N.C. Biotechnology Center Announces Podcast Featuring Dr. Oliver Smithies
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – The North Carolina Biotechnology Center (http://www.ncbiotech.org/) has announced the release of a podcast featuring Dr. Oliver Smithies, co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine. In the podcast, Smithies discusses how he was recruited to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by the North Carolina Biotechnology Center; the past, present and future of the state of life sciences in North Carolina; winning the Nobel Prize; the importance of continued investment in the research of life sciences; and the benefits of community support.
Smithies is an excellence professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He shared the 2007 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine with Mario R. Capecchi of the University of Utah’s Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Sir Martin J. Evans of the United Kingdom “for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells.”
Related Links:
www.ncbiotech.org/assets/multimedia/smithies_mar08.mp3
News Facts:
- The North Carolina Biotechnology Center (http://www.ncbiotech.org/) has announced the release of a podcast featuring Dr. Oliver Smithies, co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.
- In the podcast, Smithies discusses how he was recruited to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by the North Carolina Biotechnology Center; the past, present and future of the state of life sciences in North Carolina; winning the Nobel Prize; the importance of continued investment in the research of life sciences; and the benefits of community support.
- Smithies is an excellence professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
- He shared the 2007 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine with Mario R. Capecchi of the University of Utah’s Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Sir Martin J. Evans of the United Kingdom “for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells.”
Quotes:
“Research Triangle Park has pushed North Carolina to the forefront of biotechnology in the United States,” said Smithies. “The future of the life sciences industry depends on our ability to continue to support its research and educate our citizens about the public health benefits of its continued development.”
About Dr. Oliver Smithies:
Dr. Oliver Smithies is an Excellence Professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is credited with greatly improving gel electrophoresis, a process of separating proteins to identify genes, which simplified the procedure and became standard in laboratories. He is also credited with discovering a technique to introduce DNA material in cells, replicating a natural process called homologous DNA recombination. He was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his work leading to the ability to modify genes in predictable ways.
About North Carolina Biotechnology Center:
The Biotechnology Center is a private, nonprofit corporation supported by the N.C. General Assembly. Its mission is to provide long-term economic and societal benefits to North Carolina by supporting biotechnology research, business and education statewide. For more information, please call (919) 541-9366 or visit http://www.ncbiotech.org/.
