From hepatitis prevention to virtual lab animals on a chip, five scientific advances with the potential to change society will be examined at a symposium on Monday, Oct. 11, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Biotechnology Building conference room at Cornell University.

The 14th symposium sponsored by the Cornell Center for Advanced Technology (CAT) in Biotechnology is open, free of charge, to the public. The symposium is titled "Cornell Biotechnology: Impacts on Science and Society."

"This year we're focusing on five projects that are supported, in part, by funds from the New York State Science and Technology Foundation and by companies in New York state," explained Milton Zaitlin, professor of plant pathology emeritus and associate director of the Cornell Biotechnology Program. "Each of these projects has the potential to impact society in some way, and we've asked the speakers to address that issue as well as to discuss the technical details of their work."

Speakers' presentations are scheduled from 8:30 a.m. to 12:10 p.m. Between 2:00 and 5:00 p.m., a poster session in the Biotechnology Building conference room and atrium will highlight research sponsored by the CAT program as well as descriptions of its research facilities and information from area biotechnology firms. Symposium speakers are:

• Geoffrey Coates, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, "Development of Catalysts for the Synthesis of Biodegradable Polymers."
• Elizabeth Earle, Department of Plant Breeding, "Transgenic Vegetables for Pest Resistance: Rationale, Results and Reservations."
• Xingen Lei, Department of Animal Science, "Designing Phytase for Nutrition and Environmental Protection."
• Hugh Robertson, Department of Biochemistry, Weill Medical College, "RNA Target Sites for Blocking Hepatitis C Virus Expression."
• Michael Shuler, School of Chemical Engineering, "Toward an Animal on a Chip: Surrogates for Toxicological and Pharmaceutical Testing."

Related World Wide Web sites:

• Biotechnology Program: http://www.research.cornell.edu/Biotech/Biotech.html.