Participants Invited to Learn How Unlocking Life’s Genetic Code Will Impact Lives
SANTA CRUZ, CA – April 18, 2018 – The UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute hosts a National DNA Day event on April 25, 2018 to highlight how genomic research at UC Santa Cruz is advancing new discoveries in fields as diverse as cancer treatment, AIDS vaccines, and environmental conservation. This year’s event is just one of many being held nationwide as part of National DNA Day, a national observance promoted by the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health.
National DNA Day raises awareness about the discovery of DNA’s double helix by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953 and the successful completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003. This annual celebration offers many exciting opportunities to learn about the latest advances in genomic research and explore how those advances might impact lives.
At the event, taking place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Baskin Engineering Building Courtyard, participants will have the opportunity to talk to project representatives and researchers working in genomics at UC Santa Cruz. They will be available to discuss their work and how it supports the many advances made in the last 15 years since the completion of the Human Genome Project. Among the projects represented will be the Treehouse Childhood Cancer Initiative, whose mission is defeat every child’s cancer by harnessing and sharing the world’s genomic data.
UC Santa Cruz played an important historic role in the groundbreaking effort that became the Human Genome Project. On July 7, 2000, Scientific Director David Haussler and his team launched the first working draft of the human genome on the internet. The group guaranteed the project would remain in the public domain forever. Since then, the team has evolved into what is now the called the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute.
For more information about National DNA Day, or to see the complete list of National DNA Day events, please visit www.genome.gov/DNADay.
About the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute
Comprised of diverse researchers from a variety of disciplines across three academic divisions, the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute leads UC Santa Cruz’s efforts to unlock the world’s genomic data and accelerate breakthroughs in health and evolutionary biology. Our platforms, technologies, and scientists unite global communities to create and deploy data-driven, life-saving treatments and innovative environmental and conservation efforts.
About the Baskin School of Engineering
Home to the UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute, the Baskin School of Engineering at UC Santa Cruz offers unique opportunities for education, research and training. Faculty and students seek new approaches to critical 21st century challenges within the domains of data science, genomics, bioinformatics, biotechnology, statistical modeling, high performance computing, sustainability engineering, human-centered design, communications, optoelectronics and photonics, networking and technology management. By leveraging novel tools that emerge from changing technologies, we have pioneered new engineering approaches and disciplines, examples of which include biomolecular engineering, computational media, and technology and information management.
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Contact: Alexis Morgan, Communications Manager, UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute (831) 515-8142 or amorgan1@ucsc.edu