Zientzia Foroa: Conferences
Sydney Brenner
Sydney Brenner, a man viewed as the father of molecular biology and 2002 winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine, gave a conference at the Zientzia Foroa, explaining the keys to and challenges for genetic research.
His talk was entitled 'New Human Biology: Interpreting the Genome', and was held at the Kutxa Andia function room in San Sebastian.Brenner (Germiston, South Africa, 1927), focuses on cellular differentiation for organ formation and studies the mechanisms by which genes process DNA information; i.e. how the structure and function of each organ is controlled. He came up with the idea of using simpler organisms than mammals to study cell differentiation processes. He therefore used the caenorhabditis elegans, roundworm as his 'field of research'. Along with Francis Crick he discovered the Messenger RNA responsible for transporting instructions that result in aminoacids constructing one particular type of protein rather than another, to the genes - giving rise to one particular type of organ rather than another.
In 2002, the year in which scientists completed human genome sequencing, Sydney Brenner's research into genetic regulation and cell death was recognised with the Nobel Prize for Medicine, which he shared with Robert Horvitz and John E. Sulston. The prize was a golden moment in a professional career that the South African (and British national) initiated by obtaining a grant to study medicine at Johannesburg aged only 15. In 1952 he travelled to Oxford, where he graduated in Molecular Biology and began working to decipher genetic code. He worked with Francis Crick at the Cambridge Molecular Biology Laboratory for over 20 years, becoming its Director in 1979. Seven years later he gave up his post to concentrate on research.