----------------------------------------------------------------------- BIOINFORMATICS COLLOQUIUM School of Computational Sciences George Mason University ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Applications of Adenovirus Genome Analysis to Pathogen Detection Don Seto George Mason University Tuesday, November 16, 2004 4:30 pm Verizon Auditorium, Prince William Campus Advanced molecular diagnostics is rapidly gaining prominence in the convergence of paradigm shift, technology and needs in today's society. Technology needs to be designed, built, tested and applied under prototype the and 'real world' scenarios. It is difficult to do so of with 'extreme' biothreat agents. It is easier to do so clinical with 'model' bioagents. Acute Respiratory Diseases (ARD) are caused by several viral and bacterial agents. These have similar pathologies leading to defined morbidity that, in the case of the military basic training camps, contribute to the interruption of valuable training time. Serendipitously, as a model for the detection and surveillance of biothreat agents, monitoring ARD agents in a training camp serves as already a 'real world' test bed for the deployment of novel diagnostics platforms. The first step is to determine unique pathogen genome signatures that can distinguish each potential agent. Seventeen genomes of human adenoviruses that cause ARD have been sequenced. Genome annotations have been carried out. This applied science approach has generated interesting basic biology data in terms of patho-biology and patho-epidemiology of the human adenoviruses. Genome bioinformatics and analysis has given one interesting result in that there have been at least two zoonotic origins of human adenoviruses. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Refreshments are served at 4:00 pm. Find the schedule and directions at http://www.binf.gmu.edu/colloq.html