PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

11-Mar-2014

Contact: Cathy Yarbrough sciencematter@yahoo.com 858-243-1814 Genetics Society of America

Over 1,500 scientists from Asia, Europe and the U.S. are expected to attend the Genetics Society of America (GSA)'s 55th annual Drosophila Research Conference, March 26 to 30, 2014, at the San Diego Town and Country Resort and Conference Center, San Diego, CA. Link to conference webpage: http://www.genetics-gsa.org/drosophila/2014/

At the conference's over 940 platform and poster presentations, scientists will report on the latest research on such topics as cell biology and the cytoskeleton, RNA biology, screening of experimental therapeutics in fly models as well as fly models of such human diseases as cancer, epilepsy, heart disease and diabetes.

The fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is one of the most commonly studied model organisms. Research presented at the Drosophila conference, like those at other GSA conferences, helps advance our fundamental understanding of living systems and provides crucial insight into human biology, health and disease.

In addition to the platform and poster sessions, the conference will feature 15 presentations by invited speakers, including the internationally renowned researcher and educator Bruce Alberts, Ph.D. His topic will be, "Science, Biology and the World's Future." Dr. Alberts, former editor-in-chief of Science and past president of the National Academy of Sciences, is now at University of California at San Francisco, which honored him with the Chancellor's Leadership Chair in Biochemistry and Biophysics for Science and Education.

List of invited speakers:http://www.genetics-gsa.org/drosophila/2014/

The conference will also include a preview of the new feature film, "The Fly Room." Written and directed by geneticist Alexis Gambis, Ph.D., the semi-fictional film is set in the now famous Columbia University lab, known as the "Fly Room," in which the studies that built the scientific foundations for modern genetics were conducted. The film provides a portrait of the relationship between Calvin Bridges, Ph.D., one of the researchers who worked in the "Fly Room," and his daughter Betsey, based on interviews with the real Betsey Bridges. Dr. Gambis has described the film as a "dramatic narrative about a girl's quest to understand her father through his research." Link http://www.theflyroom.com/

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'Fly' meeting to spotlight research advances in genetics