Day-long program focuses on prospects for future gene work

A day-long program on Friday, Sept. 8, will mark opening of the remodeled quarters for the General Clinical Research Center at UW Medical Center and its new Gene and Cell Therapy Core Laboratory.

Except for the afternoon tours, all events will be in Turner Auditorium, D-209. The schedule of events:

Morning session, 10 a.m. -Opening remarks by Dr. Paul Ramsey, UW vice president for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine.

-Remarks by Dr. Inese Beitins, director of clinical research for the National Center for Research Resources, one of the National Institutes of Health. She is expected to discuss policy issues surrounding gene therapy.

-Keynote speech by Dr. Arno Motulsky, UW professor of medicine and genetics, one of the pioneers in this field. The title of his talk is “Reflections on Gene Therapy.”

Scientific session, 2 p.m. Four leading scientists will discuss how gene therapy figures into their research.

The speakers are:

-Dr. Fred Appelbaum, director, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and the Fred Hutchinson Center’s Clinical Research Division.

-Dr. Philip Greenberg, UW professor of medicine and immunology

-Dr. Tony Blau, associate professor of medicine, hematology

-Dr. Ernest Beutler, chair of the Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine at the Scripps Research Institute.

Open house, 4 p.m., at the General Clinical Research Center, UWMC (no tours of the lab)