Genetic causes of heart disease and hypertension
to be focus of HHMI lectures

Heart disease causes more deaths than any other disease in the United States, and hypertension is not far behind. Two noted research scientists -- Dr. Richard Lifton of the Yale School of Medicine, and Dr. Christine E. Seidman of Harvard Medical School -- will explore the genetic causes of these deadly diseases and discuss possible new treatments as part of this year's Holiday Lectures on Science, sponsored by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI).

High school students, teachers and others across the country will be able to view the lectures Monday-Tuesday, Dec. 7-8, live via satellite and the World Wide Web (WWW).

In four talks on the theme "Of Hearts and Hypertension: Blazing Genetic Trails," the two scientists will discuss the genetics of cardiovascular disease and the role of the kidney in hypertension. The session will be filmed live before an audience of high school students at HHMI headquarters in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

The speakers are HHMI investigators whose research has been widely published. Lifton is director of the program in genetics in medicine and professor of medicine, genetics and molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale. Seidman is director of the cardiovascular genetics service at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and a professor at Harvard.

The lectures are accessible from HHMI's Holiday Lectures website: http://www. holidaylectures.org. Web visitors can also participate in an interactive video chat with the scientists from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time on both days. Consult the web site for more details.

Channel One Connection (formerly the Classroom Channel) will rebroadcast the first two Holiday Lectures on Wednesday, Jan. 13, and the second two lectures the following day.

Teachers who register for the Holiday Lectures on Science can receive a free Teacher and Student Guide that will help them integrate lecture concepts with the high school curriculum. Parts of the guide are also available on the website, including lecture summaries, key concepts and selected references to useful publications and other websites.

The HHMI Holiday Lectures website also contains a variety of activities that complement the lectures, including:

* "The Interactive Web," which has demonstrations and a virtual laboratory that use JAVA, video, virtual reality and Shockwave to make science come alive. High school students helped design some of these interactive demonstrations, including The Circulatorium, KidneyScope, and Heart Size Simulator.

* An "Ask a Scientist" feature, which enables students to pose questions via e-mail about human genetics and other biology topics. Volunteer experts associated with HHMI programs answer the questions.

* The museum-quality Holiday Lectures exhibit, which provides an interactive experience for students as they explore the functions of the heart and kidney, as well as heart disease and hypertension. A documentary about the exhibit will be broadcast via satellite and the Web during breaks between the lectures. After the lectures are concluded, this exhibit will continue to exist in a virtual format on the website.

HHMI is a medical research organization whose scientists include many of the world's leaders in the fields of cell biology, genetics, immunology, neuroscience, and structural biology. More than 330 Hughes investigators conduct medical research in HHMI laboratories at 72 outstanding medical centers and universities nationwide. HHMI's home page is at http://www.hhmi.org.