NEWS INDEX Archives 2005 January

Researchers to discuss potential of swine as models for human disease

Jim Barlow, Life Sciences Editor
217-333-5802; jebarlow@uiuc.edu

1/18/05

EDITORS: News media are invited to attend any of the sessions. The full program is available on the Web at www.swinegenomics.com.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Biomedical scientists from around the world will discuss the potential of swine as models for understanding and treating a variety of human diseases when they gather for the Swine in Biomedical Research Conference on
Jan. 27-29 at the Fairmont Hotel, 200 N. Columbus Road, in Chicago.

The conference will open with a discussion at 7 p.m. Jan. 27 on “Comparative Genomics: A Driver for Better Models of Human Diseases.” The session will be led by Lawrence Schook, an animal scientist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Hiroshi Yasue of the National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences in Japan.

Topics to be discussed Jan. 28-29, beginning at 8:30 a.m. both days, will include updates on swine genome sequencing, the bioengineering of pigs as models for various diseases, conditions and surgeries, and the cloning of swine.

The Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is hosting the conference with funding from the National Insitutes of Health and U.S. Department of Agriculture.