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Classic Meetings

The Banbury Center has been the location of over 600 interesting and important meetings but some have had a particularly significant impact on science and/or the wider society. This section of the web site will feature a selection of these historically important meetings, including a description of the meeting, the program and list of participants, photographs and links to publications which resulted from the meetings.

DNA Technology and Forensic Science

The early utilization of DNA fingerprinting in forensics occurred without good understanding of its limitations. The DNA Technology and Forensic Science (1988) meeting included scientists, prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges, and led to the founding of The Innocence Project.

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Patenting of Life Forms

The Patenting of Life Forms (1981) meeting was particularly significant for convening intellectual property attorneys familiar with physical sciences patents with leading experts in the emerging field of recombinant DNA to review and discuss a US Supreme Court decision that opened the door to the development of the biotechnology industry.

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The Arabidopsis Genome

In the mid-1990s the human genome project was underway, and plant scientists recognized the need to sequence a plant genome. Arabidopsis thaliana was selected and The Arabidopsis Genome (1994) meeting was held to assess the feasibility. The meeting helped persuade the NSF to fund the project.

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