11:10-12:00, Rm 103

Nobel Laureate LectureMay 17 (Tue), 11:10-12:00, Rm 103The molecular basis of eukaryotic transcriptionDr. Roger D. Kornberg (2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry)Stanford University School of Medicine, USAThe fundamental basis of gene regulation, including the control of transcription as thefirst step in the pathway of gene expression, constitutes the research focus of Roger D.Kornberg, Ph.D., the Mrs. George A. Winzer Professor in Medicine and professor ofstructural biology at Stanford University School of Medicine. “You can’t understand amachine if you don’t know the place of all the pieces, and our discoveries have helpedlocate the parts of the machine that makes RNA.”Dr. Kornberg says. In elucidatingthe inner workings of RNA, his research team has isolated the proteins responsible fortranscription and gene regulation, including those that form a mediator to regulate theprocess. His research also helps explain how disease can result when transcriptiongoes awry and offers the potential for unlocking new therapeutic approaches. Dr.Kornberg earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from Stanford University. Followingpostdoctoral work at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge,England, he joined the scientific staff there. He later became part of the faculty in theDepartment of Biological Chemistry at Harvard Medical School and eventuallyreturned to Stanford as professor of structural biology. His recent honors include theGeneral Motors Cancer Research Foundation’s Alfred P. Sloan Jr. Prize, the PasarowAward in Cancer Research from the Pasarow Foundation, and Le Grand Prix Charles-Leopold Mayer from the Académie des Sciences in France. He also is a co-recipientof the Merck Award from the American Society for Biochemistry and MolecularBiology. Dr. Kornberg is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellowof the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.14 Korean Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology