Monday, March 5, 2012Telus TheatreThe Chan Centre for the Performing Arts1:00 - 4:00 pm

researchcelebrate

2012

Systems HealthTaking personalizedmedicine beyondthe genome

Program

1:00 pm Opening Remarks Dr. Robert Sindelar, Professor & Dean

1:10 pm The epigenetics revolution – why our genetic code is a script and not a blueprint Dr. Nessa Carey

2:00 pm Exploration and recent findings from the human microbiome Dr. Karen Nelson

3:00 pm Phenotypic flexibility and systems health in practice: towards P4 medicine in type 2 diabetes Dr. Ben van Omen

3:50 pm Closing Remarks Dr. Kishor Wasan, Professor & Associate Dean, Research & Graduate Studies

4:00 pm Wine & Cheese Reception

Our SpeakersNessa Carey has had successful careers in academia and industry, where she specializes in translating early stage science into new opportunities to create drugs to treat human diseases. For nearly a decade she has been focused on epigenetics, the scientific discipline that explains why the genetic code alone cannot describe the beautiful biological complex-ity we see around us, from the different cell types in the human body, to the control of flowering times in plants.

Nessa is a member of the External Research and Development Innovation organization at Pfizer. She was previously Director of Research at CellCentric and has worked for two years as Head of Biology at TopoTarget. Nessa has a PhD from the University of Edinburgh, is an Honorary Senior Lecturer at Imperial College, and author of “The Epigenetics Revolution - How Modern Biology is Rewriting Our Understanding of Genetics, Disease and Inheritance.”

Dr. Nessa Carey

Karen is Director of the Rockville, Maryland campus of the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI). She has a PhD in Microbiology from Cornell University and has extensive experience in microbial ecology, genomics and metagenomics as well as in microbial physiology. While at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) in 1999, she led the genome sequencing of Thermo-toga maritima MSB8, and the landmark publication provided insights into microbial evolution. She has also been involved in the analysis of the microbiota of the human stomach and gastrointestinal tract, and Karen and her group were part of a national team of researchers who completed the first comprehensive metagenomic survey of the human gastrointestinal tract.

Currently she is a key investigator in the multi-centre NIH Human Microbiome Project, which focuses on understanding the microbes that live in and on the human body and their contribution to human health and disease.

Dr. Karen Nelson

Ben van Ommen is Principal Scientist at TNO, the Dutch organization for Applied Scientific Research. He is also Director of the TNO systems biology program and leading the activities on nutrigenomics, nutritional systems biology, personalized health and personalized medicine, and Director of NuGO, the Nutrigenomics Organization.

His research applies systems biology to metabolic health and metabolic disease, focusing on under-standing all relevant processes involved in maintain-ing optimal health and causing specific disease sub-phenotypes as well as developing new biomarkers and treatment strategies.

Dr. Ben van Ommen

Learn more about our research

To learn more about research at UBC Pharmaceutical Sciences visit:www.pharmacy.ubc.ca/research/overview

Thank You

Sincere thanks to our sponsors for helping make this event a success.

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Save the date!

The new Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences Building opens this fall. Be sure to visit our website for the latest information on this state-of-the-art facility, winner

of a Canadian Architect Award of Excellence!

www.pharmacy.ubc.ca