The inaugural International Lecture in Life Sciences sponsored by Raymond and Beverly Sackler will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 20 at 4:15 p.m. in Room 10-250. The lecture, "On the Role, Mechanisms and Applications of RNA-Triggered Gene Silencing," will be delivered by Dr. David Baulcombe, senior scientist and head of the Sainsbury Laboratory at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, England.
Baulcombe is recognized as a world leader in unraveling the mechanisms of post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS), currently known as RNA interference (RNAi), and has helped demonstrate how RNAi technology can be used to determine gene function in higher organisms.
"We are very excited about this new addition to the colloquium series in honor of Institute Professor Phillip A. Sharp, and look forward to the impact of our international guest speakers in enlivening our life sciences community," said Professor Robert T. Sauer, head of the Department of Biology. "On behalf of my colleagues, I thank the Sacklers for their generosity in establishing this lectureship."
Dr. Raymond R. Sackler and his wife, Beverly, are international philanthropists with a longstanding commitment to medical research, as well as astronomy and astrophysics, arts and education. Professor of Biology Paul Garrity is the recipient of a Raymond and Beverly Sackler Foundation award for developmental studies on Drosophila growth cones.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on November 14, 2001.
