Academia Sinica Honorary Academician Dr. Leland H. Hartwell, a Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine and President of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, will give a lecture entitled “Sustainability Science” at Academia Sinica on April 22, 2010. Prior to his lecture, President Chi-Huey Wong will present Dr. Hartwell with an Academia Sinica Honorary Academician’s medal. Dr. Hartwell was made an Honorary Academician of Academia Sinica in 2008.   

        Dr. Hartwell and two UK-based scientists, Dr. Paul Nurse and Dr. Timothy Hunt, received the Nobel Prize “for their discoveries of key regulators of the cell cycle” in 2001. They identified key molecules that regulate the cell cycle in all eukaryotic organisms, including yeasts, plants, animals and humans. Using yeast, Dr. Hartwell unmasked the genes that control cell division, the universal machinery for cell growth in organisms, thus opening new avenues for research into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of various cancers.

        In recent years Dr. Hartwell’s research has turned to how researchers can use the knowledge-base accumulated from basic research in genetics and biochemistry to improve molecular diagnostics to benefit human health. He investigates the use of powerful protein biomarkers – early indicators of disease – to identify individuals at high risk for disease, detect cancer and other diseases at an early stage when they can be cured, and provide improved prognostic information and better therapeutic response.

        Dr. Hartwell is currently Director and President of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He is also Professor of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington and has recently been appointed to establish and co-direct the Center for Sustainable Health at Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute and is scheduled to start later this year.

        Dr. Hartwell will visit Taiwan from April 18 to April 25. In addition to his lecture at Academia Sinica, during his visit, Dr. Hartwell will also serve as a keynote speaker at a conference held jointly by Chang Gung University and the Taiwan Proteomics Society. He will also exchange ideas and opinions with local experts from the biomedical field about the importance of the development of disease diagnostics in Taiwan.

        Dr. Hartwell received a Ph.D. in biology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1964. The following year he started postdoctoral research at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, focusing on the control of cell growth that later inspired his seminal discovery. In addition to the Nobel Prize, Dr. Hartwell has received many top honors and awards including the Distinguished Scientist Award from the Association of American Cancer Institutes in 2005, the Medal of Merit from the State of Washington, US, in 2003, the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award in 1998, and the Columbia University Horowitz Award in 1995.

Related website:
http://iao.sinica.edu.tw/index.htm  
http://www.fhcrc.org/

Online Registration:
https://db1x.sinica.edu.tw/ASL/registerA.php?no=6