TORCH CLUB OF THE FOX VALLEY
Minutes
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Atlas Coffee Mill & Café
President Barbara Kelly called the meeting to order at the Atlas Cafe at approximately 6:30 p.m. The following persons were in attendance:
Jim Baumbach, Al Button, Travis Christopher, Marcia and Dave Debbink, Leota Ester, Barb and Bill Kelly, Bob Swain, Mary Poulson, Peter Thiel, Pat Warrick, Len Weis.
The Minutes were accepted as corrected (the number 50 should have been l5).
The Treasurer Peter Thiel’s report was a happy one. Total assets as of August 29, 2008, were $1208.88 which included an IATC delegate refund of $250 and a Website expense of $35.00.
Members of the convention committee reported that 17 persons from the board and staff have registered plus 3 additional people. The former income amounts to $5440 and the latter, $960.
Travis reported that the staff at the Radisson Paper Valley Hotel is ready for the convention onslaught.....Busses and meals constitute the biggest expense.....Barbara has prepared an advertising page for the official Torch publication.....We have been asked to refer to the presentations as Torch papers, not talks.....All members will be needed for various jobs before and during the convention.....Opportunities for music will be available during cocktail time.....International Torch will link to our website page about the 2009 Convention. Barbara asked us each to take a look at our website and suggest any changes to her, since it is likely that many new people will be looking at the site in the next year.
International Torch has raised its dues from $40-$50 per person. Since our local expenses have decreased, the local dues will remain the same--$70 per person. Peter said he would be accepting those dues in October.
A motion was made, seconded and passed that the meeting be adjourned.
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Marcia Debbink
THE ONGOING PROJECT OF EXPLORING AND EXPLAINING THE HUMAN GENOME.
Marcia’s last genome paper focused on the complex principles and processes of the human genome project. Tonight’s paper focused on the outcomes of recent research after she briefly reviewed the project, reminding us that the project began in 1993 and the coding was completed in 2003, that there are 3,000,000 genomic variations that are disease related, and that the coding is 99.9% accurate.
An amazing network for generating data is available to anyone. Researchers can contribute information and can access the contributions for developing and synthestizing strategies.
The development of pharmacogenomics has boomed. A lot of work is going into developing designer drugs. We can expect drugs to be available in about 10-15 years along with various protocols for gene replacement, gene blocking and possibly the use of viruses.
Along with gene therapy, research continues on stem cell, cloning, embryonic use and the search for other sources.
Efforts are being made to bring information to and to integrate the public, policy makers and medical personnel. The National Institute for Health is developing better mechanisms to deal with sources of human disease. A tremendous number of businesses have developed around this project as well as tomes of literature written about it.
The focus now is on the study of the interaction among genomes, the person and the environment. Before treatment is available strategies for diagnoses, and tests will have to be developed.
The concerns surrounding this project are in the fields of legislation and expense, determining who will get the benefit of the research. At this time there is a positive and voluminous sharing of information that indicates an optimistic ethical endeavor.
Respectfully submitted
Mary Poulson, secretary pro tem
