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8th Annual UCD Conway Festival of Research

The 8th Annual UCD Conway Institute Festival of Research will take place on 25th September 2008 in UCD’s O’Reilly Hall. Each year, the Festival is the showcase event for research carried out with the UCD Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, and is an opportunity for researchers to present their work to the wider UCD audience.
 
This year there has been an unprecedented response to the call for abstracts to display at the Festival, and there will be over 160 scientific posters on display. Some researchers have been selected to give short oral presentations of their work, while others will take part in ‘moderated poster sessions’, where they will discuss their research among smaller, more informal groups. Prizes will be awarded in each of the poster categories at the end of the day, and the proceedings will close with a wine reception. A full programme is available here ()

The UCD Conway Institute Seminar Committee has always been successful in attracting international keynote speakers to the Festival, and 2008 is no exception. This year the three plenary lectures will be delivered by Professor Nicholas Turner of the Manchester Interdisciplinary Biocentre, Professor Ralf Baumeister of Freiburg University and Professor Denis Noble CBE of University of Oxford. For further details on each of the speakers and their areas of research, see below.
 
Dr Hugh Brady, President of UCD will open the 2008 Festival and we look forward to a successful and fascinating day of science.

Plenaary Speakers:
Professor Nicholas Turner is Director of the Centre of Excellence in Biocatalysis, Biotransformation and Biocatalytic Manufacture (CoEBio3) at the Manchester Interdisciplinary Biocentre, developed to train future interdisciplinary investigators in biosciences and biotechnology. He is currently working to use the principles of Darwinian evolution to improve enzymes as catalysts for organic synthesis. Nature's enzymes often do not possess the exact properties required for practical application and hence it is necessary to subject them to rounds of directed evolution, involving random mutagenesis coupled with screening, to optimise specific properties such as stereoselectivity and stability. By using powerful modern screening methods it is possible to evolve enzymes in the laboratory in a matter of months rather than the millions of years usually required in Nature. This has obvious applications for the development of novel drug therapies among other purposes.
 
Professor Ralf Baumeister is a molecular biologist of world-class standing, with particular interest in the genetics of neurodegenerative disease (Alzheimers, Parkinson’s), Duchenne muscular atrophy, lifespan determination, pain sensation and bacterial infection. Based in the University of Freiburg, Prof. Baumeister’s laboratory adopts a multi-disciplinary approach to his research, employing a numerous animal and cell-based research systems, from yeast to worms to mammals, together with bioinformatics (computer based research) and high throughput technologies. Remarkably, at the very core of his research is a tiny worm (C. elegans), which his laboratory has used most successfully to better understand the genetic and cellular basis of human disease. The Baumeister laboratory has published their findings in the world’s leading scientific journals, and is consistently innovative with technology development, particularly in relation to high throughput genetic and drug screening.

Professor Denis Noble , CBE, FRS, of the University of Oxford, is a pioneer in the growing field of Systems Biology. Systems Biology involves the study of the complex interactions in biological systems, and draws from computational and mathematical approaches as well as traditional biology. Now that scientists have a greater understanding of biology at the molecular level, System Biology aims to integrate this knowledge so as to allow us to understand the organism on a larger scale.
 
In 1960 Denis Noble developed the first viable computer model of the human heart – thus creating a ‘virtual’ organ. Since then he has continued to develop and research computer models of biological systems, allowing scientists to interpret function from the molecular level to the entire organism. He was awarded the CBE in 1979 in recognition of his work. He has also been instrumental in launching an international project to use computer simulations that will help understand the human genome more completely. He will address the Festival on ‘The Music of Life: Principles of Systems Biology’, and will argue for the need to look beyond the function of the individual molecule to its interaction with other molecules and other systems to create life.