The department of genetics in Trinity College Dublin will celebrate its 50th birthday with a big reunion party, writes Dick Ahlstrom.
PLANS FOR A major birthday celebration are underway as the Department of Genetics at Trinity College Dublin prepares to mark its 50th year. A full schedule of events includes research symposia, receptions, a formal dinner and a major public meeting entitled, The Secret of Life: Genetics in the 21st Century.
The object is to bring together as many people as possible who had connections with the department, explains Prof David McConnell, TCD's professor of genetics. "It is a celebration of the people who passed through these doors," he says.
Founded in 1958 by Cambridge University graduate Prof George Dawson, the department has built an international reputation for teaching and for research. Last year it was ranked seventh in the world in terms of citations per published research paper in genetics and molecular biology.
The department has awarded 510 bachelors degrees over the years and more than 100 masters degrees and PhDs. In the Smurfit Institute of Genetics, its new home since 1998, the department currently attracts €7 million a year in research funding and supports 15 research groups with more than 100 staff from 25 countries.
Many of the department's graduates now hold chairs of research around the world, Prof McConnell points out. When it started, very few universities studied genetics, and yet the department has managed to make significant contributions to our understanding of the subject, he adds.
Prof Dawson came to Dublin in the late 1950s not as a geneticist but as a botanist. But both the Irish Sugar Company and Guinness were interested in botanical concerns that strayed towards genetics. One wanted improved varieties of sugar beet and the other better barley, Prof McConnell explains.
The Irish Sugar Company provided £5,000 and Trinity gave Dawson three years to build up a department to conduct genetics research; that same department has never looked back.
Now those who contributed to the department over the decades are invited to return once again to meet old friends, tour the new labs and take part in symposia that describe the latest in genetics research.
The celebrations get underway on Wednesday September 17th with a welcoming ceremony, followed by the first symposium on microbial genetics. These meetings will review where we are and where the research is heading in the coming years, says Prof McConnell. That evening he will also give a short talk on the story of genetics at TCD.
Day two includes symposia on medical genetics and plant genetics and there is a formal dinner that night in Trinity's dining hall. Day three includes symposia on evolutionary genetics and neurogenetics, and a "reunion party" is planned that night at the Guinness Storehouse.
These meetings will have a moderately technical content, but Saturday's symposium, to take place at the former Jury's Hotel in Ballsbridge, is a public event open to all. Tickets cost €5 and those attending will be able to learn about the latest in genetics research and the controversies associated with some of it. Specialist knowledge is not required to understand and enjoy the presentations.
More information on Genetics@50 at Trinity College is available at www.genetics50.org or 01-8961140