THE PROGRAMME OF THE FIFTH WORLD CONFERENCE ON THE FUTURE OF SCIENCE
A preview was given in Milan of ‘The DNA Revolution‘, the Fifth World Conference on the Future of Science promoted by the three Foundations of Giorgio Cini, Silvio Tronchetti Provera and Umberto Veronesi, scheduled for 20-22 September in Venice.
This year’s conference previewed the results of one of the most important revolutions in the recent history of the thoughts of man, the decoding of DNA, begun in the Fifties by James Watson and Francis Crick and concluded in 2000 by Craig Venter.
Brought together for three days on the Island of St. George, a number of the world’s most authoritative scientists will analyse the impact of this discovery on biotechnology, the comprehension of living beings, the protection of health and thefight against the principal illnesses such as cancer, on agriculture and the management of biological resources and new bioethics raised by the genetic consequences.
Also involved is the AIRC (Italian Association for Research Against Cancer), Italy’s point of reference in cancer research, which organised ‘Cancer Genetics’, the seminar on the evaluation of the risk, prevention of the risk, staminal cells of cancer and, finally, therapy with the targeted objective of discussion by world leaders in these areas.
“Thanks to the DNA revolution, we have discovered the genetic bases of many illnesses that has permitted us to extend the duration of the life of man, also improving its quality”, explained James Watson, the Nobel Prize winner for the discovery of the DNA structure in the Fifties, who was present at this morning’s press conference. He continued, “In the next 10 years, we expect to arrive at understanding, in particular, ‘the essence of cancer’. Today, in the anti-tumour therapy target there are staminal cells that are the right objectives with which to defeat the illness. In addition, genetic engineering guarantees us a higher global level of health and well-being, helping us to obtain better foods from animals and better plants. A fundamental factor will also be the reduction of the cost of genomic research, which today is very high. The cost of the sequencing individual DNA will be increasingly within the reach of everyone“.
Those who participated in the presentation as well as James Watson were Umberto Veronesi, President of the conference, Chiara Tonelli, Secretary General, Giovanni Bazoli, President of the Giorgio Cini Foundation, Marco Tronchetti Provera, President of the Silvio Tronchetti Provera Foundation and Maria Ines Colnaghi, Scientific Director of the Italian Association for Research Against Cancer.
The programme of the Fifth World Conference is available on:
www.thefutureofscience.org
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