210191 event 1367237032 1475892205 <![CDATA[2013 Petit Institute Distinguished Lecture]]> The Parker H. Petit Distinguished Lecture Series is held each fall at the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience. The Distinguished Lecture Series brings nationally and internationally recognized bioengineering and bioscience leaders to the IBB community to give their perspective on the future of biotechnology.

"The RNA World: Ribozymes to Long Non-coding RNAs"


Thomas R. Cech, PhD
Distinguished Professor, University of Colorado Boulder
Director, University of Colorado BioFrontiers Institute
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Recipient, Nobel Prize in Chemistry - 1989

Thomas R. Cech will describe the discovery that ribonucleic acid (RNA) is not only an informational molecule, but can also catalyze biochemical reactions.  The finding of RNA catalysis led to the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1989.  He will then review the chemical mechanism and structure of the original ribozyme (catalytic RNA molecule).  Finally, he will talk about recent genome-wide analysis of a human protein, FUS, that binds long non-coding RNAs, and the possible implications of the research for understanding the neurodegenerative disease ALS.

Biography
In 1978, Thomas R. Cech joined the faculty of the University of Colorado Boulder, where he became a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator in 1988 and Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry in 1990.

In 1982 Cech and his research group announced that an RNA molecule from Tetrahymena, a single-celled pond organism, cut and rejoined chemical bonds in the complete absence of proteins. Thus RNA was not restricted to being a passive carrier of genetic information, but could have an active role in cellular metabolism. This discovery of self-splicing RNA provided the first exception to the long-held belief that biological reactions are always catalyzed by proteins. In addition, it has been heralded as providing a new, plausible scenario for the origin of life; because RNA can be both an information- carrying molecule and a catalyst, perhaps the first self-reproducing system consisted of RNA alone.

In January 2000, Cech moved to Maryland as president of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which is the nation’s largest private biomedical research organization. In addition, HHMI has an $80 million/year grants program that supports science education at all levels (K-12 through medical school) and international research.

In April 2009, Cech returned to full-time research and teaching at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he also directs the University of Colorado BioFrontiers Institute.

Professor Cech’s work has been recognized by many national and international awards and prizes, including the Heineken Prize of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (1988), the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award (1988), the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1989), and the National Medal of Science (1995). In 1987 Cech was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and also awarded a lifetime professorship by the American Cancer Society, and in 2000 he was elected to the Institute of Medicine.

Cech received his Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry in 1970 from Grinnell College, Iowa. He went on to receive his PhD in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 1975 and conducted a postdoctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Molecular Biology from 1975-1977.

]]> 2013 Petit Institute Distinguished Lecture - "The RNA World: Ribozymes to Long Non-coding RNAs" - Thomas R. Cech, PhD, University of Colorado - Boulder

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210201 image <![CDATA[Thomas R. Cech, PhD - University of Colorado - Boulder]]> 196875 image/jpeg Megan McDevitt, CMP
Director, Communications and Marketing, Petit Institute

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