Innovators at the vanguard of science and industry will interact with ethicists, religious leaders, activists, academics, journalists and venture capitalists, for a provocative dialogue about biotechnology and its implications. More than 300 participants are expected at this first conference hosted by TIME magazine's Managing Editor Jim Kelly and President Eileen Naughton. The event is open to the public (registration fee $1,950, go to http://www.thefutureoflife.com).

"Fifty years ago Sir Francis Crick and James D. Watson made what may be the most important scientific breakthrough of the 20th century," says Naughton. "Today their discovery of the structure of the DNA molecule affects every facet of life on the planet." TIME's cover story this week (on newsstands the week of Feb. 10) is "Solving the Mysteries of DNA." Watson tells TIME that in 1953 the breakthrough was met with "Almost total silenceThat's one reason we didn't get the Nobel for nine years." To read this cover story online, go to: http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101030217/

Distinguished speakers include two Nobel laureates: Dr. James Watson, President of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and Hamilton Smith, Scientific Director, Institute for Bioenergy Alternatives (IBEA). Also speaking are gene mappers Francis S. Collins, Director, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health and J. Craig Venter, President and Chairman, J. Craig Venter Science Foundation.

The U.S. Surgeon General, Vice Admiral Richard H. Carmona, is one of 60 speakers, as well as Paul Gelsinger, who has worked to increase awareness since his 18-year-old son, Jesse, died in a gene therapy e
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Contact: Diana Pearson
diana_pearson@timeinc.com
212-522-0833
Time Magazine
16-Feb-2003