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Victor A. Mckusick Homage to Victor A. McKusick on the occasion of the 20th edition of the Course in Medical Genetics May 5-11, 2007 Bertinoro, Italy organized by the EUROPEAN SCHOOL OF GENETIC MEDICINE and proceedings of the awarding of the Laurea ad honorem in Medical Biotechnologies by the ALMA MATER STUDIORUM UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA on May 12, 2007 in Bologna, Italy to Victor A. McKusick and Mario Capecchi 2 ESGM - EUROPEAN SCHOOL OF GENETIC MEDICINE The European School of Genetic Medicine (ESGM) is the only initiative in Europe that offers advanced training in the different fields of genetics and genomics in medicine (see www.eurogene.org). More than 5,000 students attended ESGM courses over the last 20 years, enabling the School to expand its course offerings to a total of 10 courses per year. Still, each year the number of participants in ESGM courses increases as does the variety of nations represented by our participants. This has facilitated and amplified the exchange of ideas between scientists of different research institutions, has created new opportunities for collaboration and has expanded pre-existing scientific networks. The primary purpose of the ESGM courses is to provide advanced training in genetics and genomics to junior scientists from across Europe. The secondary purpose of these courses is to provide opportunities for junior scientists to establish professional contacts with colleagues from across Europe, including the ESGM faculty. It is in fact of paramount importance to involve young scientists in competitive European research projects at a critical moment in their careers. Legend to picture (page 2). The picture was kindly provided by Prof. A. Ballabio (TIGEM, Naples). This is the detail of a group picture taken during the 1st Course in Medical Genetics held in Sestri Levante (Genova) in the Spring of 1988: in the front row Victor A. McKusick (right) and Giovanni Romeo (left); behind McKusick stands Andrea Ballabio; behind him stands Wilson Lo; behind him stands Marcus Pembrey. 3 The ESGM is also attracting students from an increasing number of EU Associate States (like Turkey and Israel) as well as from other countries of the southern rim of the Mediterranean. Training scientists and medical specialists from these nations is essential for the purposes of disseminating modern genetic knowledge in the Mediterranean region and the Middle East. Furthermore, the increased participation of female scientists from these countries will help to ensure that current knowledge of genetics be applied within the field of reproductive healthcare. This will increase reproductive choices, thus promoting remarkable social change. While ESGM courses are offered in different venues across Europe and the Mediterranean region, the primary training site is the Bologna Residential Center in the medieval town of Bertinoro di Romagna. This venue provides a quiet learning environment equipped with the technology and resources of a major University. Thanks to these resources the ESGM makes its courses available online to those researchers who are unable to travel to Bertinoro, thus priming the development of a very interesting educational format named Hybrid courses. These training events are broadcasted through live streaming on our website from the Main Training Centre (MTC), usually located in Bertinoro (Italy), to the authorized Remote Training Centres (RTC). They are called hybrid because they combine e-learning and face-to-face learning. On-line courses are available both live and on-demand streaming on the EGF website. Because of this history, in 2005 the President of the European Genetics Foundation, Prof. Giovanni Romeo, received the European Society of Human Genetics Educational Award in Prague. 4 EGF - EUROPEAN GENETICS FOUNDATION Eight years after the founding of the European School of Genetic Medicine (ESGM) in 1988, it became necessary to establish an organizing and governing body to oversee not only the School’s activities but also the School’s expansion. Thus, the European Genetics Foundation was established in 1996 by a group of geneticists already involved in the activities of the School. In March 1997, during the 29th Congress of the European Society for Human Genetics in Genoa, Italy, the European Genetics Foundation organized a series of concerts to accompany the scientific programme of the Congress. This “Meeting of Music and Genetics” promoted a further expansion of the European School of Genetic Medicine. The initiative proved extremely successful, allowing the ESGM to upgrade its facilities, to increase the number of its courses and to attract more and more students from across Europe. Furthermore, the funds raised at the time allowed EGF to organize various projects in the field of the public awareness of genetics. Since then EGF and ESGM have grown, providing specialized education to thousands of young scientists, coordinating international research projects and establishing collaborations among research institutions, private companies, and the European Union. In 2004 EGF received a donation from the Monastic Order of the Servants of Mary (Province of Piedmont and Romagna) consisting in a piece of land of 16,500 sqm located in the hills surrounding Bologna, i.e. in Ronzano, 3.5 km from downtown Bologna. In this site EGF will build a new venue for the ESGM, which will complement the bigger one of Bertinoro. This new venue will host several projects of EGF, among which the Euro- 5 Mediterranean center for Genetic Medicine dedicated to Giuseppe Levi and Victor McKusick (www.eurogene.org). In order to raise funds for the construction of this new venue, EGF launched in 2006 a big event for the public understanding of genetics, named “Festa della Musica e della Genetica” (www.musicagenetica.it), which will be repeated every year. The present Trustees of the European Genetics Foundation are: Giovanni Romeo (President), Professor of Medical Genetics, University of Bologna Medical School (Italy); Roberto Ravazzolo (Vice-President), Professor of Human Genetics, University of Genoa Medical School and Istituto Giannina Gaslini, Genoa (Italy); Michele Bianco, Managing Director of the European Genetics Foundation, Bologna (Italy); Martin Bobrow, Emeritus Professor of Medical Genetics, University of Cambridge (UK); Stefano Di Donato, Director of the Neurogenetics Laboratory, Istituto Besta, Milan (Italy); Jennifer Howse, President of the March of Dimes (USA); Victor A. McKusick, University Professor of Medical Genetics, Johns Hopkins Medical School, Baltimore, MD (USA); Stephen Desiderio, Director of Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD (USA). 6 20th Course in Medical Genetics Bertinoro, May 5-11, 2007 COURSE DESCRIPTION This is a week-long postgraduate course addressed to both researchers and clinicians seeking an up-to-date overview of the field of medical genetics. The 20th edition of the course was divided in the following sessions: Introduction to Genetic Analysis, Clinical Genetics and Cytogenetics, From clinical observations to the lab, Translational research in genetics, Cancer Genetics, Neurogenetics, Complex Genetic Disorders. The course consisted of review lectures given during the plenary morning sessions and of concurrent afternoon practical workshops. Legends for pictures of pages 9-11 Page 9: group picture with numbers corresponding to names listed on page 8 Page 10: group picture in front of the main entrance of the “Rocca di Bertinoro” Page 11: group pictures taken on the occasion of the visit of Dr. Katami, former President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, to the Museum of the three monotheistic religions and to the European School of Genetic Medicine in Bertinoro Page 12: Nationalities of the 104 partecipants to the 20th course in Medical Genetics. About 200 additional students attended the same course diffused by webcasting through Internet to the following Remote Trainig Center (RTCs): Hopital Charles Nicolle, Tunis (Tunisia); The Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, Nicosia (Cyprus); Genetics Research Center University, Tehran (Iran); University of Medical Sciences, Tehran (Iran); National Research Centre (Egypt); Facultad de Medicina de Valladolid (Spain); Athens University (Greece); Ministry of Health (Israel); Université Mohammed V Souissi (Morocco). 7 DIRECTORS V.A. McKusick (Baltimore, USA-43), H. Brunner (Nijmegen, The Netherlands-40), S. Antonarakis (Geneva, Switzerland), G. Romeo (Bologna, Italy-25) FACULTY M. Capecchi (USA), F. Cucca (Sassari, Italy), T.A. Dragani (Milan, Italy), B. Emanuel (Philadelphia, USA), C.P. Howson (New York, USA), N. Katsanis (Baltimore, USA), P. Lichter (Heidelberg, Germany), E. Maestrini (Bologna, Italy), J.L. Mandel (Strasbourg, France), G. Matthijs (Leuven, Belgium-33), T. Meitinger (Munich, Germany), J. Mendell (Baltimore, USA-91), A. Metspalu (Tartu, Estonia), D. Monckton (Glasgow, Scotland-2), M. Speicher (Gratz, Austria-1), A. Spinazzola (Milan, Italy-18) STUDENTS M. A. Adank (Netherlands-16), Y. Aflalo (Israel-94), A. Al-Ashtar (Lybia-77), N. Alonso (Spain-53), A. Andersson (Sweden-31), K. Ansink (The Netherlands-87), M. Bahuau (France-34), J. Bergman (The Netherlands-102), S. Berland (Norway-9), E.W. Blom (The Netherlands-22), L.M.J. Boon (The Netherlands), A. Bremer (Sweden-3), Z.N. Brownstein (Israel), M. Buono (Italy-95), J. Camajova (Czech Republic-68), H. Chaabouni-Bouhamed (Tunisia), I. Chelly (Tunisia-84), S.D. Cherkaoui (Morocco-81), I. Christiaans (The Netherlands-97), R. Collin (The Netherlands-47),
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