Tom Knight at MIT was doing a similar experiment - what is the minimum set of genes needed to an artificial bactieria (or in this case - perhaps virus) to sustain itself.

Quoted: Craig Venter, the controversial DNA researcher involved in the race to decipher the human genetic code, has built a synthetic chromosome out of laboratory chemicals and is poised to announce the creation…

The model organism for study of plant genetics (first completely sequenced plant genome - in 2000).

I did a search on "elegans" in the Fred Hutch faculty directory - you can see the principal researchers that are using this worm as a model to study cancer, metabolism, and development.

Hits include Roth, Van Gilst, and Buck.

Look like an interesting show tonight - I especially want to see the embyronic development of an elephant!

Freeman Dyson mentioned the HAR1 gene last night; he thinks it may be the most important discovery in biology since the double helix. I'd not heard of it before. Will be interesting to learn more...

Quoted: Found by scanning through giant genomic databases of multiple species, some of these highly mutated areas are thought to be responsible for development of human brain size, language, and complex thought.
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Pollard K. et. al. An RNA gene expressed during cortical development evolved rapidly in humans. Advanced electronic publishing. Nature. August 16, 2006.

Early microRNA paper published in Science Sept. 2002.

I was not aware that the Hutch is an international center for HIV vaccine trials. Learned about this last week at their Science Spectrum event.

Quoted: Hutchinson Center scientists lead the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), the world's largest international effort to find a vaccine to prevent HIV/AIDS — the world's worst epidemic. This National Institutes of Health-funded network involves researchers from 27 cities on four continents. In collaboration with Merck & Co. Inc., the HVTN has begun a collaborative study to test a promising new vaccine to prevent HIV/AIDS. The trial will be conducted at both Merck and HVTN clinical trial sites in North and South America, the Caribbean and Australia. In collaboration with the University of Washington, Hutchinson Center researchers direct the network's Seattle area vaccine trial unit, at which volunteers participate in HIV vaccine trials.

Dr. Christopher Kemp profile