Biolaw Conference 2.0 (November 13-14, 2008)

The second annual Biolaw Conference 2.0 will be held on November 13th and 14th, 2008, at the University of Kansas School of Law. Biolaw 2.0 is being organized by the Kansas Journal of Law and Public Policy, and invited articles spanning the range of biolaw topics will be published in a special volume of the Journal. The inaugural Biolaw Conference featured such wonderful speakers as Hank Greely (Stanford Law School), Jim Chen (Dean, Louisville Law School/Mr. Jurisdynamics himself), Peter Barton Hutt (Harvard Law School/Covington & Burling), Jerry Menikoff (National Institutes of Health), Rudolf Beese (Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal), and Ken Lynn (KTEC). This "Biolaw 1.0" conference, generously sponsored by both Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal and KTEC, was so successful that it has now become an annual event whose mission is help elevate "biolaw" to the level of scholarly prominence achieved by technology-inspired cousin, cyberlaw.

Biolaw 2.0 will feature a number of speakers of national and international stature in the rapidly developing field of biolaw. An address by Professor Lee Silver, a leading geneticist at Princeton University who has also become a leading public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, will deliver the conference's opening address. In addition to authoring several genetics textbooks, Prof. Silver has written two influential books on biotechnology and public policy: Remaking Eden - How Genetic Engineering and Cloning Will Transform the American Family and Challenging Nature: The Clash of Science and Spirituality at the New Frontiers of Life. In addition, he frequently comments on biotechnology and public policy for such other famous scholars as Stephen Colbert, Ted Koppel, and Charlie Rose.

In addition to Prof. Silver, senior scholars, such as Michele Goodwin and Peter Yu, and some of the most exciting and innovative junior biolaw scholars from the United States, Canada, Europe, and Africa will present their latest research in such areas as human enhancement, law and genetics, law and neuroscience, cloning, embryonic stem cells, organ transplantation, legal bioethics, biotechnology patent law, genetically modified food, climate change, and biodiversity law.

For anyone interested in attending Biolaw 2.0, admission to most of the presentations will be free and open to the public.

Stay tuned to Biolaw: Law and the Life Sciences for additional information on Biolaw 2.0, including a full schedule of speakers and their topics.