Bioterrorism and Biotechnology in Agriculture and Medicine Among Topics at Biotech 2002 Conference

BLACKSBURG, Va., May 3, 2002 -- Bioterrorism, the promise of biotechnology to help feed the world, and vaccines created through biotechnology are among topics that will be presented during the 7th Biotechnology Educators' Conference at Virginia Tech July 17 to 20.

These presentations by nationally recognized experts will cap the East Coast's premier biotechnology conference for teachers. In addition to discussion of recent developments in biotechnology, the conference, which is sponsored by the university's Fralin Biotechnology Center, features hands-on workshops for high school teachers and college science professors to help them teach biotechnology concepts and skills. The workshops are held on the afternoons of July 18 and 19 following the presentations and all day July 20.

Speakers scheduled for the morning of July 18 are:

  • C.S. Prakash of Tuskegee University, giving a presentation entitled, "Genes, Crops, and Food: Can Biotechnology Innovations Help Food Security?"
  • Fran Ligler of the Naval Research Labs, giving a presentation entitled, "Innovation in the Cracks Between Disciplines: Biosensor R&D."
  • Carole Cramer of Virginia Tech, giving a presentation entitled, "Next Generation Vaccines: Taking the Pain out of Prevention."

Speakers scheduled for the morning of July 19 are:

  • Jonathan Richmond of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Office of Health and Safety Information Systems, giving a presentation entitled, "Bioterrorism, Biosafety, and Preparedness."
  • Kim McAllister of the University of California at Davis, giving a presentation entitled, "Neuronal Growth and Synapse Formation in the Developing Brain."
  • Bruno Sobral of The Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, giving a presentation entitled, "From Microscope to Kaleidoscope: Bioinformatics A New View for Biology."

Additional information about the conference is available at the Fralin Biotechnology Center's Web site (www.biotech.vt.edu) or by contacting Dr. Erin Dolan, conference coordinator, at (540) 231-2692 or by e-mail at edolan@vt.edu.