From: LARRY KLAES (ljk4@msn.com)
Date: Wed Nov 13 2002 - 07:01:57 PST
Date: Tue, 12 Nov 2002 08:17:44 -0500
From: Office of the Provost <provost@provost.umass.edu>
To: all-campus@admin.umass.edu
Subject: Monday's Distinguished Faculty Lecture
2002 - 2003 Distinguished Faculty Lecture Series
Maurille J. Fournier
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Monday, November 18, 2002 4:00 p.m.
Massachusetts Room, Mullins Center
Free and open to all.
http://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/archive/2002/092602lecture.htm
Reception follows the lecture.
"Inside the Ribosome Factory: How Our Cells Build Protein-Manufacturing
Machines"
Ribosomes are built much like automobiles, on a highly organized,
interconnected production line. Some parts, made elsewhere, are imported
into the factory. Other parts are made on site by a network of smaller
machines that extrude, cut, and modify these pieces. Professor Fournier
will give a tour of this fascinating plant, showing how he's harnessing the
power and precision of the latter machines - the 'snorps' discovered and
studied in his lab - for exciting applications in research and medicine.
_________________________________________________________
Biochemist Maurille Fournier studies ribonucleic acid molecules (RNA) found
in the nucleus of living cells. In nature, RNAs play a variety of roles in
storing or transmitting genetic information, manufacturing cellular
proteins, and catalyzing biochemical reactions. Fournier's research focuses
on major new RNA families and functions discovered by his laboratory. The
new RNAs function in the synthesis of the ribosome, the cellular machine
that makes proteins. In addition to determining how these RNAs work
normally, Fournier's team is harnessing the power of the RNAs for use as
tools in basic research and biotechnology. After holding postdoctoral
research positions at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and the
National Institutes of Health, he joined the UMass Amherst faculty in 1972
and has received awards for excellence in teaching and research.
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