WELCOME ADDRESS On behalf of the Australian Society of Cytogeneticists and the Organising Committee I am pleased to invite you to the 2010 Scientific Meeting. This will take place in Canberra, ACT on Friday 19th March to Sunday 21st March. Hopefully this meeting will continue in the great success of previous ASoC Scientific Meetings and provide a great opportunity to share in an exciting scientific program and to interact with eminent international Cytogeneticists. The scientific program will encompass all of the sub disciplines that comprise Cytogenetics. On the Friday evening the distinguished quest speaker will give a presentation on the foundations of Cytogenetics followed by a weekend meeting with presentations on recent research developments and the impact on clinical Cytogenetics. This year the National Capital is hosting the Scientific Meeting. Take time for you and your family to visit national icons. Canberra is the home of the War memorial, the National Art Gallery, The National Museum and Questacon. Families can explore the local vicinity with the Deep Space Station and many cool climate wineries within a short drive from the city. The meeting will be held at the Lakeside Rydges overlooking Lake Burley Griffin and a short walk from the city. We invite you to participate in a friendly weekend meeting of science and culture. So please join us, register, submit abstracts or just come along to share in the experience with other national and international Cytogeneticists. Nicole Chia INVITED SPEAKERS Professor Jennifer Graves Much of Professor Graves’ career has been dedicated to studying the evolutionary history of the X and Y chromosomes. Her team discovered that a gene on the human Y chromosome thought to be responsible for testis development, and thus for ‘maleness’, was not located on the Y chromosome in marsupials. This discovery led two of her former students to identify the correct sex-determining gene (known as SRY) present on the Y chromosome. A large portion of her work since then has been dedicated to elucidating the mystery of how this gene has evolved and the complex pathway of gene activation and inhibition which regulates testis formation. Throughout her career, Professor Graves has been an untiring advocate for comparative genomics. By deepening understanding of the past evolution of sex determination, Jennifer Graves has paved the way for developments in diagnosis of gender disorders and gender-related disease in humans. She also hopes it will open up a more fundamental debate about the future evolution of the human species. This creative and inquiring approach has also given Professor Graves an outstanding reputation as an inspiring teacher and mentor. Susan Branford, PhD Susan Branford, PhD is a medical scientist in the Division of Molecular Pathology at the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science and an associate professor of the University of Adelaide, School of Medicine in Adelaide, South Australia. Dr Branford received her PhD in biomedical sciences from the University of South Australia. Dr Branford’s research focuses on molecular analysis of patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) treated with kinase inhibitor therapy. These analyses include monitoring the levels of BCR-ABL mRNA as an indication of treatment response, and resistance assessment by mutation analysis of the BCR-ABL kinase domain. She contributes significantly to the formulation of international guidelines for the performance and standardization of the molecular methods used internationally. In addition, she is participating in a project to standardize BCR-ABL values to an international reporting scale. Dr Branford is a member of numerous international advisory boards and a number of professional societies including the American Society of Hematology, the Human Genetics Society of Australasia, and an associate fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia. ABSTRACTS ACCOMODATION AND TRAVEL GALA DINNER |
