Phusion, UTW and Piko are trademarks of Finnzymes Oy or its affi liates. Notice to Purchaser of Piko™ Thermal Cyclers: Purchase of this instrument conveys a limited non-transferable immunity from suit for the purchaser’s own internal research and development and applied fi elds other than human in vitro diagnostics under non-real-time thermal cycler patents of Applera Corporation.

High Performance PCR – higher yields in shorter time. A 0.6 kb genomic DNA fragment was amplifi ed with an op-timized protocol for each type of PCR. Finnzymes’ integrat-ed solution used a Piko Thermal Cycler, UTW vessels and Phusion Flash PCR Master Mix. Conventional protocols used thin-walled tubes and a DNA Engine thermal cycler from Bio-Rad. Total cycling times indicated at bottom.

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TOOLS FOR MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

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Gene Transfer | Electroporation

... for Better ResultsUse the Gene Pulser MXcell™ electroporation system to quickly optimize conditions for deliveringmolecules efficiently into mammalian cells — especially into primary and difficult-to-transfect cells.This high-throughput system uses disposable 12-, 24-, and 96-well plates and can be used fortransfecting siRNA, plasmid DNA, and other molecules directly into the nucleus.

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75 years at the frontiers of science: www.grc.org

Gordon Research Conferences

THE SCIENCE OF VIRAL VECTORS FOR GENE THERAPY: The Host Response to Viral Infection

March 2-7, 2008Crowne Plaza, Ventura, CA

Gene transfer has the potential to treat innumerable genetic and acquired diseases. Although viral vectors remain the most efficient means of gene delivery, further progress in understanding the fundamental biology of viruses, their special relationships with the host including mechanisms of infection, persistence, gene expression and immune evasion is required for successful virus-mediated gene therapy. Thus the focus of this meeting is to examine the host response, in particular the immune response, to viral infection and how to regulate it. The meeting will bring together immu-nologists, virologists and gene therapists to discuss these important aspects of gene therapy. The gathering of experts in fields of gene therapy, basic virology and immunology offers a unique opportu-nity to find solutions to new challenges in this field of regulating the host immune response to viral gene transfer. The design of this conference is to provide a detailed scientific overview of specific aspects of virus biology that relate to the immune response and the use of this knowledge to enhance effective gene delivery, resulting in successful gene therapy. Each session will have speakers with expertise in viral vectors, the host response to viral infection and/or immunology. In addition to the invited speakers per session, additional speakers will be selected from the submitted abstracts. There will also be travel grants available for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows.

TOPICS & SPEAKERS (discussion leaders noted in italics):

Immune Response to Viral VecorsPaul Robbins / Kathy High

Biodistribution and TargetingJohn Engelhardt / Jude Samulski / Renata Pasqualini / Wadih Arap / Richard Vile / David Schaffer

Viral Entry and Nuclear TranslocationJude Samulski / John Engelhardt / Arun Srivastava / Mark Kay

Host Cell Response to Viral InfectionJoseph Glorioso / Karen Mossman / Erik Falck-Pedersen / Paola Grandi

Innate Immune Response to Viral InfectionJames Wilson / Daniel Muruve / Glen Nemerow / Yiping Yang

Adaptive Immune Response to Viral InfectionLuigi Naldini / Andrea Amalfitano / James Wilson / Luca Guidotti

Approaches to Blocking the Immune Response to Viral InfectionMalcolm Brenner / Luigi Naldini / Maria Grazia Roncarolo / Roland Herzog

Suppression of the Immune Response by Gene TransferMaria Grazia Roncarolo / Paul Robbins / David Scott / Garrison Fathman

Stimulation of the Immune Response by Gene TransferGarrison Fathman / Carl June / Glenn Dranoff / Malcolm Brenner / Marjorie Robert-Guroff

GRC is holding over 190 meetings in 2008. One upcoming meeting that may be of particular interest to Genes & Development readers is listed below.