Nobel laureate Peter Agre, M.D., professor in the departments of biological chemistry and medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine will give two lectures while on campus on March 24 and 25.
Agre was awarded the 2003 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his discovery of the aquaporin water channel.
He will give the Cushing/Whitney Medical Library Associates 56th Annual keynote address on March 24 at 4 p.m. in the Harkness Auditorium, 333 Cedar St. His lecture, "The Road to Stockholm and Back: Comments on the Journey," will be followed by a reception in the Medical Historical Library.
On March 25, Agre will deliver the Robert W. Berliner Memorial Lecture "Aquaporin Water Channels: From Atomic Structure to Clinical Medicine" at 4 p.m. in Rm. N107, The Anlyan Center, 300 Cedar St. A reception precedes the lecture at 3:30 p.m. in the Anlyan Center Lobby.
The annual endowed lecture honors the late Dr. Berliner, who was a member of the Department of Physiology, and former Dean of the Yale Medical School. A distinguished nephrologist, Berliner pioneered research in renal physiology while establishing the NIH as a leading biomedical institution. The Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology and the Section of Nephrology co-sponsor the lecture.
Water is one of the most important components of all living cells, and the existence of specific channels that transport water in and out of cells was proposed over a century ago. In 1988, Peter Agre isolated a membrane protein that he later characterized as the long-sought water channel. This discovery allowed biochemical, physiological and genetic studies of water channels in bacteria, plants and mammals. His group is currently studying aquaporin gene regulation, and diseases that may result from mutations. Among those diseases are the loss of a major blood group antigen, cataracts, renal tubular acidosis, Sjogren's syndrome, and brain edema.
Both talks are free and open to the public.
Contact
Janet Rettig Emanuel
203-432-2157