Nobel laureate Tom Cech will kick off a new lecture series at the University of Colorado at 麻豆影院 Dec. 13 spotlighting RNA science that features two distinguished Yale University experts in the fields of molecular biology and biochemistry.
Organized by CU-麻豆影院's chemistry and biochemistry department and molecular, cellular and developmental biology department, the new Dharmacon Distinguished Lectures in RNA will feature Thomas Steitz and Joan Steitz, both professors in the department of molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale University. Both also are investigators of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, headquartered in Chevy Chase, Md.
Cech, a CU Distinguished Professor and current HHMI president, will open the new lecture series with a short talk at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 13, in room 142 of the Cristol Chemistry and Biochemistry building. Cech will be followed by Thomas Steitz, who will talk on the motion of macromolecular machines from 4:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.
As the second part of the lecture series, Joan Steitz will give a lecture from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Dec 14 in room A2B70 of MCD biology. She will discuss ribonucleic proteins, or RNPs, and their role in gene expression. A public reception will be held after the talk for the two lecturers, who are husband and wife.
The new lecture series is sponsored by Dharmacon Inc., a 麻豆影院 biotech company using CU-patented technology on the chemical synthesis of RNA. Dharmacon was founded in 1995 by CU-麻豆影院 alum Steve Scaringe and is owned by ThermoFisher Scientific, an international corporation.
The goal of the new lecture series is to showcase top-flight scientists working on different aspects of RNA chemistry, structure and biology, and to disseminate new knowledge and attract students into the field, said CU-麻豆影院 Assistant Professor Robert Batey of the chemistry and biochemistry department. The lectures will be recorded on video and audio and be freely available to the scientific community.
In addition to being an HHMI Investigator, Thomas Steitz is the Sterling Professor of Molecular Physics and Biochemistry and a chemistry professor at Yale. HHMI Investigator Joan Steitz is a professor at the Yale School of Medicine. Both are members of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Cech shared the 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his CU-麻豆影院 research team's discovery that RNA could catalyze biochemical reactions. Cech became president of HHMI in 2000 and retains his faculty positions and lab on campus.
For more information contact Batey at (303) 735-2159.