Since 2005 a series of lectures called the Mendel Lectures have provided a unique opportunity to meet scientists of international renown. This year’s lectures are held – as in previous years – at Masaryk University’s Mendel Museum. Michael N. Hall and Iain Campbell visited Brno in autumn 2010, and five more leading scientists will be arriving in the months to come.
Michael N. Hall has worked at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel (Switzerland) since 1987. With his group he discovered the TOR protein and explained its role as a central regulator of cell growth. For his work he was awarded the prestigious Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine in 2009.
Iain Campbell is from the United Kingdom. In 1992 he was appointed Professor of Structural Biology at the University of Oxford, where he and his group are interested in the modular structure and interactions of proteins involved in cell adhesion. Professor Campbell is the holder of many awards.
The same can be said of a speaker whose lecture is on the agenda for the beginning of April 2011. The aim of Linda Partridge’s research is to discover genes and mechanisms that determine the rate of ageing. Her team works with various laboratories to determine whether these processes show evolutionary conservation. In the middle of April, students and experts will have the opportunity to meet David Sheratt.
In May they will be able to meet Steven Henikoff, one of the world’s most respected geneticists, as well as Hans Clevers and Jeff Errington.
For more about the Mendel Lectures history, go to the next page.