Invitation to press lunch
14 November 2003
Germany
The press lunch will take place on:
Date: Friday, November 14th, 2003 ,Time: 12.45 to 14.00,Location: EMBO, Meyerhofstrasse 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany (in our ,2nd floor conference room)
Speakers at the press conference will be:
Ludger Honnefelder, Head of the Department of Biomedical Ethics, ,Institute for Science and Ethics, University of Bonn, Germany
Hans Lehrach, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Molecular ,Genetics, Berlin, Germany and Member of the project committee of the ,German National Genome Research Network (Deutsche Nationalen ,Genomforschungsnetz)
Andrew Moore, EMBO Science and Society Programme Manager, ,European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), Heidelberg, Germany
Steven Rose, UCL, Visiting Professor, and Director of Brain and ,Behaviour Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, The ,Open University, UK
If you would like to attend kindly send us an email giving your full ,contact details (media company, name, address, telephone and fax ,numbers) to pr_embo@embo.org by November 12th.
Background:,With the sequencing of the complete human genome and the ,development of gene banks, scientists and medics have an ,unprecedented amount and quality of information at their disposal. By ,their very nature, some applications of this information lie at the ,delicate boundary between medicine and the directed improvement of ,human beings. But it is not only in medicine that genetic information ,has found a use; in many areas of the information society, for example ,in law and justice, in security and insurance it promises - or sometimes ,threatens - to be of great utility.
As a society we must, therefore, ask ourselves important questions as ,to how genetic information is obtained, stored and used, such that the ,potentially enormous benefits can be reaped. This very powerful ,information should be used in a way that is acceptable to all individuals, ,as well as to society as a whole.
The most important parts of the equation are dialogue and ,understanding between the huge diversity of stakeholders in these ,developments. The tradition of this conference is to promote closer ,relations between scientists and other members of society who are ,interested in discussing the social impact and relevance of the research ,and applications at the forefront of molecular biology.
A detailed programme and access to free registration for the ,conference is available at:
http://www.embo.org/projects/scisoc/scisoc2003.html
Contact:
Ellen Peerenboom (PhD),EMBO Press & Public Relations Officer,Postfach 102240,D69012 Heidelberg,Tel: 0049 6221 8891 108,Fax: 0049 6221 8891 200,ellen.peerenboom@embo.org,www.embo.org
Date: Friday, November 14th, 2003 ,Time: 12.45 to 14.00,Location: EMBO, Meyerhofstrasse 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany (in our ,2nd floor conference room)
Speakers at the press conference will be:
Ludger Honnefelder, Head of the Department of Biomedical Ethics, ,Institute for Science and Ethics, University of Bonn, Germany
Hans Lehrach, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Molecular ,Genetics, Berlin, Germany and Member of the project committee of the ,German National Genome Research Network (Deutsche Nationalen ,Genomforschungsnetz)
Andrew Moore, EMBO Science and Society Programme Manager, ,European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), Heidelberg, Germany
Steven Rose, UCL, Visiting Professor, and Director of Brain and ,Behaviour Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, The ,Open University, UK
If you would like to attend kindly send us an email giving your full ,contact details (media company, name, address, telephone and fax ,numbers) to pr_embo@embo.org by November 12th.
Background:,With the sequencing of the complete human genome and the ,development of gene banks, scientists and medics have an ,unprecedented amount and quality of information at their disposal. By ,their very nature, some applications of this information lie at the ,delicate boundary between medicine and the directed improvement of ,human beings. But it is not only in medicine that genetic information ,has found a use; in many areas of the information society, for example ,in law and justice, in security and insurance it promises - or sometimes ,threatens - to be of great utility.
As a society we must, therefore, ask ourselves important questions as ,to how genetic information is obtained, stored and used, such that the ,potentially enormous benefits can be reaped. This very powerful ,information should be used in a way that is acceptable to all individuals, ,as well as to society as a whole.
The most important parts of the equation are dialogue and ,understanding between the huge diversity of stakeholders in these ,developments. The tradition of this conference is to promote closer ,relations between scientists and other members of society who are ,interested in discussing the social impact and relevance of the research ,and applications at the forefront of molecular biology.
A detailed programme and access to free registration for the ,conference is available at:
http://www.embo.org/projects/scisoc/scisoc2003.html
Contact:
Ellen Peerenboom (PhD),EMBO Press & Public Relations Officer,Postfach 102240,D69012 Heidelberg,Tel: 0049 6221 8891 108,Fax: 0049 6221 8891 200,ellen.peerenboom@embo.org,www.embo.org