Skip Navigation

Joram Piatigorsky Basic Science Lecture and Award

Loading video...

45 Views

Air date: Tuesday, April 11, 2023, 3:00:00 PM
Time displayed is Eastern Time, Washington DC Local
Views: Total views: 45 (8 Live, 37 On-demand)
Category: Private (world)
Runtime: 01:33:19
Description: The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) and the National Eye Institute (NEI) are pleased to announce that Dan-Eric Nilsson, Ph.D., from Lund University in Sweden, will deliver the inaugural lecture in the Joram Piatigorsky Basic Science Lecture and Award series, which is managed by the FNIH and bestowed at the NEI. Made possible by the generous philanthropic support of Lona and Joram Piatigorsky, this endowed series brings attention to notable basic sciences contributions by eye and vision scientists to a diverse general scientific audience, such as experts in molecular biology, genetics, developmental biology, neuroscience, and computer science. With special consideration for basic eye and vision scientists who take risks exploring little-studied species and imaginative ideas, the Lecture and Award promotes and communicates basic discoveries in eye and vision research that result in far-reaching observations that may inform widespread areas of science—from the eye to the world as it were—rather than the other way around. The lecture takes place on Tuesday, April 11, from 3:00-4:30pm (in-person only), in the Lipsett Amphitheater in Building 10, on the NIH campus. It will be followed by a light reception for all. Trainees and scientists from all NIH ICs are encouraged to attend. Nilsson’s work focuses on the evolution of the eye and vision by studying animal eyes, including box jellyfish, fan worms, velvet worms and clams. In a description of his research he notes, “The visual system is almost pure optics and electronics in a biological packing. It is a breath-taking experience to discover the enormous diversity of eye designs, and to realize how it has evolved to meet different demands in different animals.” His basic research in eye evolution offers fascinating insights to all and has increased our understanding of biology with profound relevance to medicine and health. Joram Piatigorsky, Ph.D., is a molecular biologist and eye researcher who in 1981 founded the Laboratory of Molecular and Development Biology at the NEI, where he served as its chief until 2009. There, he established the concept of gene sharing on the basis of the Institute’s research on lens crystallins in various vertebrates and invertebrates, such as scallops and jellyfish, that few even knew had an eye. He generalized and extended the gene sharing concept in a book, Gene Sharing and Evolution, followed by other books of fiction and non-fiction on science and life. Now an NIH Scientist Emeritus and author, Piatigorsky and his wife Lona seek to promote basic research and the efforts of the NEI through the Joram Piatigorsky Basic Science Lecture and Award Endowed Fund at the FNIH.

For more information go to https://www.fnih.org/our-programs/piatigorsky-basic-science-lecture-and-award
Author: Dan-Eric Nilsson, Ph.D., Lund University, Sweden
CIT Live ID: 49434
Permanent link: https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=49434