SOUP AND SANDWICH SEMINAR -Dr. Sanjive Qazi, Gustavus Biology Dept., "Epigenetics, Cancer, and Evolution by Natural Selection"March 19, 2014 at 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The relatively new field of Epigenetics seems to be shaking up the world of genetics and challenging our thinking about evolution -- or is it? In particular, epigenetic mechanisms help cancer cells adapt and evolve into highly drug resistant clones and invade new environments during metastasis. But epigenetic DNA modification is encoded in the DNA itself, and it too is subject to natural selection. The ability of cancer cells to become resistant through epigenetic mechanisms is a feature already encoded for and selected for in our DNA sequence. Epigenetic mechanisms can also operate at the organismal level to introduce variation for natural selection to act upon.

RESERVATION AND PRE-PAYMENT REQUIRED

*Meal served at 11:30am. Talk begins at 12:00 and is over by 1:00pm. Cost is $8 for Arboretum Members, $9 for non-members. Go to gustavustickets.com or call the Ticketing Office at 933-7590 to register. Questions? Contact arboretum@gustavus.edu or call 933-6181.