Division of Science, Mathematics, and Computing, Distinguished Scientist Lecture Series, Dean of the College, Chemistry Program, and Biology Program Present

The Magic of RNA: From CRISPR Gene Editing to mRNA Vaccines

In the past, Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) was considered to be mostly an intermediary between the genetic code in DNA and the proteins that do most of the work in biology; DNA makes RNA makes protein. The discovery of catalytic RNA (Nobel Prize, 1989) opened our eyes to RNA having more exciting functions. But the thrill of RNA was just getting started. Gene editing now uses guide RNAs to recruit the CRISPR genome editing machinery to specific sites of action on chromosomes, with exciting medical potential (Nobel Prize, 2020). And the coronavirus pandemic is now a battle of RNA against RNA: an RNA virus being fought with messenger RNA vaccines.

Thomas R. Cech, PhD, is Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry; investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; and director of the Interdisciplinary Quantitative Biology PhD Program at the University of Colorado Boulder. After earning his PhD in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Dr. Cech joined the faculty of the University of Colorado Boulder in 1978.  In 1982 Dr. Cech and his research group discovered self-splicing RNA in Tetrahymena, providing the first exception to the long-held belief that biological reactions are always catalyzed by proteins. Because RNA can be both an information-carrying molecule and a catalyst, perhaps a primordial self-reproducing system consisted of RNA alone. Dr. Cech became a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator in 1988 and Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry in 1990. From 2000 to 2009, he served as president of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which is the largest private biomedical research organization in the U.S. In 2009, Dr. Cech returned to full-time research and teaching at the University of Colorado Boulder. Dr. 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 Dr. Cech was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and also awarded a lifetime professorship by the American Cancer Society.

You are invited to a Zoom webinar.
When: Feb 17, 2021 06:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Topic: The Magic of RNA: from CRISPR Gene Editing to mRNA Vaccines

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