The Department of Biochemistry at Emory University is pleased to announce the 4th Annual McCormick Lecture in honor of the past Chair, Dr. Donald B. McCormick. This lectureship honors individuals who have made outstanding contributions in biochemistry and molecular biology. I would like to cordially invite you attend this important event to be held Monday, May 2, 2011, 4-5 pm, Woodruff Health Sciences Building Auditorium. The lecture and the reception following the lecture are free and open to the public.

The 4th Annual McCormick Lecture will be given by Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan. Dr. Ramakrishnan received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2009 along with Thomas A. Steitz and Ada E. Yonath "for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome". Dr. Ramakrishnan is a Group Leader at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. He has had a longstanding interest in ribosome structure and function. His work has led to insights into how the ribosome "reads" the genetic code and into various aspects of antibiotic function. Dr. Ramakrishnan's lecture will focus on the 30S subunit and subsequently on the entire 70S ribosome and on how the ribosome facilitates the accurate translation of the genetic code.