Venki Ramakrishnan, Nobel laureate and group leader at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England, will share insights from his groundbreaking research on the molecular mechanisms of aging in an Apex Lecture on Sept. 27 at 3:00 p.m. in 208 Light Hall. His talk, “Why We Die,” is based on a recent best-selling book of the same name. His lecture will include a Q&A session with graduate students José Zepeda (Pharmacology, Brad Grueter lab), Haswitha Sabbineni (Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Nancy Carrasco lab), Ronan Bracken (Biochemistry, Jonathan Brown lab), and Eric Donahue (Cell and Developmental Biology, Kris Burkewitz lab). A reception will follow the lecture in the Langford Auditorium atrium.
The recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work elucidating the structure of the ribosome, Ramakrishnan has dedicated much of his career to understanding the fundamental biological processes that underlie human longevity. In his upcoming talk, he will explore progress and prospects in the field of aging and the social issues involved.
In 2000, Ramakrishnan’s laboratory determined the atomic structure of the 30S ribosomal subunit and its complexes with ligands and antibiotics. This work led to insights into how the ribosome “reads” the genetic code, as well as antibiotic function. Ramakrishnan’s lab subsequently determined high-resolution structures of functional complexes of the entire ribosome at various stages along the translational pathway, which led to insights into its role in protein synthesis during decoding, peptidyl transfer, translocation, and termination. For the last decade, his laboratory has been applying cryo-electron microscopy to study eukaryotic and mitochondrial translation, especially initiation of translation and translational regulation.
Ramakrishnan is the author of two popular books, Gene Machine:The Race to Decipher the Secrets of the Ribosome (2018), a very frank popular memoir about the race for the structure of the ribosome, and more recently, Why We Die: The New Science of Aging and the Quest for Immortality (2024).
Ramakrishnan received his bachelor’s degree in physics from Baroda University in India in 1971 and his Ph.D. in physics from Ohio University in 1976. He then studied biology for two years at the University of California, San Diego, before beginning his postdoctoral work with Peter Moore at Yale University. After a long career in the U.S.A. at Brookhaven National Laboratory and the University of Utah, he moved to England in 1999, where he has been a group leader at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge. He is also a fellow of Trinity College Cambridge. He was the president of the Royal Society from 2015–20.
This event promises to be a thought-provoking exploration of one of science’s great frontiers.
About the Apex Lecture Series
There are major inflection points in biomedical discovery that create new fields, new ideas, and new opportunities to impact human health. To engage with global researchers contributing to these inflection points, the Vanderbilt School of Medicine Basic Sciences launched the Apex Lecture Series in 2023. This school-wide seminar series brings scientists who are influencing the trajectory of their fields to engage with our scientific community on campus.
Lecture abstract
Ever since we humans learned of our mortality, that knowledge has driven much of human culture. However, for most of our existence as a species, there was little we could do about aging and death. In the last few decades, this has changed. We are beginning to understand the biological basis of aging and how it leads to death. At the same time, longer life expectancies and reductions in fertility rates mean that societies face an increasingly aging population, with an urgent need to improve health in old age. The fear of aging and death is also driving a quest for radical life extension among some gerontologists. My book, on which this event is based, is an attempt to take a hard look at progress and prospects in the field of aging and also point out the social issues involved.