ATSDR - Biomarkers Conference

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

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International Conference:
Biomarkers for Toxicology and Molecular Epidemiology

The National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (NCEH/ATSDR) will host the International Conference on Biomarkers for Toxicology and Molecular Epidemiology: New Tools for 21st-Century Problems on March 15-17, 2004, in Atlanta, Georgia. [ Register Now ]

The conference will bring together an international cadre of first-line scientists to examine ways that cutting-edge biotechnology/molecular tools may be applied to several public health problems through technology transfer. Conference participants will discuss the latest developments in biosensor and other new analytical technologies that can be utilized for rapid, field-usable exposure assessments of environmental chemicals as well as for chemical terror agents.

Conference attendees will also evaluate the latest developments in the application of molecular "omics" technologies (genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics). These biomarker classes can be used to evaluate early responses to toxic agents such as arsenic in drinking water, which is a global public health problem that affects the United States and many other countries.

Finally, conference participants will examine these new molecular tools in relation to populations at special risk for toxicity from chemicals (e.g., children). Attendees will seek to determine ways that these modern tools can be used to provide improved risk assessments for protecting children against environmental chemicals.

The conference will feature an opening keynote lecture by Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She will speak on the application of these new technologies and the expanded leadership role of NCEH/ATSDR in meeting public health challenges from toxic chemicals in the 21st century.

In addition, Dr. Bernard Schwetz, director of the Office of Human Subjects Protection at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will deliver a keynote lecture on the latest regulations concerning the ethical uses of molecular biomarker approaches in protecting human health.

The conference is being co-sponsored by the World Health Organization, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Cancer Institute, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, and the Scientific Committee on the Toxicology of Metals under the International Commission on Occupational Health.

The conference is also an official activity of the U.S.-India Joint Working Group on Environmental Health, of which NCEH/ATSDR is the lead U.S. agency. Dr. Henry Falk, director of NCEH/ATSDR, will speak on the agencies' international programs and the new extramural programs.

For further information, including the current agenda, please visit the conference Web site

You may register online now

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Updated by R. Searfoss February 18, 2004
For more information, contact ATSDR at:
1-888-422-8737 or e-mail (public inquiries)