Mission of the Genetics Cluster

  Our mission is to promote intellectual exchange and camaraderie among the large and diverse group of basic and biomedical researchers, students, staff and teachers on campus who are engaged or interested in genetics. Participants include workers from the River Campus College, Medical and Dental Center, and Nursing School. The two main activities (Genetics Day and The Big Yeast Meetings) encourage active rather than passive participation by holding events with numerous speakers and poster presenters. Both events encourage cooperation and synergism within one of our University’s broadest centers of excellence—basic and biomedical research.

Activities

  Genetics Day is held each spring and feature a large poster session in the Flaum Atrium and morning and afternoon talks in the Class of ’62 Auditorium. Cash awards are presented in the afternoon for the top graduate student and postdoc posters. Genetics Day events are attended by hundreds of faculty, graduate students, postdocs, staff and undergraduates.

The day’s events are kicked off with a morning symposium featuring talks from local researchers. The afternoon Sherman lecture (see link) honors our own Fred Sherman and has featured world-class outside speakers. See the link above for this year’s Sherman Lecturer. Last year the morning and afternoon talks focused on genomics. This year the focus is on stem cells.

The Genetics Cluster also sponsors bagels for regular research meetings of the strong local yeast research community.

Genetics Day 2012—Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Keynote Speaker—Dr. Gary Ruvkun, Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Ruvkun is a recent recipient of the Gairdner, Lasker, and Benjamin Franklin awards, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. His lab uses C. elegans molecular genetics and genomics to study problems in developmental biology and physiology with a focus on RNAi and microRNA pathways, metabolism, and aging.

Click here to see Dr. Ruvkun's Faculty Page