The National Science Foundation (NSF) will webcast a press conference hosted by the journal Nature at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on December 13. The event is to announce an important milestone in plant genetics research. NSF director Rita Colwell will be the lead speaker, followed by brief talks from three leading scientists associated with the Arabidopsis Genome Initiative.

The event will be webcast live starting about 2:00 p.m. EST at http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/press/00/plant_live.htm. At that time, a streaming video about the Arabidopsis genome sequence will be at: http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/press/00/pr0094.htm.

Who: Rita Colwell - Director, National Science Foundation
Claire Fraser - Director, The Institute for Genomic Research
Joe Ecker - Professor, The Salk Institute
Rob Martienssen - Professor, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

What: Press conference hosted by Nature
When: 2:00 p.m. EST, Wednesday, December 13, 2000

Where: The National Press Club
529 14th St. NW
Washington, DC

For more information:
Tom Garritano, 703-292-8070/[email protected]

Broadcasters:
For B-roll on Betacam SP, contact NSF's Dena Headlee, 703-292 8070/[email protected]. B-roll will be available via satellite Wednesday, December 13th from 1:00 to 1:15 PM EST: C-Band Feed; Telestar 5; Transponder 16; Downlink 4020; Audio 6.2/6.8. Refeed on Thursday, December 14th from 1:00 to 1:15 PM EST: C-Band Feed; Telestar 5; Transponder 16; Downlink 4020; Audio 6.2/6.8

NSF to webcast nature press conference on plant genetics milestone: NSF director to speak