ISEES
News - 2007
5/6/2007 - ISEES Director, Anne Kapuscinski, speaks at the first CFANS graduation along with other Institute on the Environment Founding Fellows. Click here to hear their speeches.
ISEES is currently hosting the University of Minnesota Ecosystem
Science and Sustainability Initiative with a generous grant from
the Archibald Bush Foundation since 2004. The goal is to explore
how ecosystems and socio-economic systems can work hand-in-hand
for the long-term benefit of all. Working with faculty from across
the University, the Initiative has launched a new Sustainability
Studies Minor at the UMN, is conducting research on Minnesota's
environmental future to the year 2050, and runs outreach programs
for teachers and journalists, and the public. To find out more information
visit http://www.sustainability.umn.edu/.
Visit the Sustainability
Calendar to learn about sustainability related events at the
University of Minnesota and in the Twin Cities community.
NEW PUBLICATION:
Kapuscinski,
A. R. and T. J. Patronski. 2005. Genetic methods for biological
control of non-native fish in the Gila River Basin. Contract report
to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. University of Minnesota,
Institute for Social, Economic and Ecological Sustainability, St.
Paul, Minnesota. Minnesota Sea Grant Publication F 20.
PDF
from MN Sea Grant website
The World Animal Health Organization has published the April 2005
volume of its scientific journal, focusing on animal biotechnology
issues.
Kapuscinski, ISEES Director, authored an invited article: Current scientific understanding of the
environmental biosafety of transgenic fish and shellfish.
ISEES News - 2004
ISEES welcomes visiting professor Alexander G. Haslberger;
Dr. Alexander Haslberger comes from the University of Vienna, Austria,
where he studies microbial immunology, microorganisms, food production and
ecology. He has worked with World Health Organization (WHO) on the concepts
of Codex guidelines for GM food safety. At ISEES, he plans to investigate
international safety concepts for GM organisms, the Safety First Principle
and ethical aspects.Click here to
visit Dr. Haslberger's website
Graduate student Kelly Paulson co-organized a Symposium
and Discussion at the 2003 Society for Conservation Biology annual
meeting on July 31-August 1, 2004 entitled, "Biotechnology
& Biodiversity: Understanding the Potential Conservation Risks
and Benefits of Genetic Engineering." The Symposium included
11 internationally known experts on different aspects of genetic
engineering and was funded jointly by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service and U.S. Geological Survey. Summaries of the event appeared
in October editions of the Society for Conservation Biology newsletter
and the Information Systems for Biotechnology News Report. More
information can also be found at www.ellenjay.net/SCB/biotech.html
To visit Information Sysytems for Biotechnology (ISB) News Report on the
symposium click
here.
We have new email
and fax contact information for ISEES:
Director Dr. Anne R.
Kapuscinski has a new email address: kapus001@umn.edu
ISEES new email
address: isees@umn.edu
ISEES new fax number:
612-625-5299
Director to present
on Safety First Initiative at Convention in Biological Diversity
COP-MOP 1 (Convention/Meeting of the Parties) meeting in Malaysia,
Due to growing interest
in the application of the Safety First Initiative for biosafety of
genetically engineered organisms, Director Anne Kapucinski will be presenting
on the intiative during the first Convetion of the Parties for this
influential international treaty, February 23-27, 2004.
"The first meeting
of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety will be held from 23 to
27 February 2004 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Adopted in January 2000 as a
supplementary agreement to the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD), the
Cartagena Protocol seeks to protect biological diversity from the potential
risks that may be posed by living modified organisms (LMOs), or what are
commonly referred to as genetically modified organisms (GMOs), resulting from
modern biotechnology." Click to see more
information from the CBD website.
Director Rapporeur
in FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on the Safety Assessment of Foods
ISEES Director Anne Kapuscinski
was a rapporteur of the FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on the Safety Assessment
of Foods Derived from Genetically Modified Animals Including Fish, Rome,
17-21 November 2003. Click
here to get the Executive Summary or Full Report.
Director Featured in
Release of National Academy of Sciences Report: Biological Confinement of
Genetically Engineered Organisms
ISEES Director Anne
Kapuscinski was part of the National Academy of Sciences committee that
authored this influential report. The report discussed the effectiveness of
biological methods designed to contain a wide array of transgenic organisms,
and provided recommendations on overall approaches to containment of these organisms.
As a spokesperson for the Committee, Dr. Kapuscinski was quoted frequently in
several news reports:
USA
Today article
New York Times article
MSNBC/Washington Post article
Click to see the report
Director Featured in
Release of National Academy of Sciences Report: Atlantic Salmon in Maine
ISEES Director Anne
Kapusicnski was part of the National Academy of Sciences committee that
authored this influential report. "The report recommends implementing a
formalized decision-making approach to establish priorities, evaluate options
and coordinate plans for conserving and restoring the salmon."
Click to see the report
ISEES Research Specialist
Ozge Goktepe To Present Poster Through Award for Research Project on
Transgenic Fish Risk Assessment
ISEES Research
Specialist Ozge Goktepe To Present Poster for Research on 'Measuring
mating success of Transgenic vs. Wild-Type fish to help estimate
the Risk of Gene Flow to Wild Populations' at National Conference
for Undergraduate Research, Purdue University, Indianapolis between
April 15-17, 2004. Click
here more more information.
Ms. Goktepe will be
presenting research results on one of the six net fitness traits: mating
success. The six net fitness traits, developed by Dr.s Muir & Howard are
used to assess the ecological risks of gene flow of genetically modified fish
into wild-type populations. Ozge has conducted experiments with Japanese
medaka fish (Oryzias latipes) to test whether the transgenic medaka
have a mating advantage over their wild relatives. Her research was funded
through Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program Award at the University
of Minnesota.
Sustainable
Aquaculture Program featured in Minnesota Sea Grant Newsletter for Seafood
Tasting Tour, November, 2003
"There's
a movement afoot to provide organic aquaculture products and Sea
Grant is one of the organizations at the forefront of international
and national efforts to develop standards. Chefs from the Twin Cities
helped us host an Organic Seafood Tasting Tour. Read
more by clicking here.
Program Director
Deborah Brister made Co-Chair of National Organic Aquaculture Work Group
The National Organic
Aquaculture Work Group is a multi-sectoral coalition representing multiple
federal agencies, national aquaculture associations, universities, state
departments of agriculture, industry trade organizations, United States
aquaculture producers and other interested parties. Through national
coordination between these various stakeholders, the work group will draws on
members’ expertise to address critical information needed to develop national
organic aquaculture standards and to conduct needed research that will enable
U.S. producers to successfully raise, market and sell their organic product.
ISEES co-sponsors
new course with Minneapolis Foundation in Population, Equity and
Environmental Change, taught by prominent UMN Professor Lisa Disch
With support from the
Minneapolis Foundation, the College of Natural Resources and College of Liberal
Arts, ISEES offered the course, Population, Equity & Environmental Change
in Spring 2004. UMN Professor of Political Science, Lisa Disch, has revised
the course syllabus substantially from previous years, and tripled student
enrollement.
"This course is an
interdisciplinary investigation of debates regarding 21st century humanity's
relationship to the environment and the goal of sustainability. It examines
the ethical and ecological implications of humanity-as-geological-force,
taking the "problem" of population growth as its touchstone.
Drawing on social science, social theory, and natural science we challenge
this framing of environmental crisis as a "problem of population"
from multiple perspectives to open up broader questions about the social
construction of the distinction between the natural and the social, the
politics of environmental change, and the possibilities for equitable and
sustainable economic development." See the course
website for more information.
ISEES and Burapha
University, Department of Aquatic Sciences, host International Workshop on
Biosafety Science of Genetically Engineered Organisms (GEOs) at Burapha,
University, Chonburi, Thailand, October 27-28, 2003
ISEES co-organized with
the Department of Aquatic Sciences, Burapha University,the first workshop of
the Thailand Transgenic Fish and Biodiversity Program. The diverse group of
over sixty participants included government leaders in aquaculture, fisheries
and environmental research, policy advisors, public health researchers,
leaders of non-governmental organizations, industry representatives, and the
academic community of Thailand and seven other nations.
The two-day workshop
brought participants together to build biosafety decision making capacity,
focusing on deliberations of how Thailand could develop and apply the Safety
First approach to assess genetically engineered organisms (GEOs) in
Thailand's aquatic ecosystems.
Sustainable
Aquaculture Program Manager Featured in Interview on Organic Aquaculture
Deborah Brister is
featured in an exclusive interview on organic aquaculture and ISEES'
International Organic Aquaculture Workshop. To read the article, go to http://www.hometownsource.com/capitol/2003/June/26aquaculture.html
News Archive -- 2003-2001
