Michael Young, PhD, a winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his ground-breaking studies of circadian rhythms, will deliver the next Flexner Discovery Lecture at 4 p.m. Oct. 11 in room 208 Light Hall.
His lecture, entitled “Genes That Regulate Sleep and Circadian Rhythms,” is sponsored by the Department of Medicine.
Young is the Richard and Jeanne Fisher Professor, head of the Laboratory of Genetics and vice president for Academic Affairs at The Rockefeller University in New York City. He shared the Nobel Prize with two Brandeis University geneticists, Jeffrey Hall, PhD (emeritus), and Michael Rosbash, PhD.
In his award-winning studies, Young identified genetic mutations that disrupt the ability of the fruit fly to modulate its internal clock in response to a changing environment and defined their molecular mechanisms. His work has relevance for advancing the understanding of human sleep disorders.
Young’s daughter, Arissa Young, MD, a second-year resident in Internal Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, wrote an account of her trip last December to attend the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm for VUMC Voice (http://voice.vumc.org/vumc-resident-arissa-young-traveled-see-father-accept-nobel-prize-heres-account-whirlwind-weekend/http://voice.vumc.org).
For a complete schedule of Flexner Discovery Lectures and archived video of previous lectures, go to http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/discoveryseries.
