The Masonic Medical Research Laboratory in Utica received international recognition last month when its executive director was invited to speak at a cardiology conference in France.

Dr. Charles Antzelevitch, who is also the laboratory’s director of research, presented three lectures on inherited cardiac syndromes at Cardiostim 2008. Part of the laboratory’s research in this area includes genetic sequencing of DNA from people with disorders to determine which genes are responsible. The international conference was June 18 to 21 in Nice.

The Masonic laboratory was recently selected as one of the top 100 “charities of distinction” in the U.S. by Greg Gumbel’s Eye on America, according to a new release.

It also will be featured in an upcoming National Geographic television special.