At this time we provide a brief overview of three forums will engage Congress delegates.

The last five years has been marked by a massive rise in the percentage of biological research that is conducted by private corporations. On the back of the biotechnology boom it is estimated that approximately 50% of biological research in the USA is conducted by the private sector. A significant percentage of this research is not published in scholarly journals and, more broadly, there is limited dialogue between researchers working in the private and public sectors. This impacts on the rate of research progress. Speakers from the public and private sectors will seed discussion on this topic. The interests of researchers in developed and developing nations will be considered. The Speakers in the forum will be Nobel Laureate, Sir John Sulston and Geoff Duyk (Chief Scientific Officer of Exelixis), Barbara Jasny (Supervisory Senior Editor, SCIENCE), Richard Jefferson (Executive Director of CAMBIA) and Leslie Platt (Principal, Ernst and Young, Virginia). The Moderator will be Jan Witkowski (Executive Director of the Banbury Center, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory).

Sponsored by the Australian Genome Research Facility

The GMO Challenge to geneticists
3pm Sunday July 6

One of the great hopes of molecular genetic engineering was that a new era had dawned in which organisms could be modified in a highly sophisticated manner for the benefit of mankind in agriculture, industry and medicine. Reality has not lived up to this hope. Concerns have been raised that genetically modified organisms could be detrimental to human health and to the environment. Despite reassurances by various panels of experts, these fears have taken hold and such products are widely distrusted by the public.

In this forum, a team of speakers will give their perspectives on the state of the issue, and on possible resolutions. Speakers in this forum include Klaus Ammann, Richard Jefferson,Florence Wambugu and Craig Cormick, Manager of Communications and Public Awareness for Biotechnology Australia. The forum will be moderated by Professor Richard A. Jorgensen of the University of Arizona, Tucson. Professor Jorgensen is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal, The Plant Cell.

A goal of the session will be to come up with a list of conclusions that can be released to the public as a communique of the International Genetics Congress.

How to accommodate BIG genetics into the traditional genetics curriculum
7.30pm Wednesday July 9

Genetics today is becoming increasingly dominated by the large-scale high-throughput techniques of genomics and systems biology. Teachers of genetics want their courses to reflect this current practice. However the techniques of BIG genetics are substantially different from those of traditional genetics. The traditional genetics course has always been prized for the way in which it teaches analytical thinking, especially the type of analysis based on quantitative data. To what extent is it necessary or desirable to accommodate the new technologies at the expense of these older strengths?

In this workshop, a few speakers will get the ball rolling and then most contributions will be from the floor. Speakers will include Beth Balkite (Genetics Education Advisor for GlaxoSmithKline Inc., North Carolina) and three leading text book authors - Dan Hartl, Anthony Griffiths and Peter J. Russell. If useful resolutions to the problem are found, they will be released as a communique of the International Genetics Congress.