By the year 2020, researchers will have pinpointed many of the differences between individuals and between species, including those affecting complex characteristics such as behaviour and intelligence.
The knowledge could have a host of exciting outcomes – and some will surface at 2020 Vision: Creating the individual, a special public presentation during University of Queensland Research Week.
Professor John Mattick and Professor Perry Bartlett, international experts in molecular biology and neuroscience, will give their views in Mayne Hall on the St Lucia campus at 6.30pm on Monday, September 23. Admission is free with refreshments afterwards, and bookings are essential (telephone 3365 3367).
Professor Mattick, Co-director of the University’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience, will discuss Biological software – inherited DNA, which encodes the complex software driving an individual’s growth and development.
“The information content of DNA is being revealed by the Human Genome Project and other projects cataloging the genetic and molecular basis of life,” Professor Mattick said.
“Understanding this information will take decades or longer, but already we’ve gained surprising new insights into human biology and evolution. It is also leading to revolutionary advances in medicine, as well as raising important ethical issues and philosophical challenges.
“By 2020, computational analysis and modelling of genomic information and cellular differentiation may have transformed ideas about information systems in general. This could lead to new and exciting applications in both biological and non-biological areas.”
Professor Bartlett recently joined the University as Foundation Professor of Molecular Neuroscience. Previously he headed the Neurobiology Group at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne.
His talk on The plastic brain will focus on the brain’s capacity to change continually in response to the environment. By 2020, he says, we may understand some of the mechanisms – such as how new nerve cells are created and how new connections form between nerve cells in response to environment cues.
“Understanding these processes may affect the way we structure the environment to promote healthy neural function,” Professor Bartlett said. “It may also lead to new drugs which could help repair damaged or diseased brains or retard ageing.”
Media: For more information, contact Professor Mattick (telephone 07 3365 4446, email j.mattick@imb.uq.edu.au); Professor Bartlett (telephone 07 3365 2905 or 0413 850 683, email p.bartlett@uq.edu.au) or Moya Pennell at UQ Communications (telephone 07 3365 2846, email m.pennell@uq.edu.au).
.jpg)
