Evolution and Disease

Summer School on Evolution and Disease

School
Collegio Alessandro Volta (http://www.collegiovolta.org/), a College in the University of Pavia (Italy) and Centro di Cultura Scientifica Alessandro Volta (http://www.centrovolta.org/index.php) in Como (Italy) organise a joint Volta Summer School on Evolution and Disease (http://evad.lakecomoschool.org/). The School is the first of a series of Summer Schools dedicated to front-edge science themes to be organised jointly by two Institutions both named after the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta and sharing a strong commitment to scientific education and research. The School will take place between the 14th and the 20th of September 2014 at Villa del Grumello (http://lakecomoschool.org/) a beautiful, classic Italian building on the shore of lake of Como. It will admit 36 students and will involve a faculty of 18 outstanding scientists actively engaged worldwide in research on Evolution and Disease.

Scope
Human disease, needs to be understood in an evolutionary, Darwinian context. At a first level, following JBS Haldane's original hypothesis, it is essential to understand the impact
of disease on the biological evolution of man. The evidence for this is strong for malaria but less clear for other major infectious diseases and needs to be addressed. At a second level it is crucial to understand the impact of man's cultural evolution on disease. This has been wide and profound but is frequently ignored in standard medical education and needs being addressed in order to provide a rational framework, for example, for the so-called diseases of ‘civilisation’ (hypertension, diabetes, obesity, etc). The School aims to provide new insights both on origin of human disease and new strategies toward disease control.

Programme
The full Programme of the School is available on the School website (http://evam.lakecomoschool.org). It includes a keynote lecture by SC Stearns (Yale) on Evolution and Disease and four major sessions, as follows (invited speakers in bracket). Variation and selection (PC Sabeti, Harvard, O Zuffardi, Pavia, M Hurles, Hinxton; P Deloukas, Hinxton), on Evolution of Resistance (SC Chapman, Oxford., DP Kwiatkowski, Hinxton; I Comas, Valencia and J Matthijnssens, Leuven), on Diseases and Adaptation (K Dronamraju, Houston; DJ Weatherall, Oxford; H Drakesmith, Oxford; S Boyd Eaton, Atlanta) and on Human culture and Disease (CGN Mascie-Taylor, Cambridge; GJ Armelagos, Atlanta; R Barrett, Saint Paul; S Boyd Eaton). Lectures will take place in the morning (9.00 am to 1.00 pm) and between 6.00 and 8.00 pm. Afternoons and evening are free.

Students attending the School who are engaged in research projects relevant to the theme of the School will have the opportunity to present their work either in the form of short talks or in a poster session. They should indicate their intention to contribute to the School Programme in their letter of intent (see below) and should enclose an abstract of their presentation at the time of application.

Applications
Students interested in attending the School should apply online on the School website (http://evad.lakecomoschool.org) where they can also upload a brief letter of intent and a full cv. Upon confirmation of acceptance, admitted students, will have to pay a registration fee of € 500 covering lectures, accommodation, breakfast, lunch, coffee and tea breaks and school stationery. Accommodation will be in single or shared rooms either on site at Villa del Grumello or in bed & breakfast accommodation at short distance from Villa del Grumello. A total of six bursaries with a value of € 250 each will be offered in the first instance to students from disadvantaged countries. Students wishing to be considered for a bursary should specify so in their letter of intent and should enclose a justification for their request.

Acknowledgements
Collegio A Volta and Centro A Volta gratefully acknowledge financial support from EdISU (Pavia) and Fondazione Cariplo (Milan) toward the organisation of the School on Evolution and Disease.