(Posted January 12, 2004)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Michael Boyle, von Liebig Chair in Biomedical Sciences at Juniata College, will talk about ?Genomics By the Numbers? as part of the Bookend Seminar series at 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 14 in Neff Lecture Hall in the von Liebig Center for Science on the Juniata campus.

The lecture is free and open to the public. His talk is part of the Bookend Lecture Series, which features afternoon lectures each month by Juniata College faculty.

In 2001, President Bill Clinton made the announcement from the White House that the mapping of the human genome meant blueprint for human life was complete. Two months later a number of leading molecular biologists, like Nobel Laureate Rich Roberts, announced that the genomic era was over and that new scientific approaches would offer new ways to read the ?blueprint.?

Boyle, whose area of research focuses on the proteins within the human cell that can control the functions of various genes, will discuss this research, called proteomics, as well as new branches of science such as metabolomics, glycomics and other disciplines.

Boyle came to Juniata in 2002 from the Medical College of Ohio, where he was professor of microbiology and immunology. At Juniata, he supervises undergraduate research projects and helps design research components within Juniata's existing science classes. Currently his research focuses on two areas: using immunotechnology to adapt antibodies as the basis for diagnostics and other tests; and the study of pathogen interactions.

Dr. Boyle started his career as a visiting fellow and visiting scientist at the National Institutes of Health's National Cancer Institute from 1974 to 1980. He began his academic career in 1981 as an associate professor of immunology at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville, Fla. He was promoted to full professor in 1985. He served as an adjunct professor at the Florida medical college from 1988 to 1990.

Dr. Boyle joined the faculty of the Medical College of Ohio (MCO) in 1988. From 1999 until coming to Juniata, he directed of the college's pathogenesis and immunology program within the newly created MCO cancer center.

He earned a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from the University of Glasgow, in Glasgow, Scotland in 1971. He earned a doctorate from the Chester Beatty Research Institute, Belmont, Sutton in Surrey, England.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.