NIH Biotechnology Symposium: Protein Evolution
Friday, April 22nd
Schedule
8:45-9:00 AM – Opening Remarks
9:00-10:00 AM – Sandy Merino, PhD, Novozymes Inc. “Engineering of microorganisms for the production of enzymes and chemicals”
10:00-11:00 AM – Philippa Marrack, PhD, University of Colorado Denver “T and B cell roles in autoimmunity”
11:00 AM-2:00 PM – Melvin Duvall, PhD, Northern Illinois University “Inferring the plant evolution in the high-throughput sequencing era”
12:00-1:00 PM – Lunch
1:00-2:00 PM – Chris Amemiya, PhD, University of Washington “Evolution of novel proteins and their applications in biology and biotechnology”
2:00-3:00 PM – Gerry Smith, PhD, Fred Hutch “E. coli RecBCD and its control by Chi sites”
3:00-4:30 PM – Poster Symposium
Biographies of Speakers

Dr. Sandy Merino
Senior Scientist at Novozymes, Inc.

Dr. Philippa Marrack
Distinguished Professor, Department of Biomedical Research at National Jewish Health, UCDenver
In collaboration with John Kappler, Dr. Marrack studies the development, specificity and function of T cells, with side tracks to experiments on some kinds of B cells. Like many other immunologists, Drs. Marrack and Kappler have over the years shifted from a focus on basic biology to more applied studies on subjects such as the functions of vaccine adjuvants, the role of gender in autoimmunity and immune responses to self-antigens and metal ions in mice and humans.

Dr. Melvin Duvall
Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Illinois University

Dr. Chris Amemiya
Affiliate Full Professor, Molecular Genetics, Director of Genome Resource Center, Benaroya Research Institute, University of Washington
Dr. Amemiya is interested in the origins of novelty and innovation in vertebrates, with special emphasis on the adaptive immune system and vertebrate bauplan. His lab uses whatever tools are necessary to address fundamental biological questions, particularly large-insert cloning, comparative genomics, computational biology and developmental biology. His laboratory wishes to understand the mode by which diversity is generated at the genomic and developmental levels and how the mechanism emerged in the first place.

Dr. Gerry Smith
Lead Scientist, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Basic Sciences Division, University of Washington