PROGRAM 

The R.D. Wells Symposium: DNA Structure, Mutagenesis, and Human Disease

Held on April 11, 2008, in Houston at the Institute of Biosciences and Technology. 

Magnus Hook, Ph.D., master of ceremonies. 

Dr. Hardy Chan, Chief Executive Officer, ScinoPharm Biotech, Ltd.; Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer, ScinoPharm, Taiwan, Ltd., chaired the first morning session. 

 Dr. Samuel H. Wilson, Acting Director, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, “Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis During Base Excision Repair,”

Dr. William R. Brinkley, V.P. Dean, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, “Mitosis, Aneuploidy and Cancer: The Aurora Kinase Connection,”

Dr. John H. Wilson, Biochemistry Dept., Baylor College of Medicine, “Triplet Repeats: Canaries in the Coal Mine.”

The second morning session was chaired by Dr. Paul Schendel, Vice President, Project Management, Oncology, Hematology, Bone and Tissue Repair, Wyeth Pharmaceutical Company.  Speaking were:

Dr. James R. Lupski, Dept. of Molecular & Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, "Molecular Mechanisms for Genomic Rearrangements Associated with Genomic Disorders,"

Dr. Richard G. Brennan, Dept. of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, U.T. M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, "Transcription Regulation through DNA Distortion."

Following a break for lunch, the first afternoon session was chaired by Dr. Jerry B. Dodgson, Michigan State University.  Speaking were:

Dr. Jack D. Griffith, University of North Carolina, Lineberger Cancer Center “T-loops and T-circles in the Replication of Telomers,”

Dr. Sergei M. Mirkin, White Family Professor of Biology, Tufts University, "Mechanisms of Large-scale Repeat Expansions,"

Dr. Tetsuo Ashizawa, John Sealy Chair of Neurology, U.T. Medical Branch "Expanded ATTCT Pentanucleotide Repeat in Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 10."

The second afternoon session was chaired by Dr. William Reznikoff, University of Wisconsin-Madison & Woods Hole Marine Biological Labs.  Speaking were:

Dr. Joel M. Gottesfeld, Dept. of Molecular Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, “Gene Silencing in Friedreich’s Ataxia and Therapeutic Approaches,”

and Dr. Robert D. Wells, Institute of Biosciences and Technology, “What a Ride it’s Been: DNA Structure, Genomic Rearrangements and Human Disease.”