Exploring the Ethics of Synthetic Life

The J. Craig Venter Institute recently announced the creation of the world’s first wholly synthetic bacterial genome. For better or worse, this achievement by the celebrated and controversial scientist and his team marked the beginning of human-designed life on Earth.

On April 2, the entire UMBC campus community and the public are invited to an interdisciplinary symposium, “The Ethical Implications of Synthetic Life.”  A panel featuring top experts in bioethics, genomics and policy will discuss the social, political and moral implications of this rapidly growing technology with vast potential to be either friendly or a 21st-century Frankenstein.

The symposium was organized by Andrea Kalfoglou, assistant professor of sociology/anthropology in the health administration and policy program, who has studied reproductive and genetic ethics for nearly 20 years. Kalfoglou was already developing an ethics lecture series when she arrived at UMBC six months ago.

Then she met UMBC interdisciplinary studies major Laura Dress, who recently completed her capstone project on standardizing and regulating synthetic genomics. The two attended a lecture by Venter on his new autobiography and his latest commercial venture in synthetic genomics, which crystallized the symposium’s focus.

The panel features Kalfoglou’s friend and colleague Glenn McGee, author of New York Times best seller Beyond Genetics, and editor-in-chief of The American Journal of Bioethics, along with top experts from The Johns Hopkins University, MIT and the International Center for Technology Assessment.

Kalfoglou hopes the symposium is an opportunity for a broad cross section of the UMBC community to explore this important issue of synthetic genomics.  She said, “For the moment, the promise is more hype than hope; however, genetic technology moves much faster than the regulatory process.  Huge corporations like Dupont are investing heavily in synthetic genomics development, so it is coming whether we are ready for it or not.

“The advantages of synthetic genomics are open to the imagination,” said Kalfoglou. “We might be able to produce cheaper food, clean water and clean, cheap sources of fuel. But, like any new technology, this will develop within our social and economic system that is not always focused on using technology to the betterment of humanity.”  

“There are issues of justice in terms of who will reap the benefits and whowill bear the burdens. There are also reasonable concerns that the technology could be used for nefarious purposes including bioterrorism, and, like many new technologies, there will be unanticipated consequences. For instance, we might create an organism capable of cleaning up oil spills, but those new organisms could have unexpected negative effects on the environment,” added Kalfoglou.

“The Ethical Implications of Synthetic Life” is free and open to the public. The event will be held at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, April 2 on the seventh floor of the Albin O. Kuhn Library, with a wine and cheese reception to follow.  Signed copies of Beyond Genetics will be available for purchase. For more information, visit www.umbc.edu/synthlife.

(3/26/08)

© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �

April 2, 2008 4:00-5:30 pm
(reception to follow)
Albin O. Kuhn Library
7th Floor Conference Room
UMBC

The J. Craig Venter Institute recently announced the creation of the world's first wholly synthetic bacterial genome. For better or worse, this achievement by the celebrated and controversial scientist and his team marked the beginning of human-designed life on Earth.

On April 2, the entire campus community and the public are invited to an interdisciplinary symposium, "The Ethical Implications of Synthetic Life," featuring discussions from top experts in bioethics, genomics and policy on the social, political and moral implications of this rapidly growing technology with vast potential to be either friendly or a 21st-century Frankenstein.

Directions to UMBC and Parking Information.

Welcome and Introductions by:

Andrea L. Kalfoglou, Ph.D.

Department of Sociology/Anthropology
Health Administration and Policy Program
UMBC

Moderator:

Stephen Freeland, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
UMBC

Panelists:

Glenn McGee, Ph.D.
Director
Alden March Bioethics Institute
Albany Medical College
Albany, New York

Glenn McGee is the founding director of Alden March Bioethics Institute, a comprehensive, university-based bioethics research, clinical and outreach program in New York's state capital. His research focuses on the impact of new technologies on our personal, social and political lives. He is the Editor-in-Chief of The American Journal of Bioethics. Prof. McGee is the author of five books, including Beyond Genetics (2004). His upcoming book explores ethical issues in the diagnosis and treatment of autism. Professor McGee has authored hundreds of essays and articles in journals of medicine, science and bioethics such as Science, JAMA, and Nature Genetics. In addition, his work reaches a wider readership through his regular columns for MSNBC (2000-2003) and for Hearst Newspapers, distributed by the NYT News Service. Prof. McGee has testified in 23 state legislatures, and before committees of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. He has assisted California, New York and Rhode Island in the authorship of proposed legislation dealing with cloning and stem cells. He has conducted bioethics training for incoming members of Congress and for the Counsel of Chief Judges of the Courts of Appeals. He was recently named one of the top ten influential people in Albany, and in 2006, was named to the inaugural Google, Nature and O'Reilly Science Foo Camp. He is one of the 2004 Seed magazine’s Third Culture, "scientists and thinkers who have a propensity for writing directly and very eloquently for the general public." Prof. McGee holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Vanderbilt University and completed a post-doc through the National Human Genome Research Institute’s Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues program.

Jaydee Hanson, M.A.
Policy Director/Political Activist
International Center for Technology Assessment
Washington, DC

Jaydee Hanson directs the CTA's work on human genetics, including work on stem cell research, cloning, and gene/embryo patenting. He also works on the convergence of biotechnology and nanotechnology. He is a fellow of the Institute on Biotechnology and the Human Future. Prior to coming to CTA in 2004, he served as The United Methodist Church's staff director of genetics and bioethics issues from 1981 to 2004. From 1991 to 2004, he also was the legislative director for the church. Mr. Hanson has testified to many state and US congressional hearings on human cloning, animal and gene patenting, and related issues. He coordinated the 1995 religious leaders' statement opposing gene and animal patenting, which was endorsed by over 200 leaders from every US religious tradition. Hanson has served on many committees related to public policy and genetics. He chaired the National Council of Churches' Exploratory Commission on the New Human Genetics and chaired the National Council of Churches' Eco-justice Working Group biotechnology taskforce. He is a member of the World Council of Churches' genetics and nanotechnology committees, which developed new policy for that world-wide body of 400 denominations. He served on the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Science and Religion Advisory Committee and the Ecumenical Roundtable on Science and Religion.

Jef Boeke, Ph.D.
Professor Molecular Biology & Genetics
Johns Hopkins Medical Institute
Baltimore, MD

Dr. Jef D. Boeke is Professor of Molecular Biology & Genetics, Professor of Oncology, and Director of the High Throughput Biology Center at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He elucidated one of the major forms of DNA movement (transposition) in yeast cells, in which Ty1 elements move via reverse transcription of RNA. He coined the term “retotransposition” to describe this unusual process. His work elucidated the intricate molecular mechanisms involved in retrotransposition in yeast and human cells. Retrotransposition formed about half of all human DNA and has been a major force in the evolution of the genomes of many organisms. His recent work suggests that retrotransposition may have profound effects on the expression of those genes and could thus contribute to common genetic diseases. His laboratory has also constructed highly active synthetic retrotransposons with a wide variety of practical and academic uses. His interest in Synthetic Biology has led to an interdisciplinary effort to redesign and synthesize the genome of the brewer’s yeast, in part using a team of undergraduates in the new course “Build A Genome” being taught at Johns Hopkins.

Gautam Mukunda, Ph.D.(c)
Political Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Mr. Gautam’s doctoral research is focused on international relations. He was a consultant with McKinsey & Company focusing in the pharmaceutical and financial sectors. He is currently the Founding Managing Director of the Two Rivers Group, a consulting firm that brings the insights and knowledge of the academic world to bear on the problems facing the private, public, and non-profit sectors. He was Administrator of the Russian Investment Symposium and Program Coordinator of the Kommersant Program on Executive Education in Russia at the Kennedy School of Government. His current research interests include leadership in competitive organizations, the implications of black swan events on international politics, and the security and economic implications of emerging technologies, particularly Synthetic Biology. He is a member of MIT’s Security Studies Program and Program on Emerging Technologies, and he is the social sciences representative on the Student Leadership Council of the National Science Foundaton’s Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center (SynBERC). He graduated from Harvard College with a degree in Government in 2001, magna cum laude. He is a 2005 Paul and Daisy Soros New American Fellow, a 2006 Carnegie Endowment Biosecurity Fellow, and a 2007-2009 National Science Foundation IGERT Fellow.

Sponsored by:

The Dresher Center for the Humanities
UMBC Department of Sociology and Anthropology
UMBC Department of Biological Sciences
UMBC College of Natural and Mathematical Sciences
UMBC College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
The UMBC Bioethics Student Association

For more information, please contact Prof. Andrea Kalfoglou at akalfogl@umbc.edu or 410-455-2061.

Theatre Addresses Scarcity of Roles for Women

The Department of Theatre presents the third annual IN 10 Festival, featuring new theatrical works for young actresses and all audiences, including the winning play of UMBC’s IN10 International Short Play Competition, by Francesca Sanders, a work by IN10 finalist Shirley King, and the world premiere of two commissioned short plays by renowned playwrights Tina Howe and Naomi Wallace.

Inaugurated in 2006, the annual IN10 International Play Competition seeks to address the scarcity of strong roles for young women in contemporary American plays. By creating an international competition for 10-minute long plays that feature solid acting opportunities for young actresses, the Department of Theatre hopes to help commence a new era in contemporary playwriting. The winner is awarded a $1,000 cash prize and performances at the Festival. Additionally, each year the IN10 Festival and International Play Competition commissions a new work by a noted playwright.

The winner of the 2008 IN10 Competition is Francesca Sanders, whose work, The Rudy, will be staged along with the work of another finalist, Markers by Shirley King. Directors will include UMBC theatre professors Alan Kreizenbeck, Xerxes Mehta, Lynn Watson (chair) and Susan McCully (IN10 founder).

The IN10 Festival will be held March 5-9. Click here for information about the plays, show times and ticket information.

(3/3/08)

© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �

Applying Life Lessons

Troy Grant, a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in Language, Literacy and Culture, knows that years of research are ahead as he explores how to make education curricula more relevant and practical for at-risk students.

However, Grant, 38, also knows how far he has traveled from the New Haven, Conn., housing project where he grew up. A self-described �rambunctious� boy, Grant was placed in a school for developmentally disabled children when he was 9. At 11, authorities arrested him for breaking into a Woolworth�s store.

Grant persevered. He graduated from high school, joined the Air Force and completed his bachelor�s at City University of New York at 28 before earning his M.A. in Education from The Johns Hopkins University. Grant�s teaching experience includes several years at the New Era Academy in Baltimore.

�Here I am now, in a Ph.D. program. So the question I ask is, �What happened where education didn�t find a place for me when I was a child?� � Grant said. �What do you do with someone who has my kind of potential?�

Although Grant will explore those questions in his doctoral work, he has also addressed them in his book, An Autobiography of an Unknown Man (Spencer Publishing, 2005). The Barnes & Noble bookstore at Baltimore�s Inner Harbor recently honored Grant�s achievements with a signing and reading from the newly released second edition.

�Being in an interdisciplinary program such as the LLC program is quite a complement to my own unsettled thoughts about how the world has been constructed and structured, especially regarding inequality in education,� Grant said. �The LLC program encourages and pushes me to create new knowledge. My first year has been rather demanding but I feel better prepared as a result of the academic sharpening.�

For more about Grant, click here to view coverage from the ABC news affiliate in Philadelphia after he recited the U.S. Constitution before a live audience.

(3/3/08)

© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �

A Scholar of Great Gravity

Senior physics major Philip Graff will follow the path of science greats Isaac Newton and Stephen Hawking to Cambridge University as the second UMBC student in the past two years to win the Gates Cambridge Scholarship, one of the world’s most selective academic awards.

Graff, who will pursue a Ph.D. in physics, was one of just 45 U.S. winners chosen from more than 600 applicants and 119 finalists. He is UMBC’s second consecutive Gates Cambridge Scholar, following alumnus Ian Ralby ‘02, who won in 2007.

A native of Manalapan, NJ, Graff came to UMBC on a full scholarship through the University Fellowship program and is a member of the Honors College. “Philip’s combination of self-confidence, high social intelligence and understanding of his work made it very difficult for my colleagues to believe that he was only beginning his junior year,” said Markos Georganopoulos, research assistant professor of physics at UMBC and Graff’s mentor. “He built an excellent physics and mathematics background, which will serve him extremely well as he advances toward his Ph.D. His success is a living proof of what can be achieved at UMBC.”

For Graff, the Cambridge experience will be an opportunity to follow in the footsteps of some of history’s greatest physicists (such as Isaac Newton) and hopefully to meet a personal hero, Stephen Hawking of  A Brief History of Time fame. “It’s said that Cambridge has been home to more Nobel Prize winners than all of France, so it’s an amazing honor to study there,” said Graff. “I consider Hawking one of the great minds in the field, so I really hope to meet him.”

An astrophysicist, Graff studies what gravitational waves (caused by the interactions of binary stars and other massive bodies) can tell us about the large scale structure and history of the universe. He created a computer model of quasar radiation as an undergraduate at UMBC and worked with one of the world’s most sensitive scientific instruments, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), during a National Science Foundation fellowship at Caltech. His quasar work is the topic of a research paper currently under refereeing with the Astrophysical Journal.

The Gates Cambridge Scholarship was created in 2000 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which donated $210 million to establish the Gates Cambridge Trust. The award fully funds one to four years of graduate study in any field at Cambridge University. Other U.S. winners for 2008 included students from Harvard, Yale, MIT, Princeton and other prestigious universities.

(2/25/08)

© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �

Due to inclement weather last week, the pond cleanup this year had to be rescheduled to the second week.  Even though there were slight flurries coming down, several brothers still were out and helping clean up the second time around.  A huge thanks to all the brothers that came out to this!  It’s looking better and better guys!

To follow up a fantastic first week of rush, Eta Phi chapter has decided to follow it up with a second week of fun!

• Wednesday, February 20, at 11:30am we will be meeting at the pond in front of the library to clean out the pond. Come on out and give a hand to make UMBC look a little better. And see this article for information on how it will hopefully be getting even better soon!
• Thursday, February 21, at 5pm in the RAC, we’ll be playing some more indoor soccer, as this seemed to be a really great time when we did it last week!
• Friday, February 22, at 5pm in the Cabaret, one of the brothers, Alex Appelbaum will be playing with his band, and then later on in the evening at 9pm, Ray Remesch will be performing with his band as well. Come and hang out with the guys and listen to some great music!

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Ray Remesch @ 410.829.8279

Leading the Field of Aging Services

The Wall Street Journal on February 16 featured 12 innovators and entrepreneurs in the field of aging services who are having “the biggest impact on the future of retirement” in America.  One-third of the “change agents” singled-out for honor are affiliated with UMBC’s Erickson School, including school founder John Erickson, faculty member Bill Thomas and a prominent student and a guest-instructor in the school’s new graduate program.

In an Encore-section cover story, “12 People Who Are Changing Your Retirement,” The Wall Street Journal identified the nation’s leading pioneers who are “shaping the way Americans will live, work and play in later life.”

Four of those 12 pioneers are affiliated with UMBC’s Erickson School, which is becoming a national center for thought leadership in the fields of aging services, policy and research.

John Erickson
Erickson Retirement Communities Founder and Chairman John Erickson was featured for his pioneering work to shape the way Americans age. Erickson has launched several enterprises intended to establish a new standard in retirement living, including Retirement Living TV and The Erickson School at UMBC.

Erickson helped launch The Erickson School of aging, management and policy in 2004 with a $5-million commitment. With an explicit focus on preparing leaders for the 21st century, the School provides professional education, public policy leadership and applied research. The School offers a B.A. and M.A. in the Management of Aging Services. (MAgS).

Bill Thomas
An internationally-recognized authority on aging, Bill Thomas is a professor at the Erickson School and a leader in the culture change movement to promote elderhood as an honorable and valuable position in our society. Thomas is founder of the Eden Alternative, a philosophy and program that de-institutionalized nursing homes world-wide over the past 20 years. Most recently he developed the Green House, a radically new approach to long term care where nursing homes are torn down and replaced with small, home-like environments where people can live a full and interactive life. Read more about Thomas’ unique views on aging at his blog, www.changingaging.org.

John P. Stewart
As Executive Director of the Baltimore City Commission on Aging and Retirement Education, John P. Stewart is responsible for advocating, designing, funding and delivering services to the City’s 105,000 older adults. In the fall of 2007, Stewart enrolled in the first class of graduate students in the Erickson School’s MAgS program. Stewart is working on a blueprint to make city services such as health care, transportation and employment more receptive to the needs of older adults.

Katherine Freund
In the 1990s, Katherine Freund developed the Independent Transportation Network in Portland, Maine, to provide car rides to older adults who can no longer drive. She is now president of ITNAmerica, which has grown into a national organization that provides affordable, round-the-clock rides to thousands of older adults. Freund was tapped as a guest-instructor to help launch the Erickson School’s graduate program in the fall 2007. 

Read the full Wall Street Journal story.

Watch John Erickson and Bill Thomas discuss the future of aging and The Erickson School.

(2/18/08)

© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �

Swimming and Diving Sweep America East Championships

The UMBC men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams became the first in the history of the conference to win back-to-back dual conference championships. The men’s team set a new championship meet record with 929 points and became the first team to ever win five straight conference titles, in addition to winning their 11th straight league title, while the women amassed a total of 741 points.

The women’s team entered the final day of competition 11 points behind meet leader Boston University and crowned three conference champions en route to their second straight conference championship. The men broke their own championship meet record of 920 points set in 2005 by scoring 929 points.

After earning his third second individual title of the weekend in the 200 butterfly, freshman Brad Reitz was named the Most Outstanding Male Rookie and senior Eric Skrabacz earned the Coaches’ Award for most points scored by a male senior over four years (142).

Click here for more information on the championships.

Pictured:
Justin Bronson (this page) won gold medals in the 100 and 200-yard freestyles and as part of the 400 and 800-yard freestyle relays, silver in the 500-yard freestyle, and bronze as part of the 400-yard medley relay.  His time of 1:38.65 in the 200 freestyle was a school record and the relay of Bronson, freshmen Brad Reitz and Keilan Freeman and junior Freddie Reitz set a new school record and America East Championship meet record with their time of 6:42.44.

Tina Cantwell (homepage photo) won gold medals in the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke events and as part of the 400-yard medley relay and bronze as part of the 200 medley relay.  Her time of 1:03.58 was a school record and the relay of sophomore Tereza Kaplanova, Cantwell, junior Daniele Surkovich and senior Lindsey Engler set a new school record and America East Championship meet record with their time of 3:49.11.

(2/18/08)

© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �