Contact: David Brand
Office: 607-255-3651
E-Mail: deb27@cornell.edu
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University, which has launched a major research effort in the life sciences, is planning forums in three cities over the coming months to showcase some of the university's leading researchers exploring the "biorevolution" that promises to change the course of biological research into medicine, food production and the environment. The events are grouped under the theme, The Power and Promise of Life Sciences.
The dates and venues for three forums, are: March 19, American Museum of Natural History, New York City; April 12, tentatively scheduled at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.; and May 8, Museum of Science, Boston.
The forums will focus on innovative research collaborations among biologists, physicists, chemists, engineers and computational scientists. Participants will talk about the societal impact of this collaboration and highlight research and recent discoveries in the life sciences at Cornell.
Keynotes speakers at the events will be: in New York City, Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, president of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and former director, National Institutes of Health; in Bethesda, Claire M. Fraser, president, The Institute for Genomic Research; and in Boston, David Lederman, chief executive of ABIOMED Inc., maker of the world's first self-contained artificial heart. All three forums will be hosted by Cornell's president, Hunter Rawlings.
Each event will feature Cornell faculty focusing on a theme: "Revolutionizing Research: Where Human Health, Engineering and Bioterrorism Meet" (March 19); "Accelerating Discovery: A New Paradigm for Addressing Medicine, Food Production and the Environment" (April 12); and "Improving Lives: Safer Food, Better Medicine and Help Your Child to Read" (May 8).
All three forums will include a panel discussion on "The Business of Life Sciences: The Next Big Thing," in which Cornell alumni from the biotechnology, health-care and venture-capital sectors will discuss the economic impact of the new life-sciences research.
Cornell faculty participating in the forums are involved in a $500 million New Life Sciences Initiative, the largest and most far-reaching research effort in the university's history. A centerpiece of the initiative is the Life Science Technology Building, planned for a central-campus site.
EDITORS: You or a representative are invited to attend one or more of the forums. Each meeting begins with a reception at 2 p.m. and concludes with an informal dinner at 7:15 p.m. For more information, contact David Brand, Cornell News Service, (607) 255-3651.