All visits to date
JUNE 2009. – Mr. Tim Hunt
June 8th, 2009 – As a part of the NobelST project, another Nobel prize winner will visit Split. This time, the city will welcome Sir Richard Timothy “Tim” Hunt-a. Mr. Tim Hunt received a Nobel Prize for medicine in 2001. He will give a public lecture entitled “How to win the Nobel Prize: secrets of cell division”. It is interesting to know that his Nobel prize winning discovery was accomplished during a summer practical course where he was working with together with his students.
Tim Hunt - short biography:
Richard Timothy Hunt, rođen 1943. u mjestašcu Neston in the Wirral, nedaleko od Liverpoola svjetski je priznati bio kemičar koji je doktorat je stekao na Cambridgeu 1968. godine. U svojoj bogatoj karijeri radio je kao istraživač na Albert Einstein College of Medicine u New Yorku (1968-81) te kao profesor na Cambridge University (1981-90). 1991 postaje voditelj znanstvenog odjela Imperial Cancer Research Fonda ( sadašnjeg Cancer Research UK London instituta za istraživanja). 2001. je dobio Nobelovu nagradu za psihologiju / medicinu zajedno sa Lelandom H. Hartwellom i Sir Paulom M. Nurseom za otkrića vezana uz ključne regulatore staničnog ciklusa. Rad Timothya Hunta i njegovih kolega postavio je temelje za bolje razumijevanje koromosomskih nestabilnosti kancerogenih stanica.
SEPTEMBER 2008. – Mr. Aaron Ciechanover
September 16th, 2008 First Nobel Prize winner to visit Split as a part of the NOBELST project was Mr. Aaron Ciechanover. During his stay, Mr. Ciechanover met the city officials and the members of the press.
Following the reception at the Mayor’s residence, Mr. Ciechanover had lunch with the best students from the University of Split. „Lunch with the Nobel prize winner” , quiet and informal banquet with the eminent guest was an award for the hard work and results achieved by selected students, and it served as great encouragement for their future studies.
After the luncheon, Mr. Aaron Ciechanover held a public lecture in the packed formal Amphitheatre of the University of Economics in Split. The lecture was entitled „ Why our proteins must die in order for us to live?”. Interest of the public was astonishing.
Nobel prize winner visited the MediLS institute and the members of the University in regards to the interests and fields of his work.
STATEMENTS
“…Croatia has to invest in people because they are the only true resource we have. Everything is possible, even in small countries, if we invest well in knowledge. Even in a small country which is fighting for survival, great education systems can be created. Israel is a small country just like Croatia. It has a population of seven million and it is constantly struck by wars. We posses nothing more than some sand and little rain, however 90% of our export consists of high technology. That is because science, development of high technology and education were always our priorities. Israel now has 6 Nobel prize winners – all scientists” – stated Aaron Ciechanover, Israeli scientist, winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize for Chemistry during his visit to Split.
…Ciechanoer: “Cancer is a complicated disease, but we will succeed!”
Aaron Ciechanoer stated that it is extremely difficult to predict just how much time will pass from a scientific discovery and its implementation in medicine or the discovery of the right medicament. “We know now that cancer is a very complicated disease, but we still don’t know just how complicated it is. Latest research of brain and pancreatic cancer cells show that they contain between 60 and 70% of mutated genes. A possible solution is to discover a way in which to entice the ’suicidal drive’ of cancer cells. The discovery of such suicidal tendencies of cells has already won the Nobel Prize; however, cancer cells are not as prone to self-destruction. The work that lay’s ahead of us is complex, but we will succeed”, says the Israeli Nobel prize winner. He dismissed the possibility that large pharmaceutical companies have already created drugs for some terminal diseases and that they are refusing to release them on the market because of their own quest for financial gain.
Aaron Ciechanover – Short biography:
Aaron Ciechanover was born in 1947 in Haifa. He received his Master of Science in 1970 and his M.D. in 1975 from the Hadassah Medical School of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He received his doctorate in medicine in 1981 from the Technion and has been a Distinguished Research Professor at the Center for Cancer and Vascular Biology and the Director of the Rappaport Family Institute for Research in Medical Sciences at the Technion.
During the 1980s, together with his colleagues from the Institute, Professor Avram Hershko and an American colleague from the Fox Chase Cancer research Centre, Professor Irwin Rose, he discovered the ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation, a mechanism by which the cells of most living organisms cull unwanted proteins. For this discovery they were awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize for Chemistry.
Because of the scientific work of these three scientists, it is possible to understand on a molecular level how some cells control numerous processes where some proteins break down and some don’t. When the degradation of proteins in the organism is not functioning properly, certain diseases can develop such as cervical cancer and cystic fibrosis. Cognition of protein degradation with the intervention of ubitquitin gave the scientists an opportunity to develop successful drugs to treat not only above mentioned diseases but many others as well.
Among the numerous awards received by Dr. Ciechanover, we will mention the Albert Lasker award which was given to hi min year 2000 for fundamental medical research, Israeli award for biology research in 2003. Apart from many other distinguished organisations Dr. Ciechanover is also a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Pontifical Academy of Sciences (Vatican), American Academy of Arts and Sciences (International member) and the US National Academy of Sciences (Foreign associate).