Symposium Announcement

[Peter Rauch]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 16:41:59-0400
From: Joel Cracraft <jlc at amnh.org>

Colleagues: Francesca Grifo and I would appreciate it very much if you
would distribute the following message to the TAXACOM mailing list.
Thanks, Joel

>SPRING SYMPOSIUM 1998
>
>The Value of Plants, Animals, and Microbes to Human Health
>April 17 and 18
>American Museum of Natural History
>
>We all depend on biodiversity--the variety of living things, from
>microscopic species to vast ecosystems. Preserving biodiversity helps to
>control the emergence and spread of infectious diseases, and to protect the
>quality and quantity of our air, food, and water supplies.
>
>This two-day symposium explores how plants, animals, and microbes provide
>crucial models for medical research and sources of new medicines.
>Maintaining the critical relationship between viable ecosystems and human
>life involves negotiating the balance between ecosystem protection and
>resource use so that we do not eliminate the very diversity that sustains
>us.
>
>This Symposium is sponsored by the Center for Biodiversity and
>Conservation, American Museum of Natural History; the Center for Health and
>the Global Environment, Harvard Medical School; the United Nations
>Environment Programme; and the Fogarty International Center, National
>Institutes of Health.


>TO REGISTER
>Registration is requested by April 1, 1998. Due to limited seating, you are
>advised to register early. Overflow will be accomodated by video simulcast.
>Attendees are asked to make their own arrangements for travel and lodging.
>
>Code: CBC98SS
>
>Fee:   $65 for both days ($60 AMNH members, $25 students)
>       $40 for one day only ($35 AMNH members, $20 students)
>
>Contact:
>Central Reservations, American Museum of Natural History
>Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024-5192 USA.
>212-769-5200
>
>SCHEDULE
>Friday, April 17
>8:00am Registration and Coffee
>9:00   Welcome Ellen V. Futter
>       President, American Museum of Natural History
>
>       Introduction
>Eric Chivian, Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard Medical
>School; Joanne Fox-Przeworski, United Nations Environment Programme;
>Francesca Grifo, Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, American Museum
>of Natural History; Joshua Rosenthal, Fogarty International Center,
>National Institutes of Health
>
>I. Keynote Address
>9:15   "The Biodiversity Crisis-A Status Report"
>       TBA
>
>II. Species as Sources of New Medicines
>9:45   Overview and Moderator    Francesca Grifo
>10:00  Biodiversity and Traditional Medicines
>       Maurice Iwu*, BDCP, Nigeria
>10:20  Natural Sources for Prescription and Over-the-Counter Medicines
>       David Newman, National Cancer Institute
>10:40  Coffee Break
>11:00  Taxols and Other Natural Compounds as Models for Synthetic Drugs
>       Iwao Ojima, State University of New York at Stony Brook
>11:20  Panel Discussion: Case Studies
>       - Animal Sources for Medicines: Anti-platelet Agents and Snake Venoms
>       Robert Gould, Merck & Co
>       - Microbes and Antibiotics
>       Dennis Schmatz, Merck & Co.
>       - Drugs from Marine Species
>       William Fenical, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
>
>12:10pm        Questions from the Audience
>
>12:30  Luncheon Speaker TBA
>
>III. The Importance of Species to Medical Research
>2:00   Overview    Eric Chivian
>2:15   Panel Discussion: Neurotoxins, Neurophysiological Research, and
>Drug                   Development
>       Moderator    Bruce Bean, Harvard Medical School
>       - Toxins from Dart-Poison Frogs
>       Edson X. Albuquerque, University of Maryland School of Medicine
>       - Medicines from Dart-Poison Frogs
>       Mike Williams, Abbott Pharmaceuticals
>       - Toxins from Cone Snails
>       Baldomero M. Olivera, University of Utah Biology Department
>       - Medicines from Cone Snail Toxins
>       George Miljanich, Neurex Corporation
>
>3:30   Bears, Osteoporosis, and Renal Failure
>       Ralph A. Nelson, University of Illinois College of Medicine
>
>3:50   Coffee Break
>
>4:10   The Immune Systems of Sharks
>       John J. Marchalonis, University of Arizona College of Medicine
>4:30   Insulin Control of Metabolism Across Phylogeny: Implications for
>Drug           Discovery
>       Gary Ruvkun, Massachusetts General Hospital
>4:50   Novel Enzymes from Thermophilic Bacteria    TBA
>
>5:10   Questions from the Audience
>
>
>Saturday, April 18
>8:00am Coffee
>
>IV. Ecosystems and the Control of Infectious Disease
>8:45   Overview    Paul R. Epstein, Harvard School of Public Health
>9:00   Ecology and Lyme Disease
>       Richard S. Ostfeld, Institute of Ecosystem Studies
>9:20   Deforestation, Malaria and Infectious Diseases
>       David H. Molyneux, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
>9:40   HIV and the Degradation of African Rain Forests
>       Jaap Goudsmit, University of Amsterdam Academic Medical Center
>10:00  Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome and Hemorrhagic Fevers
>       Stephen Morse, Columbia University
>
>10:20  Coffee Break
>
>10:40  Nutrient Discharge and Pfiesteria piscicida
>       Joann Burkholder, North Carolina State University
>11:00  Marine Ecosystem Disturbance and Cholera
>       Rita Colwell, University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute
>11:20  Questions from the Audience
>
>11:45  Luncheon Speaker "Conservation - An International Perspective"
>       Gro Harlem Brundtland*, World Health Organization
>
>V. Ecosystem Services and Life Support Systems
>1:15pm Overview    Joshua Rosenthal
>1:30   Biodiversity and Agriculture
>       Alison G. Power, Cornell University
>1:50   Freshwater Ecosystem Services
>       Sylvia M. LeBlancq, Columbia University School of Public Health
>2:10   Marine Ecosystem Services
>       Carl Safina, National Audubon Society
>2:50   Biodiversity and Mental Health    TBA
>
>3:10   Questions from the Audience
>
>VI. Where Do We Go From Here?
>3:50   Overview    Joanne Fox-Przeworski
>4:05   Population Growth, Resource Use, and Biodiversity
>       Robert Engelman, Population Action International
>4:25   The Global Biodiversity Assessment    TBA
>4:45   Valuing Nature
>       Calestous Juma, Convention on Biological Diversity
>
>VII. Concluding Keynote Address
>5:10   David Suzuki, David Suzuki Foundation
>
>* invited

>Lunch is provided.

--
Francesca T. Grifo, Ph.D.                     e-mail: grifo at amnh.org
Director                                      phone:  212-769-5742
Center for Biodiversity and Conservation      fax:    212-769-5292
American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79th Street
New York City, New York 10024
http://research.amnh.org/biodiversity/index.html

Joel Cracraft
Curator
Department of Ornithology
American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79th Street
New York, New York 10024

Phone: (212) 769-5633
Fax:   (212) 769-5759
e-mail: JLC at amnh.org
        cracraft at amnh.org