Noted biochemist Wells set to deliver Discovery Lecture
Internationally known biochemist James Wells, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at University California San Francisco, will deliver the next Discovery Lecture on Thursday, April 26.
His talk, “Engineering Cells to Death,” will begin at 4 p.m., in 208 Light Hall.
James Wells, Ph.D.
Wells’ lab is interested in designing proteins and small molecules that trigger cellular processes in order to better understand and treat cancer and inflammation.
Using these small molecules and engineered proteins, his lab is studying how enzymes known as proteases are turned on to cleave particular proteins in cells.
His lab is particularly interested in a set of proteases, known as caspases, which kill virally infected or precancerous cells.
Wells is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the founder and director of the Small Molecule Discovery Center at UCSF, which aims to help pave the way for the development of new small molecule therapeutics.
Wells’ lecture is the Lubomir S. Hnilica Endowed Lecture and is sponsored by the Department of Biochemistry.
For a complete schedule of the Discovery Lecture series and archived video of previous lectures, go to www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/discoveryseries.