Previous Gamow Lecturers
Overview
Previous Gamow lectures covered a wide range of topics, from Physics, to Geosciences, to Chemisty and Biology, and much more. Lectures were delivered in the Macky Auditorium on the 91福利社 Campus.
*Denotes Nobel Prize Winners.
| 鈥 2025 Jennifer Doudna* 鈥 2024听Andrea Ghez* - video available online 鈥 2018 Vint Cerf - video available online 鈥 2017 Kip Thorne*- video available online 鈥 2015听Jane Goodall听- video available online 鈥 2014 David Wineland* - video available online 鈥 2013 Brian Greene听 鈥 2012 Adam Riess* - video available online 鈥听2011 Frank Wilczek* - video available online 鈥听2010 Richard Alley 鈥听2009 Joy Hirsch 鈥听2008 Kerry Emanuel 鈥听2007 Lisa Randall 鈥听2006 Geoffrey W. Marcy 鈥听2004 Paul C. Sereno 鈥听2004 Robert P.Kirshner 鈥听2003 Thomas Cech* 鈥听2002 Richard N. Zare 鈥⑻2001 Eric R. Kandel* 鈥听2000 Sir Martin Rees 鈥⑻1999 Robert D. Ballard 鈥听1998 Stanley B. Prusiner* 鈥⑻1997 Edward C. Stone 鈥⑻1996 John R. Horner 鈥⑻1995 Eric Cornell* and Carl Wieman* 鈥听1995 Sylvia A. Earle 鈥⑻1994 Susan Solomon 鈥⑻1993 Norman F. Ramsey* | 鈥⑻1992 Norman Myers 鈥 1991 Freeman J. Dyson 鈥 1991 Fang Li-Zhi 鈥⑻1990 Leon M. Lederman* 鈥 1990 J. William Schopf 鈥 1989 Stephen H. Schneider 鈥 1987 Rosalyn S. Yalow* 鈥 1987 Abdus Salam* 鈥 1986 William A. Fowler* 鈥 1985 Luis & Walter Alvarez* 鈥 1984 Paul Berg* 鈥 1983 Paul B. MacCready 鈥 1982 Stanislaw M. Ulam 鈥 1981 Linus Pauling* 鈥 1980 Paul A. M. Dirac* 鈥 1980 Arno A. Penzias* 鈥 1979 Melvin Calvin* 鈥 1978 Lyman Spitzer Jr. 鈥 1978 James D. Watson* 鈥 1976 T.D. Lee* 鈥 1975 Hans Bethe* 鈥 1975 Ivar Giaever* 鈥 1974 Marshall W. Nirenberg* 鈥 1973 Geoffrey Burbidge 鈥 1972 Eugene P. Wigner* 鈥 1971 Victor F. Weisskopf |
Fifty-Fourth George Gamow Memorial Lecture - Dr. Jennifer Doudna
"Genome Editing the Future: Improving Human and Planet Health with CRISPR"
Dr. Jennifer Doudna
2020 Nobel Laureate - Chemistry
Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Innovative Genomics Institute University of California Berkeley & UCSF/Gladstone Institutes
Tuesday, March 18, 2025听at 7:30 p.m.
Macky Auditorium
91福利社
Fundamental research to understand how bacteria fight viral infections uncovered the function of CRISPR-Cas programmable proteins that detect and cut specific DNA or RNA sequences. CRISPR technology is now an indispensable tool in human, animal and agricultural research. Furthermore, the FDA鈥檚 approval of a CRISPR therapy for sickle cell disease marked the beginning of a new era in healthcare. I will discuss the scientific and societal advances that will expand both the applications and impact of genome editing across the globe.
Jennifer Doudna shared the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Emmanuelle Charpentier 鈥渇or the development of a听method for genome editing.鈥 The method, known as CRISPR, is used to selectively modify the听
DNA of living organisms. Professor Doudna is the Li Ka Shing Chancellor鈥檚 Chair听in Biomedical and Health Sciences, and a Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and听Structural Biology at the University of California Berkeley. 听
Her research focuses on RNA as it forms a variety of complex听globular structures, some of which function like enzymes or form functional complexes with proteins. Her lab's research into RNA biology led to the discovery of听CRISPR-Cas9 as a tool for making targeted changes to the genome. In bacteria,听CRISPR systems preserve invading genetic material and incorporate it into surveillance听complexes to achieve adaptive immunity. Crystal structures of diverse Cas9 proteins听reveal RNA-mediated conformational activation. Current research in the Doudna lab听focuses on discovering and determining the mechanisms of novel CRISPR-Cas and听associated proteins; developing genome editing tools for use in vitro, in plants,听and in mammals; and developing anti-CRISPR agents. New discoveries in this field听continue at a rapid pace, revealing a technology that has widespread applications听in many areas of biology.
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