Renowned medical researcher Ferid Murad will speak at GW later this week.
His address on Wednesday will launch the university’s new Nobel Laureate Distinguished Lecture Series designed to bring leaders in science and research to campus.
The inaugural lecture is sponsored by the Medical Center’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and co-sponsored by the Office of the Provost and the Office of the Vice President for Research.
“This series will bring Nobel laureates to GW semi-annually, giving our community access to world-renowned speakers,” says Leo Chalupa, vice president for research. “I am honored to co-host the Nobel Laureate Distinguished Lecture Series.”
In his lecture, “NO Signaling: From Discovery to Drug Development,” Dr. Murad will discuss his pioneering research on the mechanism of action of nitroglycerin, a drug used to reduce pain in cardiac ischemia, among other uses, and focus on the role of nitric oxide as a signaling molecule to relax smooth muscle and other new developments.
Dr. Murad shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for this research in 1998.
“Dr. Murad’s visit is a wonderful opportunity to hear about a fascinating and important discovery by the person who is responsible for demonstrating that a gas, nitric oxide, plays a prominent role in how cells in the brain and the rest of the body communicate,” says Dr. Chalupa.
The lecture, which is open to the university community, will be held at 10 a.m. in Funger Hall 103.
Aaron Ciechanover, who received the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, will deliver the second lecture in the series on Jan. 13.