SEMINARS

Seminars at the AAAS Annual Meeting afford the opportunity for two-day in-depth examinations of some of the most exciting and fast-moving areas of research. These special seminars bring together leaders in the emerging areas of research and education.

The completion of a draft sequence of the human genome has heightened awareness of the importance and vast potentials for benefit from genomic studies. As information accumulates about an increasing variety of organisms our knowledge of the natural world, humans in particular, and an array of diseases and disease processes will continue to expand. This continuing annual seminar brings together leading researchers to examine the many avenues for study and learning that derive from our greater understanding of human and other genomes. Areas to be addressed include new ways of using genomic information, the genome and society, genomics and developing countries, genomes and food, and the many "genomes around us."

Emerging studies in nanotechnology hold promises to transform many areas of science and engineering. As successor to silicon and other semiconductor devices nanoscale materials promise another computing revolution. This second in a continuing annual seminar series will examine this exciting and rapidly expanding area of research, opening with a series of speakers addressing the impacts and applications in the broad area of nanoelectronics and nanoelectronic devices. Watch www.aaasmeeting.org for a complete list of confirmed speakers for this special seminar.

Research in the next 50 years promises another transformation as the electron is replaced by the light, in the form of photons, as a carrier of information. The key to achieving this is are photonic crystals, which allow high control of confinement and propagation of light at very small dimensions, enabling design and integration of a wide array of optical nanodevices on a single chip. This very significant area of study is the subject of the second part of the seminar.

Molecular motor proteins, enable nanometer-scale movements which serve as the basis for most forms of biological movement. Several of these proteins have been implicated in human disease, while others represent novel pharmacological targets. Understanding of motor protein mechanics has led to nanomotors for nanofabricated devices for a variety of potential uses. This final portion of the seminar will examine the role of motor proteins in human disease, as subjects for single molecule analysis, and as tools in the design of nanomachines.

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