TALK BY NOBEL PRIZE WINNER ADA YONATH

If proteins are the cornerstones of life, ribosomes are the factories that produce them. In cells, ribosomes translate the genetic information in tens of thousands of proteins, each of them with a specific task in the body. The understanding of the structure and the function of ribosomes can help biochemists to develop new antibiotics to alter bacterial ribosomes and combat their resistance to drugs.

Together with Ramakrishnan and Steitz, the researcher Ada Yonath won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2009 for her studies on the structure and function of the ribosome. The prize meant for her the culmination of decades of pioneering work in the application of crystallography to the study of proteins’ biosynthesis mechanisms in ribosomes. Her talk will show us her cutting-edge research work and the current challenges for research into ribosomes.