ISLAR Showcases World Renown Speakers.

Business/Technology Editors & Health/Medical Writers

ISLAR 2002

HOPKINTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 20, 2002

The Planning Committee for the 20th annual International Symposium on Laboratory Automation and Robotics has finalized program plans for this year's meeting that is being held October 20-23, 2002 at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel. Highlighting this year's program are three keynote speakers who have made critical impact in various aspects of drug discovery research.

Kenneth l. Kaitin, Ph.D. and Joshua Boger, Ph.D. will open the symposium with keynote speeches on Monday, October 21. Director of the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development, Dr. Kaitin leads an academic drug policy research group in providing strategic information to help drug developers, regulators, and policy makers improve the quality and efficiency of the drug development process. He has written extensively on factors that contribute to the slow pace and high cost of pharmaceutical R&D and the impact of regulatory and legislative initiatives to speed new drug development. Dr. Boger founded Vertex in 1989 and has developed an international reputation as a leader in the applications of computer modeling to the chemistry of drug design. He applied these techniques to the design of compounds in a number of therapeutic areas, including aspartic protease inhibitors.

The final keynote, Denis Hochstrasser, M.D. will be addressing the conference on Tuesday, October 22. Chairman of Pathology, a practicing internist and clinical chemist, Dr. Hochstrasser oversees all computing activities at Geneva University's Faculty of Medicine, as well as running an internationally renowned proteomics research group. His innovations in the methodology of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis have decisively contributed to the technique becoming a major protein separation method used in proteomics.

The ISLAR symposium is the premier applied automation meeting, focusing on reducing bottlenecks in laboratories responsible for drug discovery and pharmaceutical development/quality control. The three-day program features over 120 podium and poster presentations, as well as short courses, luncheons and discussion groups that provide forums for the exchange of ideas. For more information regarding ISLAR, contact Christine O'Neil at 508-497-2224 or log on to www.ISLAR.com.