November 2011

Science is valuable for many reasons. It is a major driver of human culture, yields boundless practical applications, and contributes to economic growth. But how best to encourage good science and to produce the most value from it is a matter of debate and is sometimes even controversial.

Join Robert Waterston, MD, PhD, and Sir John Sulston, PhD, at the James B. Wyngaarden Distinguished Lecture in Genome Sciences & Policy as they discuss the importance of providing open access to scientific information, both to facilitate the internal activities of science and to maximize its benefits to society. Based on their own experiences in mapping and sequencing the nematode and then human genomes, they will describe how the ethos of "open science" and rapid sharing of data can promote science in the public interest.

The event will take place on November 14th at 4pm in Sanford's Fleishman Commons with a public reception to follow. Please mark your calendars and spread the word.

Sulston is Chair of the Institute of Science Ethics and Innovation at the University of Manchester. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2002 for discoveries concerning "genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death" and is the co-author of The Common Thread: A Story of Science, Politics, Ethics and the Human Genome. Waterston is Chair of the new Department of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington, Seattle, where he conducts research on the genetic control of development in the nematode C. elegans and uses comparative genomics to understand the function of human genes.

Together, Sulston and Waterston undertook the mapping and then sequencing of the C. elegans genome to produce the first published genome of a multicellular organism. Their labs also played key roles in the sequencing of the human genome. Sulston and Waterston have both always been committed to the free release of scientific information and were influential voices in establishing the Bermuda Principles on data sharing in 1996.

Play Explores Sexism in DNA Discovery
A collaboration between the Department of Theater Studies and the Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy culminated in a staged reading of Anna Ziegler’s recent play “Photograph 51,” the Duke Chronicle reports. The play dramatizes the race to discover the structure of DNA and exposes the barriers faced by Rosalind Franklin, who as a Jewish woman fought against institutionalized sexism and anti-Semitism to gain acceptance in the scientific community.

Misha Angrist Mixes Genomics and Journalism
Blue Devil of the Week Misha Angrist says what he loves about Duke is "having access to so many intellectual resources - basic science colleagues, clinicians, people doing mind-boggling research, databases, journals and this amazing cadre of librarians just waiting to help us feckless researchers."

Us vs. Them
Sir Richard Roberts, a 1993 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine and a Fellow of the Royal Society, spoke about the importance of bacteria to the world of science in an event co-sponsored by the IGSP and Quintiles. The talk is available for online viewing.

Willard Awarded Alumni Medal from Yale
IGSP Director Hunt Willard was awarded the Wilbur Cross Medal from Yale University on October 4th. The Medal is an honor presented each year by the Yale Graduate School Alumni Association to a small number of outstanding alumni.

Cell Identity Regulators Link Development and Stress Responses in the Arabidopsis Root
In Developmental Cell, Philip Benfey and Anjali Iyer-Pascuzzi reveal surprising linkages between stress and development at cellular resolution, and show the power of multiple genome-wide data sets to elucidate biological processes.

Protocol for Implementation of Family Health History Collection and Decision Support Into Primary Care Using a Computerized Family Health History System
A study reported in BMC Health Services Research by Lori Orlando and Geoff Ginsburg integrates a computerized family health history system within the context of a routine well-visit appointment to overcome many of the existing barriers to collection and use of family history information by primary care providers.

Family History and Oral Health: Findings from the Dunedin Study
In Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology, Terrie Moffitt and Avshalom Caspi are collaborators on a study showing that family/parental history of oral health is a valid representation of the shared genetic and environmental factors that contribute to an individual's oral health status.

Heterogeneity in MYC-Induced Mammary Tumors Contributes to Escape from Oncogene Dependence
In Oncogene, Joe Nevins and colleagues say that the genetic alterations underlying tumor progression and an escape from Myc-dependent growth in a transgenic mouse model can provide insights into what occurs in human cancers as they acquire drug resistance and metastatic properties.

A Potential Role for Glucose Transporters in the Evolution of Human Brain Size
In Brain, Behavior and Evolution, Olivier Fedrigo and Greg Wray say that findings on glucose transporters represent the first case where adaptive, functional and genetic lines of evidence implicate specific genes. The work is featured in the most recent issue of GenomeLIFE, available for download here.

Genetic and Hormonal Sensitivity to Threat: Testing a Serotonin Transporter Genotype x Testosterone Interaction
In Psychoneuroendocrinology, Ahmad Hariri is a collaborator on a study showing a synergistic relationship between a serotonin transporter genotype and testosterone on stress reactivity, possibly conferring vulnerability for multiple neuropsychiatric disorders.

Computation of Steady-State Probability Distributions in Stochastic Models of Cellular Networks
In PLoS Computational Biology, Mark Hallen, Lingchong You and colleagues present new methods to facilitate the study of cellular variability as a whole.

Quantitative Proteomics Reveals Metabolic and Pathogenic Properties of Chlamydia trachomatis Developmental Forms
In Molecular Microbiology, Arthur Moseley and Raphael Valdivia report that the proteomes of two distinct forms of Chlamydia trachomatis are streamlined to fulfill their predicted biological functions.

Association of Calcineurin with the COPI Protein Sec28 and the COPII Protein Sec13 Revealed by Quantitative Proteomics
In PLoS One, Joe Heitman, Arthur Moseley and colleagues describe a novel prioritization strategy for mass spectrometry data used to identify proteins associated with the calcineurin A catalytic subunit in C. neoformans grown under non-stress and high temperature stress conditions.

For details and updates on IGSP seminars and events, see the Events Calendar.

A selection of upcoming events:

Tuesday, November 1st
Tuesday Seminar Series
Ralph Dean from NC State University presents "New generation biology: Novel insights into pathogenesis of the rice blast fungus."

Monday, November 7th
Computational Biology
Swati Jain from the Richardson Group on "Better RNA Structures: Understanding Structural Features and Structure Correction"

Monday, November 14th
Distinguished Lecture
Sir John Sulston and Robert Waterston present "The Common Wealth of Science."

Tuesday, November 15th
Special Seminar
Jeremy Stuart of Life Technologies presents "Post-Light Sequencing with Semiconductor Chips."

Wednesday, November 16th
Systems Biology Seminar
Daniel Runcie from Greg Wray's lab presents "Environmental influences on the sea urchin gene regulatory network."

Thursday, November 17th
Genomic and Personalized Medicine Forum
Ruth Wolever in the Duke Department of Psychiatry presents on behavioral research and personalized medicine.

Friday, November 18th
Science & Society Journal Club
Joyce Kim will lead the discussion.

The National Institutes of Health will fund applicant organizations that propose creative and innovative research education programs to integrate mathematical, statistical, and computational approaches into biological, behavioral, and social sciences research.

The National Human Genome Research Institute has launched the latest phase of its long-term project to fund research to identify all of the functional parts of the human genome with new grant programs that could total $120 million over the next four years.

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute will award up to $26 million to establish methodologies for comparative effectiveness research in healthcare.