Canada's national DNA Day is taking place Tuesday, April 25th, 2017

News | May 19, 2017 | Share on:

DNA Day is a unique day where students, teachers, and the public can participate in three different video conferences - two in English and one in French - to connect with Canadian experts to learn about genetics and genomics. This year’s DNA Day, presented by Let’s Talk Science, is taking place on Tuesday, April 25.

The agenda for DNA Day is as follows:

Panel 1: DNA Barcoding and Food Security

Presented in collaboration with the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario

9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time

Dr. Bob Hanner (moderator) — Associate Professor, Biodiversity Institute of Ontario, University of Guelph
Amanda Naaum — Lead Molecular Biologist, TRU-ID Ltd.
Jeff Farber — Full Professor, Department of Food Science, University of Guelph

Panel 2: Synthetic Biology

Presented in collaboration with Ontario Genomics

1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time

Jordan Thomson (moderator) —Manager of Strategic Planning, Ontario Genomics
Justin Pahara and Julie Legault — Amino Labs
Bogumil Karas — Western University and Designer Microbes
Mark Poznansky — CEO, Ontario Genomics

This is the seventh year Let’s Talk Science has hosted DNA Day. DNA Day was developed to shine a spotlight on DNA and genetics research and explore what makes all living things unique and different. It is celebrated in April for two reasons:

  • To commemorate James Watson and Francis Crick’s paper published in April 1953 describing the structure of DNA and the discovery of the double helix
  • To celebrate the completion of the Human Genome Project in April 2003

DNA Day is made possible thanks to the generous support from our partners, Ontario Genomics, Génome Québec and the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario – University of Guelph.