Lost Pines Conference Description

2007 Lost Pines Conference, November 2-4

Description of the Conference

The Lost Pines Molecular Biology Conference has been held at the Science Park on a more-or-less annual basis since 1983. This year's conference will be the 21st time we've all gathered under its auspices to interact scientifically and socially. The format of this meeting is unique in the sense that it is designed to provide both a forum for high quality scientific presentations, and also a venue encouraging social as well as scientific interaction among scientists at all levels in the biomedical research community in Texas and the surrounding region. To achieve this goal, only one Keynote Speaker is invited, and we rely on the meeting participants to provide platform and poster presentations of consistently high scientific quality and interest. We also try to keep the meeting manageably small (no more than 180) to encourage the maximum degree of interaction among conferees. The Lost Pines Conference is an ideal meeting for graduate and postdoctoral students, faculty new to the state, as well as established scientists, to attend in order both to communicate their latest results, and to become acquainted or reacquainted with their colleagues (and the work of those colleagues) in Texas and the surrounding region. We are very pleased to have Dr. Paul Modrich as our Keynote Speaker for 2007; he joins the distinguished company of our recent past Keynote Speakers Cori Bargmann, Nick Cozzarelli, Richard Losick, Graham Walker, and Liz Blackburn.

Dr. Modrich is the James B. Duke Professor of Biochemistry at Duke University Medical Center and is an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Paul's laboratory uses biochemical approaches to elucidate the molecular mechanism(s) of mismatch repair in human cells and to determine its role in the cellular responses to DNA damage. Among numerous awards and honors, he is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. This is sure to hit another high note in our continuing series of outstanding lectures.

Science Park

The Science Park campus of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center is located approximately 45 miles southeast of Austin, between Bastrop and Smithville in the scenic Lost Pines Forest. Flanked by two state parks and situated along the Colorado River, the campus offers a lovely retreat which is centrally located and easily accessed by most of the expected participants. Through the use of Science Park's lecture rooms and physical plant, as well as the generous support of our sponsors, we have been able to maintain a very reasonable cost for this meeting over the years.