From: [log in to unmask] Genes and Development. Interacting Processes or Hierarchical Organization? New Theoretical Approaches to Developmental Biology and their Ethical Implications. Conference Dates: March 19 – 20, 1999 Location: University of Basel, Switzerland. Conference Language: English The conference is organized by the Institute for the History and Ethics of Medicine, University of Basel, in connection with the Research Project : “Genome and Organism” (Christoph Rehmann-Sutter and Eva M. Neumann-Held), supported by the Foundation “Mensch-Gesellschaft-Umwelt”, and in collaboration with the “Schweizerische Gesellschaft für biomedizinische Ethik SGBE-SSEB” and the “European Academy for the Study of Consequences of Scientific and Technological Advance” Bad-Neuenahr-Ahrweiler GmbH. Current results in molecular and developmental biology challenge traditional concepts of genes, genomes and organisms. The picture emerging from experimental results in the developmental branch of molecular genetics is more and more at odds with a hierarchical, DNA-centered interpretation resulting from the classical hereditary approach. Traditional metaphors like that of the “genetic program” for the development of an organism, have been objects of ideological controversy in bio-philosophy for quite a while. Now it seems, however, that they have to undergo some thorough revision for scientific reasons. Developmental genetics might call for a more organismic and more integrated approach and for a reassessment of nothing less than the role of DNA. There are reasons for looking for a new conceptualization of the relationships between chromosomes, developmental information and the developing organisms. This interdisciplinary symposium aims at an evaluation of new theoretical approaches in this field, approaches that are directed toward an integration of genetics and developmental biology. The questions to be discussed arise from theoretical, philosophical and ethical issues. They include: What is an organism in relation to its genes? What are genes in relation to life? What is life in relation to DNA-protein-interactions in developing cellular systems? What is the theoretical and the ontological status of the “organism”? Which impacts has a transformed scientific description of life? Speakers will include: Markus Affolter (Basel), Brian Goodwin (London), James Griesemer (Davis), Paul Griffiths (Sydney), Mathias Gutmann (Bad-Neuenahr-Ahrweiler), Evelyn Fox Keller (Boston), Gerd Mueller (Wien), Eva M. Neumann-Held (Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler), Susan Oyama (New York), Jackie Leach Scully (Basel), Christoph Rehmann-Sutter (Basel). Further informations are available. Please contact: Rainer Kamber Institut fuer Geschichte und Ethik der Medizin “Genes and Development” Schoenbeinstr. 20 CH-4056 BASEL FAX: +41-61-267 31 90 E-mail: [log in to unmask] Registration before Feb. 15, 1998 fee: sfr. 160 or $US 110 (students sfr. 80 or $US 55) includes coffee/tee and cookies; meals and accomodation extra.