It’s been a couple of years since I’ve gotten an invitation for an event put on by Genome BC. I thought they’d disappeared but I was wrong; they are celebrating their 10th anniversary on Tuesday, November 16, 2010 at the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre. From the invite,

While DNA can’t talk, the information inside the genome of every living thing, including humans, can say a lot. We’ve heard about successes in sequencing the genomes of certain cancers, emerging global diseases such as H1N1, SARS, and others. We can even have our personal genome sequenced for a few thousand dollars. But what does this really mean?

Globally, our world faces serious challenges to our health and sustainability. Fields such as genomics open new doors to solving seemingly insurmountable health and resource issues. So what will genomics bring to your health and the health of your family?

Please join us for an evening of engaging and meaningful dialogue at the inaugural Don Rix Distinguished Keynote Address featuring Sir Mark Walport, Director of the Wellcome Trust in the UK. [emphasis mine]

This free event will provide participants an opportunity to learn where health care is heading in the 21st century from the groundbreaking developments in “cancer genes”, genetic breakthroughs in Parkinson’s, new insights into the aging process, and epidemics that sweep our globe.

There will also be a wine and cheese reception, for registered guests only, that will provide you an opportunity for dialogue with Mark Walport and some of BC’s top research scientists, policy makers, and physicians. You will have an opportunity to learn more about the relevance of genomics research taking place right here in BC – how it impacts you and your family across every major sector in BC – from health care to forestry and fisheries – and the environmentthe environment.

The guest speaker, Sir Mark Walport, is not familiar to me but the Wellcome Trust is. I have come across more than reference to it over the years. I gather they are an important funding agency in the UK for biomedical and other associated research. From their Vision page,

Our vision is to achieve extraordinary improvements in human and animal health. In pursuit of this, we support the brightest minds in biomedical research and the medical humanities.

We focus on three key areas of activity, reaching across five major research challenges.

Our funding focuses on supporting outstanding researchers, accelerating the application of research and exploring medicine in historical and cultural contexts.

There’s a talk with a Q&A session from 4:30 to 6:00 pm and a wine and cheese reception for registered guests (there’s free registration) follows from 6:00 to 7:30 pm. I gather that if you don’t register, you won’t be welcome (so to speak) to help yourself to wine and cheese at the reception.