2012 John Bischof, PhD - Events

PLENARY SESSION, WORKSHOPS, CHALLENGES AND TOUR
Thursday, June 21, 2012 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM
Plenary Session: GENES INTO GEOMETRY:
GENETICS OF DEVELOPMENT AND DISEASE THROUGH
MOUSE IMAGING
Mark Henkelman, PhD
Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto
- 5 -
ASME 2012 Summer Bioengineering Conference
Grand Atlantic
Salon 1
The completion of the human genome sequence
provides an incredible opportunity to revolutionize
health care. However, our understanding of how genes
give rise to normal development in individuals and also
to many diseases is still very rudimentary. To reap the
benefits of the rich genomic information, it will be
necessary to learn how genes control both normal and
abnormal development.
Fortunately, there is 99% overlap between the genes of
the human and the genes of the mouse. There are
sophisticated methods for manipulating the mouse
genome by knocking out genes, making their
expression conditional or adding new genes. This genetic modification allows for the creation of
models of many of the diseases found in the human population. To investigate mouse models of
human disease, it is necessary to have the same kind of diagnostic tests that we have available
when we look for human diseases. In particular, imaging is an essential way to identify and
characterize human diseases. In fact, it is difficult to imagine modern medicine without medical
imaging.
This plenary talk will illustrate how medical imaging can be adapted to the mouse and how it can
be used to identify the role of different genes in normal development and additionally find mouse
models that correspond to human diseases. This systems biology approach to the genetics of
disease requires knowledge and skills readily available within the biomedical engineering
community, and hence provides exciting new opportunities for research and development related
to biomechanical function in diseases.