Elizabethtown College News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
1/14/05
Contact: Mary Dolheimer, director of marketing and media relations, 717-361-1587, dolheimerm@etown.edu
Lab director at Clinic for Special Children to discuss genetic disease research and Old Order communities
ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. – The laboratory director at the Clinic for Special Children, a nonprofit pediatric metabolic disease center in Strasburg, Pa., will present "Plain Genetics: How Old Order Communities Advance Genetic Disease Research" at 7:30 p.m., Jan. 27, at Elizabethtown College’s Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies. Erik G. Puffenberger’s talk is open to the public free of charge.
The Clinic for Special Children serves the special medical needs of children with rare metabolic and other genetic disorders from the Old Order Amish and Mennonite communities of Pennsylvania. Puffenberger, a molecular biologist and population geneticist, has studied the genetic diseases of these groups for more than 15 years. His lecture will focus on their unique medical genetic heritage, detail the attributes that make them ideal for genetic disease research and discuss their impact on the field of human genetics.
Puffenberger earned a bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College and a doctorate from Case Western Reserve University. His work involves implementation of molecular genetic techniques for routine diagnosis, research into the genetics of isolated populations, development of molecular strategies for newborn screening and identification of novel disease genes by linkage mapping.
At Elizabethtown College -- central Pennsylvania’s premier small, comprehensive college -- 1800 men and women enjoy personal attention, breadth of curriculum, experiential learning and a commitment to serving others. Elizabethtown has been ranked for 11 consecutive years by U.S. News and World Report as one of the top comprehensive colleges in the North.
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