Campus Beat Hyderabad

Nobel Laureate Richard J. Roberts to deliver distinguished lecture at UoH

Nobel Laureate Richard J. Roberts to deliver distinguished lecture at UoH

HYDERABAD: The University of Hyderabad (UoH) is set to host a distinguished lecture titled “The Path to the Nobel Prize” by Nobel Laureate Sir Professor Richard J. Roberts from New England Biolabs, Ipswich, Massachusetts.

The event is scheduled for Friday, February 16, 2024, at 2:00 PM in the School of Life Sciences Auditorium. This lecture is a part of BioAnveshana 2024 – an International conference on Frontiers in Basic Biology, Biotechnology, and Bioinformatics hosted by the Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics.

Sir Professor Richard J. Roberts was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1993. Dr. Richard J. Roberts is the Chief Scientific Officer at New England Biolabs, Ipswich, Massachusetts. He received a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry in 1968 from Sheffield University and then moved as a postdoctoral fellow to Harvard. From 1972 to 1992, he worked at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, eventually becoming Assistant Director for Research under Dr. J.D. Watson. He began work on the newly discovered Type Il restriction enzymes in 1972 and his laboratory discovered more than 70 percent of the first 100 enzymes described.

In 1975 he became the fourth employee of New England Biolabs first as their chief consultant and later moved to the company permanently in 1992. Studies of transcription in Adenovirus-2 led to the discovery of split genes and mRNA splicing in 1977, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1993. During the sequencing of the Adenovirus-2 genome, computational tools became essential, and his laboratory pioneered the application of computers in this area.

Since winning the Nobel Prize, Dr. Roberts has been involved in organizing a number of Nobel initiatives to correct scientific misunderstandings and promote humanitarian causes. His most recent campaign has been on the issue of GMOS, where 166 Nobel Laureates have supported the use of GMO techniques to improve plant breeding practices that could greatly help the developing world.

The lecture will also be streamed live on the official YouTube channel of University to Hyderabad.