August 13, 2008

• Nobel Prize winner to speak

• International leader in RNA splicing

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) Department of Pathology's annual Paulette Shirey Pritchett Endowed Lecture will feature a former Nobel Laureate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Phillip A. Sharp, Ph.D., professor at the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, will speak on The Biology and Medical Promise of Small RNA's.

The lecture will be at 2 p.m., Mon., Sept. 8 in Spain Auditorium. It is free and open to the public.

Sharp won the 1993 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of RNA splicing in 1977. This work provided one of the first indications of the startling phenomenon of "discontinuous genes" in mammalian cells. The discovery that genes contain nonsense segments that are edited out by cells in the course of utilizing genetic information is important in understanding the genetic causes of cancer and other diseases.

Sharp has authored more than 350 scientific papers. He has received numerous awards and honorary degrees, and has served on many advisory boards for the government, academic institutions, scientific societies and companies. His awards include the Gairdner Foundation International Award, General Motors Research Foundation Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. Prize for Cancer Research, the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, the National Medal of Science and the inaugural Double Helix Medal from CSHL.

He is elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society.