The department of IQ healthcare, sub-department Healthcare Ethics, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, announces the advanced European Bioethics Course ‘Human Genomics and Medical Technology’ which will be held from 18 -21 March 2013.

The key-note lecture will be held by Tsjalling Swierstra, Professor of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Maastricht University.

During the course the relation between technology and (medical) ethics will be studied. Focus of the course are the moral problems generated by the research and development and application of new knowledge in a range of emerging fields such as tissue engineering and genomics. The implications give rise to new images of the human being and shift common understanding of health and disease.

Topics are, amongst others, research ethics, screening and testing from clinical perspective, Health Technology Assessment, translational medicine and storage and analysis of (genetic) data and social aspects and effects of developments in medical technology. Lecturers include: prof. Evert van Leeuwen, Simone van der Burg PhD, Joris Veltman PhD, Gert Jan van der Wilt PhD (invited) Ineke van der Burgt MD, PhD, Lidewij Henneman PhD, Conor Douglas PhD, Martin Boeckhout MA, MSc, Gert Jan van Ommen PhD (invited).

During the lectures participants will be introduced to basic philosophical and ethical concepts. There will be ample time for questions and debate. Small group discussions and group work on assignments are devoted to in-depth discussions and understanding of different cases and particular contemporary issues in the area of human genetics and medical technologies. Participants are expressly invited to supply cases from their own work and experience for discussion during the course.

This course is of interest to researchers working in the field of human genetics, biomedical sciences, life sciences, genetics and biology and physicians doing research that has a genetic component but also to professionals from other areas in healthcare such as physicians and nurses health care administrators, bioethics committee members, professionals working in the pharmaceutical industry, professionals in the areas of ethics, philosophy and theology, and PhD students undertaking courses of study in any of these areas.

Location: Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, the Netherlands.

Language: English.

Price: Euro (€) 690 for early registration before January 16th, 2013, Euro (€) 790 for registration from this date onwards.

Click on these links for more information and registration, or consult our website: www.masterbioethics.org, under Intensive courses or contact Simone Naber: s.naber@iq.umcn.nl.

The Convergence of Two Major Meetings.

Joint Conference of HGM 2013 and 21^st International Congress of Genetics

In 2013, HGM and International Congress of Genetics will join forces to stage one of the world's largest knowledge-sharing platforms for the genetics and genomics community. A broader spectrum of topical issues will be discussed in greater depth. Such mighty collaboration in an equally dynamic destination is a first. The joint conference will take place in Singapore, a destination reputed as one of Asia's best cities to hold a business meeting. Larger than her moniker as the "little red dot", Singapore is a bustling cosmopolitan city that offers an enriching experience that is more than just business. Join our mailing list and receive regular updates.

HGM

Human Genome Meeting (HGM) is the key annual conference organised by the Human Genome Organisation (HUGO). Initially structured as a dedicated meeting for Human Genome Mapping, the HGM has evolved into a major scientific conference for human genetics & genomics, genomic medicine, and genomic biology. The HGM is also an excellent platform for industry partners and bio-technology companies as well as pharmaceutical giants. The HGM is optimally sized to provide scientific depth and breadth, and also close interaction amongst the delegates. Because HUGO is not locked in any specific continent or focused on any single country, our HGM conferences take place in a wide range of host countries across Asia, Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East. Therefore, the HGM is the truly global genomics conference.

International Congress of Genetics

The International Congress of Genetics (ICG) is an open conference for geneticists held once every five years since the founding of the science of genetics more than a century ago. The aim of the Congress is to create a venue where researchers from around the world can reflect on progress made in the scientific study of the mechanisms and consequences of biological inheritance, consider the best of contemporary research and anticipate future developments in their discipline. The International Genetics Federation (IGF) sponsors and helps organise each Congress. The congress to be held in 2013 will be the 21^st International Congress of Genetics

Abstract and Bursary Deadline: 20 February 2013
Registration Deadline: 13 March 2013

The 7th Wellcome Trust Genomic Disorders conference will present an exciting blend of genomic science and clinical medicine. This meeting aims to bring together scientists and clinicians interested in genomic variation in humans and the mechanisms by which it exerts its phenotypic effects.

Genomic Disorders 2013 will discuss the latest findings relating to the genomic basis of rare disorders as these can provide such powerful insights into human biology. Genome-wide analyses, including array Comparative Genomic Hybridization (aCGH) and Whole Exome Sequencing (WES), are proving to be of great value in discovering the genetic basis of rare disorders and illustrate the heuristic power of humans as a model organism. A particular focus of this meeting will be on bioinformatics approaches used to interpret genomic variants and on therapeutic targets for rare genetic diseases.

Please note that due to building works to expand the Wellcome Trust Conference Centre at Hinxton, Genomic Disorders 2013 will take place at Homerton College - part of the historic University of Cambridge.

Scientific sessions will include:
Natural variation
Developmental genetics
Animal models of rare disorders
Interpretation of genomic variants
Therapeutics

Special events
This year’s meeting coincides with the 60th anniversary of the discovery of the structure of DNA by Watson and Crick in Cambridge in April 1953. To commemorate this, the meeting will include an exhibition/talk about some of the Cambridge sites connected with this discovery that laid the foundation for genomic science.

Scientific organisers
Han Brunner Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, The Netherlands
Helen Firth Cambridge University Dept. of Medical Genetics, UK
Matthew Hurles Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, UK
Jim Lupski Baylor College of Medicine, USA

Invited Speakers:
Les Biesecker NIH, USA
Ewan Birney EMBL-EBI, UK
Sydney Brenner Howard Hughes Medical Institute, USA
Santhosh Girirajan Pennsylvania State University, USA
Robert C. Green Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, USA
Tamar R. Grossman ISIS Pharmaceuticals, USA
Monica Justice Baylor College of Medicine, USA
John Mattick Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Australia
Serena Nik-Zainal Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, UK
Wolf Reik Babraham Institute, UK
Renata Salecl Institute of Criminology at Faculty of Law, Slovenia
James Watson Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories, USA
Brunhilde Wirth University of Cologne, Germany
Further speakers to follow.

Abstracts from all areas of genomic medicine are welcome, several talks will be selected from submitted abstracts.

Few topics in contemporary medicine have attracted more attention than stem cells and their potential for enabling the discovery of new regenerative therapies. The aim of this new Wellcome Trust Scientific Conference is to understand the biology that underpins the success or failure of regeneration, and to clarify the relationship between stem cell biology and regenerative biology so that both can be fully exploited to treat disease.

This meeting is aimed at scientists involved in developmental and regenerative biology, stem cell research, translational medicine, or clinical trials.

Topics will include:
• Regeneration biology: lessons from phylogeny
• Regeneration and therapeutics: the spectrum of regenerative efficiency in mammalian tissues
• Non stem cell-based regenerative biology
• Therapeutic regeneration by (stem) cell transplantation
• Reprogramming and transdifferentiation
• ES/iPS cell technologies