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 From Molecules to Brains--
The J.P. Morgan Meeting
The unusually broad topic of the 1998 annual Executives' Seminar weekend, sponsored by J.P. Morgan, was Imaging: From Molecules to Brains. Carlos Bustamante described his work using the atomic force microscope with which he images single molecules and tries to "see" how a DNA molecule is synthesized. Paul Sigler described his X-ray crystallography studies of the structures of large protein assemblies, and Mark Ellisman showed some remarkable three-dimensional pictures of cells taken with a powerful electron microscope. Bruce Rosen and John Gabrieli discussed their studies of the brain. We are indebted to Sandy Warner and David Deming for their continuing support of this unique occasion.
Horse Genetics & the Performance of Thoroughbreds
The 1998 Banbury Center meeting on horse genetics was stimulated by CSHL Trustee and race horse owner Charles Harris. It was his belief that the performance of racing thoroughbreds has fallen and that this decline might be related to inbreeding. Horse geneticists, scientists who study horses and humans, and thoroughbred owners and breeders considered this question and offered an in-depth analysis of the current state of the genetic map of the horse as well as ways to promote genetics research on the horse. Such policy issues have been raised at previous Banbury meetings and have been influential in stimulating funding of research in this area.
Finding Individual Differences in Human Disease Genes
One of the most important advances in human genetics came in 1980 with the development of a new method for identifying individual differences in human genes that are linked to specific diseases. The new strategy, based on small but common variations called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), has generated a great deal of excitement. Many unresolved issues remain, however, and the Banbury meeting, Large-scale Discovery & Genetic Applications of SNPs, tackled some of them: how to find these variations, how many will be needed for effective mapping, and how to use them. The group also discussed interesting and controversial questions of intellectual property.
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