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                                             BIOINFORMATICS COLLOQUIUM
						College of Science
                                              George Mason University
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                      A Stable Secondary Structure Near the Nicking Site for Adeno-Associated 
                                 Virus Type 2 Rep Proteins on Human Chromosome 19
 
                                             Roland A. Owens, Ph.D.

                                       Chief, Molecular Biology Section
                                                 LMCB/NIDDK
                                        National Institutes of Health 
                                   U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Biography:
Dr. Roland A. Owens is Chief of the Molecular Biology Section
in the Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biology in the National
Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at NIH. He
received his bachelor's degree in biology from the University of
Maryland Baltimore County in 1979.  He earned his Ph.D. in biology 
from The Johns Hopkins University in 1985.  His dissertation work 
with Philip Hartman involved studies of the export and protective 
effects of glutathione in bacteria.  Dr. Owens began his career at 
the NIH as a National Research Service Award Fellow in the 
Laboratory of Developmental Pharmacology in the National  
Institute of Child Health and Human Development with Daniel 
Nebert, studying Cytochrome P450 induction.  In 1988 he received 
an Intramural Research Training Award Fellowship in the 
Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biology in the National 
Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to work 
with Barrie Carter. He became an independent researcher in 1992, 
was officially placed on the NIH intramural tenure-track in 1994 
and was tenured in 1998.  Dr. Owens' current research focuses on
adeno-associated virus type-2, a virus that is being developed as a
vehicle for human gene therapy to treat diabetes, as well as many 
other diseases.  His group's identification of the DNA sequence 
bound by the replication proteins of adeno-associated virus has 
led to the current models for integration and gene regulation 
mediated by these proteins.