About Us - Miami 2009 Winter Symposium: Interpreting the Human Genome
The Miami Winter Symposia began in a small way in 1968. The 2009 event is the 42nd in this annual series.
The Symposia were created by Bill Whelan at the University of Miami's Department of Biochemistry (now, and Molecular Biology) of the Miller School of Medicine as a resource for its faculty and graduate students, who were thereby enabled to meet in person the nationally and internationally prominent scientists who were persuaded to share the plight of spending a few days in Miami in the winter!
Since 1977, the meetings have focused on gene technology; many of the post-World War II Nobel prize winners in Chemistry and Physiology or Medicine who practiced gene technology have been speakers. Since 1997, the Miller School of Medicine's Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center has also been involved in planning of the meeting, and in 2006, Scripps Florida officially joined as a partner.
Nature Publishing Group has been involved with the symposia since 1988 through Nature Biotechnology (formerly Bio/technology) and in the past five years through the additional involvement of Nature Medicine. Other Nature research journals also regularly contribute expertise to the meeting, depending on the symposium's theme; for 2009, Nature Genetics has participated in developing the program.
