: 10:00 - 11:00
Venue: Merivales, Brisbane Convention & Exhibition CentreWe hope that delegates' families will come to the Congress and take advantage of exploring our beautiful city of Brisbane and surrounding areas of South East Queensland. To assist visitors with planning activities and tours, this orientation session will provide details of things to do and see during your stay.
Australian Outback Spectacular - BOOKINGS HAVE NOW CLOSED
Please note - due to the unexpected closure of the Australian Woolshed, the "Australiana Night at the Australian Woolshed" advertised in the Congress registration brochure is no longer available. As an alternative, tickets to the brand new Australian Outback Spectacular show are available for purchase.Date: Tuesday August 8, 2006
Time: Buses will depart from the Convention Centre at 18:00 and return to the hotels at approximately 22:30
Venue: Australian Outback Spectacular (approximately 40 minutes drive from the Convention Centre by bus transfer)
Cost: Includes return bus transfers, 3 course dinner, beverages and show. Bookings have now closed.The Australian Outback Spectacular is a unique and exciting evening dinner show capturing the grandeur of the Australian Outback and is a first of its kind in Australia. The giant arena thunders with the hooves of Australian stock horses as the action-packed performance unfolds. It's an electric atmosphere steeped in the courage and daring spirit of Outback Australia.
Every twist and turn of the show features a cast of larger than life characters and amazing animals, with spectacular scenes featuring wild horses, stampeding cattle, an array of bush vehicles as well as an unforgettable display of horsemanship. Further information is available at http://www.outbackspectacular.com.au
Tickets to this event are strictly limited. We suggest booking early to secure your ticket to this not to be missed event.
Congress Dinner At Sea World
Date: Wednesday August 9, 2006
Time: Coaches will depart from the Convention Centre at 18:30 and return to the hotels at approximately 23:00
Venue: Sea World, Gold Coast
Cost: Registered Delegate/Student Attending = A$50.00; Registered Accompanying Person = included in accompanying person fee; Additional Tickets = A$100.00The Congress Dinner is a chance to network with colleagues and friends from around the world in a relaxing and enjoyable environment, while sampling some delicious Queensland cuisine and unique entertainment. See spectacular marine life, watch the dolphins perform, experience the rides and feast on fabulous food.
Elizabeth Blackburn
Elizabeth H. Blackburn is Morris Herzstein Professor of Biology and Physiology in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco. She earned B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from the University of Melbourne, Australia, her Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, England, and did her postdoctoral work in Molecular and Cellular Biology at Yale. Dr. Blackburn is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Dr. A.H. Heineken Prize for Medicine (2004) and the 26th Annual Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Cancer Research (2003). She is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, and Royal Society of London, and is past president of the American Society for Cell Biology.
Wylie Burke
University of Washington, USA
Dr. Burke is Professor and Chair of the Department of Medical History and Ethics at the University of Washington (UW) and Adjunct Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology. She received a PhD in Genetics and an MD from UW, followed by Internal Medicine residency training and a year of fellowship in Medical Genetics. She joined the UW faculty in the Department of Medicine 1985. Her research addresses the clinical, ethical and policy implications of genetic information in medicine and public health; she is the Principal Investigator of the UW Center for Genomics and Healthcare Equality, a Center of Excellence in Ethical, Legal and Social Implications (ELSI) Research. Dr. Burke served on the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Genetic Testing from 1999 to 2002, and the National Advisory Council for Human Genome Research from 1999 to 2003. She is currently President-elect of the American Society of Human Genetics.
John Burn
Professor John Burn is an honorary consultant clinical geneticist at the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust where he was the first clinical geneticist appointed in 1984 and was clinical director of genetic services from 1989 to 2004. He is Medical Director and Head of the 5** rated Institute of Human Genetics, University of Newcastle upon Tyne. He is chief investigator on an MRC international chemoprevention trial in hereditary colon cancer and executive director of Life Knowledge Park, a £10 million government sponsored project to expand the development of genetics in health care. Recent successes have included the first cell nuclear transfer in a human blastocyst. He helped create the Centre for Life, a unique £60million millennium landmark project. John Burn is a regular government advisor and media commentator. He was chair 2003-5 of the International Society for Gastrointestinal Hereditary Tumours InSiGHT and is the president elect of the European Society of Human Genetics.
Aravinda Chakravarti
McKusick-Nathans Institue of Genetic Medicine, USA
Dr Chakravarti is Professor and Director of the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The Institute is named for two Hopkins scientists whose work helped pave the way for the genetics revolution taking place today - the late Nobel Prize winner Dr Daniel Nathans and Lasker award winner Dr Victor McKusick.Dr Chakravarti received his doctoral degree in human genetics from the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston in 1979 and continued as a postdoctoral fellow in Genetic Epidemiology at the University of Washington in Seattle. He was a member of the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh during 1980-1993 and joined the Department of Genetics at Case Western Reserve University as Professor of Genetics and Medicine in 1994; he was named the James H. Jewell Professor of Genetics in 1998.
Dr Chakravarti is one of the Editors-in-Chief of Genome Research, and serves on the Advisory and Editorial Boards of numerous national and international journals and societies. He is a past member of the NIH National Advisory Council of the National Human Genome Research Institute, Chaired the NIH Subcommittee on the 3rd 5-year Genome Project Plan, and continues to serve on several NIH panels. His research is aimed at genomic-scale analysis of the human genome and understanding the molecular genetic basis of common genetic disorders using contemporary genomic tools. He is an expert on computational biology and a geneticist known for his studies of predisposing genetic factors in such common and complex human diseases as diabetes, heart disease, and mental illness.
Michael Conneally
Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics and of Neurology
Indiana University School of Medicine, USA
Professor P. Michael Conneally's research is in the area of human genetics, especially in complex genetic disorders including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases. An area of expertise is in the field of human identification, especially in forensic cases as well as mass casualty identification. He is a member of the 9/11 World Trade Center Committee of DNA Identification. He is a Past President of the American Society of Human Genetics and Secretary General of the Huntington Disease Section of the World Federation of Neurology and is External Examiner in Human Genetics at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, where he has received an Honorary Doctorate in Science. He serves on a number of scientific journal editorial committees and has over 300 scientific publications.
Kay Davies
University of Oxford, United Kingdom
Kay Davies is the Dr Lee's Professor of Anatomy at the University of Oxford. Her research interests lie in the molecular analysis of human genetic disease, particularly Duchenne muscular dystrophy, spinal muscular atrophy and ataxias. She is Director of the MRC Functional Genetics Unit aimed at exploiting genome information for gene function analysis in the nervous system. She is also Co-director of the Oxford Centre of Gene Function which she co-founded in 1999 as a new multidisciplinary institute bringing together genetics, physiology and populations genetics. From 1992 to 1994 she was Vice President of the Human Genome Organisation (HUGO), and served on the first Advisory Committee on Genetic Testing in the UK. She has won numerous awards for her work. She is a founding fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2003.
Dian Donnai
University of Manchester, United Kingdom
Dian Donnai is Professor of Medical Genetics in the University of Manchester, and was Director of the Northwest Regional Genetics Service, one of the largest in the UK that includes the National Genetics Reference Laboratory and a Genetic Knowledge Park with health services, social science and biomedical research. Her own research is into mechanisms underlying dysmorphic syndromes, particularly Williams Syndrome, and, with Dr Tassabehji, has a programme of research that encompasses detailed phenotyping and molecular research including the generation of mouse models. She helped develop Dysmorphology in UK establishing the Dysmorphology Club, the journal Clinical Dysmorphology and a series of Manchester Birth Defects Conferences. She serves on national committees involved with genetics policy. She was President of the Clinical Genetics Society and the 2004 Carter Lecturer and Medallist of the British Society for Human Genetics. In the 2005 Queen's New Year Honours list she was awarded CBE for services to medicine.
Robert Elston
Robert C. Elston serves as Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Case Western Reserve University. He is the Director, Division of Genetic and Molecular Epidemiology at Case Western Reserve University. Professor Elston received his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1959, was on the faculty of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill from 1960-1962 and 1964-1979, Head of the Department of Biometry and Genetics at the Louisiana State University Medical Center 1979-1995, and joined Case Western Reserve University in 1995. Professor Elston is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics. He has served as President of the International Genetic Epidemiology Society, receiving the Society's Leadership Award in 1995. Most notable among his other awards are the Hoch Award from the American Psychopathological Association in 1992, the Wick R. Williams Memorial Award from the Fox Chase Cancer Center in1994, the William Allan Award from the American Society of Human Genetics in 1996, and the Marvin Zelen Leadership Award for Statistical Science from the School of Public Health, Harvard University, in 2004.
Richard Gibbs
Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center (BCM-HGSC), United States
Richard Gibbs is the Founder and Director of the Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center (BCM-HGSC), in Houston, Texas. Under his leadership the group was one of five main groups to complete the Human Genome Project, and since has collaborated to sequence the first fruit fly species, Drosophila melanogaster, the mouse, the slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum and the rat. The group is also collaborating on the rhesus macaque and soon the wallaby. The BCM-HGSC has sequenced Drosophila pseudoobscura, the honey bee, sea urchin, the red flour beetle, a number of bacteria that cause serious infections (Rickettsia typhi, Enterococcus faecium, Mannheimia haemolytica and Fusobacterium nucleatum), and is now completing the cow.In addition to the genome projects the BCM-HGSC has continually developed new sequencing technologies and innovations. These have also been applied to both genome projects and to 'mutation discovery', via PCR re-sequencing. As a result the BCM-HGSC has developed an ongoing capacity to characterize hundreds of individual genes at the level of individual DNA sequence changes. The mutation discovery pipeline has been used successfully for several projects targeted at elucidation of key mutations in disease, including bipolar/manic depressive illness and idiopathic epilepsy. Putative functional mutations are under investigation in each of these disorders.
The whole genome sequencing and mutation discovery are bridged by ongoing efforts in large scale genotyping. The BCM-HGSC has been collaborating with ParAllele who have developed a Molecular Inversion Probe assay. Together the groups have generated 5% of the raw data for the Human HapMap project, as part of the International HapMap consortium. This technology is now translated into the further analysis of the Bovine and Honey Bee by a similar process of variation discovery and genotyping.
Richard Gibbs was born and trained in Melbourne, Australia, and moved to Houston in 1986.
Jenny Graves
The Australian National University, Australia
Jenny Graves uses comparisons between genomes of humans and distantly related animals (Australia's kangaroos and platypus are a specialty) to understand how mammal genes and chromosomes evolved and how they function. Her laboratory is famous for using this unique perspective to explore the origin, function and (dismal) fate of human sex chromosomes, and even to discover novel human genes. She has produced three books and more than 270 original research articles. Jenny has long championed genetics and genomics of distantly related mammals, and is Director of the new ARC Centre for Kangaroo Genomics. She has been President of the Genetics Society of Australia, Foundation President of the Cell Biology Society of Australia and New Zealand and Co-chair of the International Comparative Genetics Committee. She was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Sciences in 1999 and was awarded the Academy's Burnet Medal for biology in 2005.
Peter Harper
Peter Harper was born in Barnstaple, England, and studied Medicine and Genetics in Oxford and London. After clinical posts in Paediatrics, Neurology and Internal Medicine he worked in the Liverpool Medical Genetics Institute with Professor Cyril Clarke before spending two years as Research Fellow with Victor McKusick at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore.On return from America he established Medical Genetics research and services in Cardiff, Wales, where he was Professor of Medical Genetics and Physician until 2004. He is now University Research Professor in Human Genetics, Cardiff University.
Dr Harper's main area of research has been the genetics of neurological disorders, notably myotonic dystrophy and Huntington's disease. He has also been concerned with social and ethical aspects of Medical Genetics, with policy development for genetic services, and recently with recording the history of Human and Medical Genetics.
Edison Liu
Dr Edison Liu graduated from Stanford University and its medical school. He received residency training at Washington University, Oncology training at Stanford University, and post-doc training in molecular oncogenesis at the University of California. From 1987-96, he was professor of medicine, biochemistry and epidemiology at the University of North Carolina, and Director of its Specialized Program of Research Excellence in Breast Cancer. From 1996-2001, Dr Liu was the Division Director of Clinical Sciences (Intramural program) at National Cancer Institute. In 2001, Dr. Liu became the founding Executive Director of Genome Institute of Singapore and Professor of Medicine at the National University of Singapore. Dr Liu's research focused on molecular biology of breast cancer and recently, cancer genomics. He has received the Rosenthal Award from the American Association of Cancer Research and the Brinker International Award from Susan Komen Foundation for his breast cancer research.
Leena Peltonen
National Public Health Institute and University of Helsinki, Finland
Professor Leena Peltonen is among leading molecular geneticists world-wide. She is one of the pioneers in the use of genetically isolated populations in the genetics-based identification of disease genes. Using study samples from Finland her research group has characterized the genetic background of numerous monogenic diseases and more recently identified tentative allelic variants in dyslipidemias and neuropsychiatric diseases. She has also been pivotal in numerous international research efforts and scientific networks. She is the current president of HUGO and has served as the member of the UNESCO Bioethics Committee and in the Board of Directors of the American Society of Human Genetics. She currently leads the Nordic Center of Excellence of Disease Genetics as well as a European Community research program, GENOMEUTWIN (www.genomeutwin.org.) aiming at characterization of genetic and life style risks of common diseases. Dr Peltonen has received several international science awards and has produced over 400 original publications.
Ken Storey
Dr Ken Storey, F.R.S.C., holds the Canada Research Chair in Molecular Physiology at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. He is a world leader in the field of biochemical adaptation - the molecular mechanisms that underlie phenomena including freeze tolerance, hibernation, estivation and anaerobiosis. His research approaches include enzymology, enzyme/protein regulation by reversible phosphorylation, gene expression, and cellular signal transduction analysis to seek out the basic principles of how organisms endure and flourish under some of the most daunting conditions on Earth. He is particularly well known for his studies of animals that can survive freezing, especially the frozen frogs that have made his work popular with TV shows and magazines. Dr Storey is the author of over 500 research articles, has edited six books, organized numerous international symposia, and delivered over 300 university and public lectures on every continent (including Antarctica!).
David Weatherall
University of Oxford, United Kingdom
David Weatherall qualified at Liverpool University in 1956 and after a period of National Service in Malaya, spent four years at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore. He returned to Liverpool in 1965, where he was appointed Professor of Haematology in 1971. In 1974 he moved to Oxford, where he was Nuffield Professor of Clinical Medicine until 1992. In 1992 he was appointed Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford. In 1979 he became Honorary Director of the MRC Molecular Haematology Unit, and in 1989 he established the Institute of Molecular Medicine at Oxford, of which he was Honorary Director (later renamed Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine). His major research contributions, resulting in some 700 publications, have been in the elucidation of the clinical and molecular basis for the thalassaemias and the application of this information for the control and prevention of these diseases in the developing countries. In 2002 he wrote a major report on the application of genomics for global health for the World Health Organization. He was knighted in 1987, elected FRS in 1977 and a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences, USA in 1990. In 1992 he was President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. He became Emeritus Regius Professor of Medicine in September 2000 upon his retirement and was appointed Chancellor of Keele University in 2002.
Student Support Scheme
A number of IFHG Member Societies have allocated funds to assist students to attend the Congress. These funds are administered by the Member Society to bona fide students who are members of the Society and whose abstracts are deemed suitable by the Scientific Program Committee. Students are required to register their desire to apply for the funds by submitting an abstract via the Congress web site and selecting 'Student Support Scheme' as the Presentation Preference. Abstracts must be submitted by January 31, 2006. Students will be notified by the relevant human genetics society of the outcome of their application.Funds will be administered by:
American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG)
US$2000 each to 10 studentsEuropean Society of Human Genetics (ESHG)
Euro 500 each to 20 studentsJapanese Society of Human Genetics (JSHG)
Yen 100,000 each to 10 studentsHuman Genetics Society of Australasia (HGSA)
A$10,000 in total availableThe Organising Committee regrets that no other travel grants are available.
Johnson & Johnson Research Pty Limited (JJR) Student Prize Award
Johnson & Johnson Research Pty Ltd (JJR) will be providing A$5,000 for a student prize. The award, Johnson & Johnson Research Student Award for Translational, Research / Potential Therapeutics will be awarded during the Congress to the best poster on translational research, specifically projects demonstrating clear potential for the development of a future therapeutic. All students who have submitted an abstract under the student category are eligible for the prize.
Congress Organiser: ICMS Pty Ltd, 88 Merivale Street, South Bank, Queensland 4101, Australia
Telephone: +61 7 3307 4000 , Facsimile: +61 7 3844 0909