Upcoming Workshops
Latin-America, confronting dengue in the XXI Century
Thursday December 11th, 8 am session
Dengue is among the fastest expanding urban infectious diseases of present times, with no vaccine or therapeutic interventions available and no complete understanding of the biological reasons behind severe illness. This situation requires bridging expertise from large areas of knowledge, including epidemiology, entomology, immunology, genomics, structure and molecular biology, and vaccine research to try to solve this urgent health problem. Latin America, a region with complex socio-demographic and public health realities, has experienced increased incidence of Dengue Fever and Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever. Due to the large scale and impact of dengue in the region, urgent measures are required in areas of basic research and applied sciences. Particularly, in clinical research, there is a need to redefine dengue fever and hemorrhagic fever syndromes, evaluate immune evasion mechanisms, propose new therapeutics, and study neutralizing antibody responses in the light of new genomic data and gene expression profiles. Experts in the field will be speaking about first-hand experiences, present results from their clinical studies. Within this discussion, we will expose the reality of dengue research in Latin America, identify specific needs in the region and project future interventions.
Symposium Organizer: Irene Bosch Blumenfeld
Co-Chair: Jorge L. Munoz-Jordan
Order
Duration(in mns)
Title
Author Block
1
5
Welcome Remarks
Irene Bosch Blumenfeld
University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, United States3
20
Dengue, challenges of today and tomorrow
Duane J. Gubler
University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, United States4
20
Dengue in Brazil
Pedro Vasconcelos
Instituto Evandro Chagas, Ministry of Health, Belém, Pará, Brazil5
20
Clinical Studies of dengue in Venezuela
Norma de Bosch
Banco de Sangre de Caracas, Caracas, Venezuela2
10
Dengue in Blood Donations
Jorge L. Muñoz-Jordán
Center for Disease Control and Prevention, San Juan, PR, United States6
20
Pediatric Dengue Vaccine Initiative in the Americas
Harold S. Margolis
Pediatric Dengue Vaccine Initiative, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Previous Workshops
Introduction to Genome Browsing with Ensembl
One Day Course October 9 2007 AMP II, 10 am
Hosted by Cooperative Centers for Translational Research on Human Immunology and Biodefense and Academic Computing/Information Services
Overview: The Ensembl project provides a comprehensive and integrated source of annotation of mainly vertebrate genome sequences. This workshop offers participants the possibility of gaining lots of hands-on experience in the use of the Ensembl genome browser, also providing the necessary background information. The workshop is primarily targeted at wet lab researchers.
The workshop consists of the following modules. Most modules consist of a presentation, followed by the opportunity to do exercises. Participants are encouraged to bring problems/questions about their research to try to tackle these during the workshop using Ensembl.
Modules (Presentations and Exercises):
* Introduction to Ensembl: origin, goals and organization of the Ensembl project
* Worked example: guided tour of the most important pages of the Ensembl website
* Data mining with BioMart: retrieving datasets using the data mining tool BioMart
* Evaluating genes and transcripts: how are Ensembl gene and transcripts predictions made?
* Comparative genomics and proteomics: orthologues, protein families, whole genome alignments and syntenic regions
* Variations: SNPs, haplotypes, linkage disquilibrium
UMASS GLOBAL HEALTH SYMPOSIUM 2007
May 03 – 04, 2007 Global Health Resource Map
Detailed Agenda Speakers List Global Resource Map Poster
The UMASS Global Health Symposium 2007 sponsored by the University of Massachusetts Medical School’s Office of Community Programs, a division of Commonwealth Medicine will be a two-day opportunity for academic exchanges, discussions, and strategic planning for the University faculty members and international health experts to explore important issues in Global Health. Those issues will focus the University’s involvement in Global Health education, service, and research with particular attention given to working with in-country partners in the developing world. Support for the Symposium is provided by the UMass President’s Office.
The first day of the symposium, May 03, 2007, is designed to introduce participants to activities taking place on the five campuses pertaining to the University’s involvement in global health research, education and service. Several plenary speakers will lead the discussion in exploring key issues pertaining to diseases, resource development, global health policies, and the engagement of academic resources within UMASS with partnering institutions in other countries. Opportunities for small group discussion, presentations of abstracts and posters will be provided.
The second day, May 04, 2007, will focus on a better understanding of academic Global Health Programs in the US. A second focus will be a review of initiatives throughout the University of Massachusetts system leading to the development of strategies to promote the creation and operation of Global Health Offices. Several well-known international health scientists including Dr David Stern, Director of the REACH Program at the University of Michigan, and James Herrington, PhD; Director, Division of International Relations, Fogarty International Center will share their accomplishments and lead participants through small group works on addressing practical steps to be taken on campus in order to efficiently organize global health initiatives at the University. It is anticipated that several colleagues in partnering institutions from Africa and China will join in these discussions to highlight the principles of true partnerships and the challenges together we face in addressing Global Health.
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Macromolecular 3D Structure Visualization & Structural Bioinformatics
Wednesday, May 16, 2007, 10:00 - 11:00, Amphitheater I S2-102
The Structural Basis of Flaviviral Membrane Fusion
taught by Eric Martz,
(of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst MA USA. Principal author of FirstGlance in Jmol, Protein Explorer, and related resources.)
Level: This course is designed for faculty, postdocs, research staff and graduate students in biochemical sciences. No prior experience with protein 3D visualization or bioinformatics is necessary.
Objectives: Participants will use highly user-friendly software for visual investigation of 3D molecular structures of proteins, nucleic acids, and their interactions with each other and with ligands, substrates, and drugs, and protein evolutionary conservation. Hands-on experience will be largely with molecules of each participant's choosing. Those who participate in the optional second day will learn how to create rotatable, zoomable slides of customized molecular views.
Day One:
Major histocompat- ibility protein (MHC I 2VAA): evolutionary conservation and variability from ConSurf. More.. 9:00 - 12:30; 1:30 - 5:00:
Day Two:9:00 - 9:30: Amphitheater I S2-102
9:30 onwards: Rooms S2-307C and S2-307D
Today, participants will get lots of hands-on experience with:- Visual exploration of the 3D structures of macromolecules, such as proteins bound to ligands or nucleic acids.
- Where to find protein structures related to your research, how they are determined, and how much of the genome is (and is not) known.
- Teaching protein 3D structure, ligand interactions, and structural bioinformatics (some slides ready-made).
- Seeing noncovalent bonds between a ligand and protein, and measuring distances.
- Finding amino acids or sequence numbers of interest.
- Locating patches conserved in evolution, and regions of rapid mutation.
- Visualizing specific oligomers, and their subunit interactions.
- Finding gaps in protein chains and evaluating the quality of a molecular model.
10:00 - 11:00: Amphitheater I S2-102
Potassium channel (1R3J) showing membrane surface planes (from OPM). - Seminar by Yorgo Modis (Research Website. Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University). The Structural Basis of Flaviviral Membrane Fusion.
11:00 - 12:30, 1:30 - 5:00 Prerequisite: Attendence at Day One. Rooms S2-307C and S2-307D
Today, participants will get lots of hands-on experience with:- Using Protein Explorer to create custom molecular views.
- Saving MolSlides showing rotatable, zoomable, custom molecular views. (See Sample MolSlides.)
For interested participants, these methods can be introduced (time permitting):- Animating (morphing) molecular conformational changes. (See sample animations.)
- Introduction to homology (comparative) modeling.
- Mutating molecular models with DeepView/Swiss-PDB-Viewer.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
2007 Vascular Biology Symposium
Recognizing Guido Majno, M.D.
UMASS Medical School, Faculty Conference Room S1-342
Speaker Portraits Comments by Guido Majno M.D.
AGENDA
11:30 - Luncheon Buffet opens
11:30 - 11:45 Welcoming Remarks, Terrence Flotte, Dean, University of Massachusetts Medical School
11:45-12:00 Introduction to Guido Majno, Aldo Rossini, Professor, Program in Molecular Medicine, Director Diabetes-Endocrinology Research Center, University of Massachusetts Medical School
12:00-12:30 Roles of Blood Supply in Cancer, Arthur Pardee, Professor Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard University
12:30-1:30 T Cell-Mediated Vasculopathy, Jordan Pober, Professor and Vice-Chair of Immunobiology for Human and Translational Immunology and Professor of Pathology and Dermatology, Yale University School of Medicine.
1:30-2:30 Thrombus Formation In Vivo, Barbara C. Furie PhD, Professor of Medicine, Chief, Division of Hemostasis/Thrombosis, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School
2:30-3:30 Tissue Factor and Tissue Factor-Bearing Microparticles, Bruce Furie MD, Professor of Medicine, Chief, Division of Hemostasis/Thrombosis, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School
3:30-4:30 Trafficking of Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cells, Steffen Massberg, Department of Pathology, Harvard Medical School 4:30-4:35 Closing remarks
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