To reserve your spot for this session, please make sure to indicate that you will
be attending on the registration form.  This exclusive opportunity is only available to the attendees of the BIODEFENSE Conference.

(Registration must be paid in full. Applies to attendees of the Biodefense Conference.)

Microarray Applications in Biodefense
(additional session with CHI Microarray Data Analysis meeting)

8:30 Chair’s Remarks
Mr. Thomas J. Downey, President, Partek, Inc.

8:35 Microarray Early Detection for Biodefense
Dr. Sandy Weinberg, Senior Director, Fast Trak Vaccines, Amersham Biosciences
Effective biodefense strategy requires the development of preventative and therapeutic
vaccines, and the rapid detection of biological agents to allow distribution of those vaccines.
This paper deals with the strategic issues of biodefense microarray early detection
technology, and the technical problems that relate to that application. The vaccine
discovery, manufacture and distribution processes, including the five developmental bottlenecks that limit microarray practicality, are identified and discussed.

9:05 Analysis of Chemical Warfare Agent Microarray Data
Ms. Olivia Peters, Senior Signal Processing Engineer, MITRE Corporation
We analyzed micraorray data from rats after low level exposure to the chemical
agent sarin. Using both Bayesian and neural network techniques, we are able to differentiate
between control and three exposure levels. Selection of genes for input to the classifiers led to interesting discoveries in the cellular pathways involved in counteracting exposure, identifying possible therapeutic techniques. This analysis allows rapid diagnosis and response to sarin exposure through development of a gene expression exposure profile and is expected to be extensible to other chemical and biological warfare agents.

9:35 Chips-N-SNPs: Microarray-Based Methods for Interrogating Genomic Diversity Among Enteric Pathogens.
Dr. Scott A. Jackson, Staff Fellow, Food and Drug Administration

10:05 Refreshment Break, Poster and Exhibit Viewing

11:00 Standards and Validation Roundtable

ERCC The External RNA Controls Consortium
Microarrays are the most common method of studying global gene expression, and will
soon enter the realm of FDA approved clinical/diagnostic testing of cancer and other
diseases. However the field is suffering from the lack of standards and a proliferation of
different array platforms. To help alleviate this problem, a consortium of government,
academic and commercial members is developing a set of RNA controls that may be
used by all microarray platforms and quantitative RT-PCR measurements as well. The
hope is that these standards will greatly facilitate comparative data analysis both within
and across platforms, and be useful in FDA approval of microarray based tests.

Moderator
Dr. Ernest Kawasaki, Head, NCI Microarray Facility, National Institutes of Health/National

Cancer Institute Participants
Dr. Steven Bauer, FDA
Dr. Margaret Cam, NIH/NIDDK
Dr. David Gerhold, Merck & Co.
Dr. Joseph Hackett, FDA (invited)
Dr. J. Clark Mason, Applied Biosystems
Dr. Hrissi Samartzidou, Amersham Biosciences
Dr. Janet Warrington, Affymetrix
Dr. Paul Wober, Agilent
Dr. Mike Wilson, NIH/NIAID

12:30 Close of Conference

For more information please contact, fax, or e-mail submissions to:
Christina Lingham Conference Director, Cambridge Healthtech Institute • Phone: 781-972-5464 • Fax: 781-972-5425 • E-mail: clingham@healthtech.com