|
Volume CXXXI, Number 20 |
 |
Biology department sponsors discussion on human genome
 |
| Judith E. Tsipis, a professor of genetics counseling. (Henry Coppola, Bowdoin Orient) |
At a discussion held Tuesday entitled "Human Genome
Discoveries: Emerging Issues in Patent Law and Human Genetics," Kevin
M. Farrell, J.D., a patent attorney, presented an overview of the issues
involved in applying patent law to biotechnology, and Judith E. Tsipis,
Ph.D., a professor of genetic counseling, focused on problematic aspects
of patent protection within the practice of clinical genetics. Farrell
and Tsipis are both experts in patents, biotechnology, and human genetics.
The discussion was part of a semester-long symposium sponsored by the
Department of Biology.
The next event will be today's Common Hour Lecture, at 12:30
p.m. in Kresge Auditorium, which will feature Donald Orlic, Ph.D., a stem
cell biologist.
Dr. Orlic is an associate investigator at the National Human
Genome Research Institute, NIH, who has focused his research for most
of the last decade on stem cell biology and techniques to purify stem
cells and improve their use in gene therapy. More recently, he has worked
in the area of adult stem cell plasticity.
Dr. Orlic received his B.S. degree from Fordham University
in 1959 and his Ph.D. in biology from New York University in 1966. He
then did postdoctoral research at The Institute for Cellular Pathology
in Paris, France and in the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy at
Harvard Medical School. From 1969 until 1993 he served on the faculty
in the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy at New York Medical College.
Dr. Orlic was appointed Special Expert for stem cell studies at NIH from 1993-1997. He received the National Human Genome Research Institute Merit Award in 2001, and was elected Fellow of the Academy 2001, New York Academy of Sciences. Dr. Orlic was the recipient of the 2001 Robert E. Stowell Lectureship, Department of Pathology, University of California, Davis, School of Medicine. His Common Hour talk will focus on stem cell repair of damaged heart tissue.