In brief

FAS curriculum crux of upcoming symposia

As part of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences curricular review, the Office of the Dean for Undergraduate Education will be sponsoring two public symposia on “Shaping a College Curriculum.” The first symposium – “The Harvard Core Curriculum: History and Practice” – will be held Nov. 6 in Sever Hall, Room 113, and will include professors Jorge Dominguez, James Engell, David Pilbeam, and Maria Tatar, as speakers.

The second symposium, titled “Curricular Options and Opportunities: Views from Outside Cambridge,” will be held Nov. 14 in Boylston Hall’s Fong Auditorium. Michael Stanislawski of Columbia University and Deans Paul Armstrong and Richard Brodhead of Brown University and Yale University, respectively, will lead the discussion. Both symposia commence at 7:45 p.m.

Rack for tissue culture flasks developed

Research fellow in medicine Ussama Abdel-Motal has developed a rack for tissue culture flasks that increases safety for the investigator while decreasing work time. The racks, which are useful for investigators culturing many different cell types, patient samples, etc., will facilitate the feeding and transport of multiple cell lines. For more information about the “Flaracks,” visit http://www.bioraco.com.

Symposium helps launch science-based companies

Future Thomas Edisons who have already expended their 99 percent of perspiration on new scientific advances and are in search of that essential 1 percent of inspiration may find it in an upcoming conference. Leading venture capitalists, lawyers, and entrepreneurs will join the provost, the Office for Technology and Trademark licensing, and the Medical School’s Office of Technology Licensing on Friday (Nov. 8) for a symposium on forming science-based companies. Panelists will include scientists who have founded their own companies. Faculty, postdocs, and graduate students are invited to attend. The conference will take place at the Science Center, Lecture Hall B, from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. No fee or reservation is required. For more information visit http://www.techtransfer.harvard.edu and click on Special Events, or e-mail OTTL@harvard.edu.

– Compiled by Andrew Brooks