ELON COLLEGE, N.C. – G. Terry Sharrer, a science historian at the Smithsonian Institution and specialist in the history of gene therapy will speak at Elon College Wednesday, April 19. The lecture, which will be at 7:30 p.m. in the McCrary Theatre of the Faith Rockefeller Model Center for the Arts, is free and open to the public.
Sharrer is Curator of Health Sciences at the National Museum of American History, and is responsible for providing public information on various medical topics including genetics. Sharrer’s current research focuses on the history of molecular medicine and cancer epidemiology. The theme of his interests and of his presentation is the future possibility of individualized diagnosis and individualized treatment of disease through strategic advances in biotechnology and gene therapy. In discussing gene therapy, scientific techniques to correct errors in flawed genes that cause hereditary diseases, Sharrer will explore chimeraplasty. In this approach, scientists use non-viral carriers – chimeras – to correct errors by triggering DNA repair machinery.
Sharrer has organized exhibitions on genetic technology in the 20th century, the molecular biology of vision and hearing and the progression of the smallpox plague. Sharrer is the author of more than three dozen publications and holds a doctorate in history from the University of Maryland. He has done video documentaries on the Human Genome Project, the beginning of gene therapy and the molecular biology of cancer. He also runs a public seminar on Science in American Life.
Sharrer is a trustee of the Immune Deficiency Foundation and a board member of the National Foundation for Cancer Research.
His lecture is part of the Voices of Discovery speaker series at Elon, which brings preeminent scientists and mathematicians to campus to share their findings with students and members of the community.
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