January 28, 2005

MGH Scientific Advisory Committee meeting

The MGH research community will host its 29th MGH research symposium and poster session and the 58th annual meeting of the MGH Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) Feb. 16 and 17.

The poster session will be held Feb. 16, from 11:30 am to 2 pm in the Wellman Conference Room, the WACC lobby and in the Walcott Conference Rooms. MGH researchers will show 172 posters covering more than a dozen research areas, with 12 posters having been named "posters of distinction." In addition, students from the Timilty Middle School who have been mentored by MGH staff will present their own posters in the Wellman building.

The entire MGH community is invited to presentations of current research from distinguished scientists both inside and outside of the MGH research community Feb. 16, from 2:15 to 5 pm in the O'Keeffe Auditorium. David Altshuler, MD, PhD, of MGH Molecular Biology, will speak about "Human Genome Variation and the Inherited Basis of Disease;" Alan Ezekowitz, MBChB, DPhil, chief of Pediatrics for MassGeneral Hospital for Children, will present "Innate immunity haplotypes: balance between the host and infectious agents;" and H. Robert Horvitz, PhD, professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a SAC member and 2002 Nobel Prize winner, will give the keynote presentation "Genetic Control of Programmed Cell Death in C. elegans."

The annual meeting of the SAC will be held Feb. 17, from 8 am to 3:30 pm in the Wellman Conference Room. The meeting will focus on the opportunities and challenges presented by the changing character of biomedical research as well as the growth of the research portfolio at the MGH. The format will be short presentations and panel discussions, including a panel of SAC members to encourage active discussion by attendees.