A distinguished group of biomedical industry leaders and university faculty will assemble at UC Irvine on Oct. 16, to examine how industry and academia are facing the challenges of science in this post-genomic era and how systems biology as an approach could become standard practice in the future.

Leroy Hood, President and Director of the Institute for Systems Biology, will present the keynote address. The conference is entitled Systems Biology as the Future of Science: Challenges Faced by Industry and Academia.

Featured industry speakers will include representatives from ACADIA, Entelos, Celera Genomics, IBM Life Sciences, CIStem Molecular Corporation, Remedyne Corporation, DNA Sciences, Structural Bioinformatics, and Elitra Pharmaceuticals. The conference will feature academic participation from the UCI Institute for Genomics and Bioinformatics, UCI Cancer Research Institute, UCI Research Unit in Macromolecular Structure, UCI Department of Biological Chemistry, UCI Department of Medicine, California Institute of Technology Department of Cell Biology, and the Associate Vice Provost for Research for the UC System.

The conference is sponsored by Albert L. Nichols, M.D., Life Sciences Informatics Program, and the UCI Office of Technology Alliances. Supporting sponsors include AeA Medical Technology Forum; Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP; the California Healthcare Institute; and the Life Science Industry Council (LINC).

The conference will be held from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center of the National Academies of Science and Engineering, at the edge of the UC Irvine campus. Parking is free, but limited, and carpools are greatly encouraged. Driving instructions can be found on the Beckman Center web site at http://www4.nationalacademies.org/admin/beckman.nsf.

For more information or to register for the conference, contact Nancy Weintraub at 949-824-9271 or at nweintra@uci.edu. There is no registration fee, but seating is limited, so please call to reserve your space as soon as possible.

The Life Sciences Informatics Program has set aside funds for travel reimbursement only to those who wish to attend this conference from campuses out of town. Please be sure to inquire about the availability of these funds when registering.