Computer Aided Risk Assessment Conference

For immediate release December 3, 1997

Contact: Nora Kubazewski (218) 720-4280

Computer Aided Risk Assessment Conference

Duluth--In January 1998 the worldís foremost experts in mathematical modelling of chemicals are gathering in India to share their knowledge and experience. With the advent of the computer age, researchers now sit at a desk to predict whether or not harmful chemical compounds are present in our soils and waters.

The first Indo-U.S. Workshop on Mathematical Chemistry will be held January 9-13, 1998, in West Bengal, India. Co-chair of the conference is Dr. Subhash Basak of the Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota, Duluth.

"The workshop will bring together scientists from the United States, the world's leader in science and technology, and India, the world's most populous democratic country whose population will cross the one billion mark early in the twenty first century. As the information age is characterized by instantaneous dissemination of information and the rapid process of globalization, it is fitting that thinkers from the East and West are coming together in this conference to discuss the development and implementation of rapidly developing computational technology in the environmental prediction and drug discovery. Because science transcends all geopolitical boundaries, prominent scientists from other parts of the world such as Russia, Japan and Eastern and Western Europe will also participate in the deliberations of the conference," said Basak.

Conference themes will include background information necessary for conference participants not directly involved in mathematical modelling of chemicals as well as more applied sessions providing proven techniques used by companies to product the most promising compounds for drug testing and evaluating toxicity of the thousands of existing and new chemicals in air, soil and water. The conference will end with a panel presenting collective knowledge gained in use of mathematical approaches for new product development from natural sources, drug design and molecular modelling.

The director of the Natural Resources Research Institute University of Minnesota, Duluth and a co-sponsor of the conference, Mike Lalich notes the importance of this type of research.

ìComputational chemistry has become an extremely important screening tool for determining the properties of existing chemicals and for the design of new chemical compounds for a variety of uses. The Natural Resources Research Institute has a keen interest in these techniques because of the focus on the effects of chemicals on the environment and on the development of natural resource-based chemical derivatives,î said Lalich.

More detailed conference information can be gained from the web site at http://wyle.nrri.umn.edu/India/.