29 May 2007

Nobel Laureate to give the Garland Lecture

Professor Aaron Ciechanover, a 2004 winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, will give the 22nd Peter Garland Lecture in the College of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee on Wednesday May 30th.

Professor Ciechanover is the eighth Nobel Laureate to give the Peter Garland Lecture, the most important lecture held in the College of Life Sciences, since the series started in 1985. The lecture is named after the University of Dundee’s first Professor of Biochemistry who was instrumental in developing Life Sciences at Dundee over the period 1970-1984.

Professor Ciechanover, from the Rappaport Research Institute, The Technion Institute of Technology, in Haifa, Israel, opened up a huge area of scientific research when in the late 1970s, while working as a PhD student in the laboratory of Avram Hershko at the Technion, discovered the ubiquitin-proteosome pathway through which proteins undergo regulated destruction in cells.

In recent years this has become a hugely significant area of research and the ubiquitin molecule has been shown to control many other processes in living cells, such as the response to DNA damage and the regulation of the immune system. Enzymes related to ubiquitin activity are likely to become major targets for the development of improved drugs to treat disease in the future.

For his work on ubiquitin Professor Ciechanover, together with Avram Hershko and Irwin Rose, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2004. Prior to this, Dr Ciechanover had also received the prestigious Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 2000 and the Israel Prize in 2003, the highest recognition that can be bestowed by the state of Israel. His many other honours include election as a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences of the Vatican, the body who advise the Pope on matters related to science.

Professor Ciechanover’s lecture is titled 'The Ubiquitin Proteolytic System: From Bench to Bedside'. It takes place at 4 pm on Wednesday 30th May in the College of Life Sciences at the University of Dundee (MSI Building, Old Hawkhill).

NOTES TO EDITORS

The Rappaport Research Institute is named after the philanthropists Bruce and Rith Rappaport, who provided funding for it. The Rappaports have also supported work at the University of Dundee, including the building of the Wellcome Trust Biocentre. The couple were awarded honorary doctorates from the University at the opening of the Wellcome Trust Biocentre in 1998.

The Rappaport Research Institute and the University of Dundee have also held joint scientific meetings, furthering the links between the two institutions.

Details of the Nobel laureation for Professor Ciechanover can be seen at: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2004/press.html

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