The event will be held on April 27, May 11 and 18 with the aim of bringing the public closer to the world of genetics and genomics.
The Cabildo de Tenerife, through the Autonomous Organism of Museums and Centers (OAMC), will bring together 10 expert researchers in the IV Conference on Genetics: DNA. The Tiny Universe .
Research staff from the Genomics Area of the Institute of Technology and Renewable Energies (ITER) will participate in this event to be held on April 27th, 11th and 18th of May between 18.00 and 20.00 hours at the Museum of Nature and Archaeology (MUNA). The aim of this conference is to bring the general public closer to the world of genetics, which studies genes and heredity, and genomics, which goes further and analyzes the information of the genome of an organism, that is, its DNA.
The informative sessions will revolve around a key event in genetics: the discovery of the DNA molecule. This year marks the 70th anniversary of this milestone in science, which has been a true revolution in recent decades due to its multiple applications in different scientific fields such as medicine, justice, genomics or even the possibilities presented by the use of DNA in the relationships between different populations on the planet or the search for life in the Cosmos.
In addition, the event is configured as a space open to participation, so that the audience will not be a mere spectator, but will interact with the speakers, to promote the transmission of knowledge and ideas through dialogue.
These conferences are organized by the Canary Islands Institute of Bioanthropology and the Museum of Science and the Cosmos, both belonging to the Autonomous Organization of Museums and Centers of the Cabildo of Tenerife. Admission will be free until full capacity is reached. Those interested in knowing more details about these conferences can access the Museums of Tenerife website, www.museosdetenerife.org.
Programming
The inauguration of the event will take place on Thursday, April 27, by the president of the Autonomous Organization of Museums and Centers of the Cabildo de Tenerife and island councilor of Museums, Concepción Rivero. Afterwards, the Professor of Genetics of the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology, Cell Biology and Genetics and of the University Institute of Tropical Diseases and Public Health of the Canary Islands of the University of La Laguna, Mariano Hernández, will give a talk about Epigeneticswhich studies the changes in the functioning of genes due to external reasons such as age, environmental factors or heredity and which cannot be attributed to alterations in the DNA sequence.
Afterwards, it will be the turn of the director of the Canarian Institute of Bioanthropology and the Archaeological Museum of Tenerife and Full Member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of the Canary Islands, Conrado Rodríguez-Maffiotte, and the senior technician of the Canarian Institute of Bioanthropology, Alberto Martín. Both will address the topic of Infectious diseases in the past and their impact on history.
The first day will close with the lecture entitled Genetics of Slavery in the Indian Oceanby Rosa Fregel, professor of the Department of Genetics of the University of La Laguna.
Day of May 11
On Thursday, May 11, it will be the turn of Rafaela González, Platform Manager, Genomics Area of ITER, who will give a lecture on The Genomics and its applications.
Then, the coordinator of the Genomics Area of ITER, José Miguel Lorenzo, will be the second speaker with his talk about the Genomics of emerging diseases.
Finally, Víctor García, junior researcher of the Genomics Area of ITER, will give a presentation entitled Patrilineal and matrilineal genetic inheritance in the Canary Islands..
May 18, 2010
On Thursday, May 18th, the last day will take place with the participation of the Scientific Director, Genomics Area of ITER and Principal Investigator of the Research Unit of the University Hospital Nuestra Señora de Candelaria, Carlos Flores. This researcher will address Genomics and precision medicine.
This will be followed by the presentation entitled Forensic Genetics: the usefulness of DNA in criminal cases and identification of corpses, by the director of the National Institute of Toxicology and Forensic Sciences – Canary Islands Delegation, Alexis Hernandez.
The closing of the conference will be given by the researcher of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias and Director of the Museo de la Ciencia y el Cosmos, Héctor Socas, who will offer the public a talk entitled Genes in the Universe.
