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UC launches Institute of Gene Ecology
Published by the Communications and Development Department
21 November 2002
The University of Canterbury is next week launching the New Zealand Institute of Gene Ecology, a multi-disciplinary organisation that will research and advise on issues relating to genetics, genetic engineering and biotechnology.
The Institute’s director, Dr Jack Heinemann, said biotechnology and genetic engineering were “deeply contentious issues” in New Zealand. “Attempts to reach a national consensus on them have been hampered by an acute shortage of independent researchers.”
“NZIGE will assemble teams of researchers to address this shortage on a case-by-case basis. We have a participatory structure that involves interested public who work together with us and the biotechnology industry in an atmosphere of constructive evaluation of the potential benefits and harms of emerging technologies.
Dr Heinemann said gene ecology was a new way to think about how to solve problems, and how to answer questions valued by the community. The emphasis on basic research and scholarship would ensure that the public interest came first.
“In its strictest sense, gene ecology is about how genes distribute among different creatures, how they reproduce and spread, how they come to form networks of associations that, for example, make humans human and different from bacteria, plants, and fungi. Gene ecology is the science of genes within the ecosystem of genomes.”
But in a wider sense, the Institute would be taking a societal approach to the issues. “Our approach is to research the impacts of biotechnology within the full context of the relevant social environment, as ecologists of science.”
“We combine inter-disciplinary teams of researchers from the fields of genetics, biochemistry, philosophy, social science, culture, medicine, ethics, law and economics to achieve our research objectives.”
At the University of Canterbury, the members of NZIGE come from ten departments: Plant and Microbial Sciences, Social Science, Forestry, Political Science, Mathematics, Philosophy, Chemistry, Maori Studies, Gender Studies, and Zoology. The Christchurch School of Medicine, Lincoln University, and the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology are represented in the institute as is the Christchurch campus of Environmental Science and Research.
Nationally, members also come from the Wellington School of Medicine, the Palmerston North campus of Crop and Food Research, and the Ministry of Health. Internationally, there are members from four overseas institutions: Rockefellar University, USA; Brigham Young University, USA; University of Tromso (UT), Norway; the Norwegian Institute of Gene Ecology (GENØK).
• The Institute is being launched by the Hon Pete Hodgson, Minister of Science and Technology on Tuesday 26 November at 6.30pm in the A Lecture Theatre Block at the University, signposted from Clyde Road. Members of the public are welcome.
For more information contact:
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