To commemorate the 60th anniversary of the university, CMU and the International Peace Foundation (IPF) organized a special lecture entitled ‘The end of disease? The extraordinary developments in bio-medicine and the implications for humanity’ by Professor Roger D Kornberg, a Nobel laureate in chemistry, from the Stanford University School of Medicine, as a part of the JAPAN-ASEAN BRIDGES Event Series. The lecture took place on December 8, 2023, from 1pm to 4pm at Northern Science Park.
Professor Roger D Kornberg is a biochemist and professor of structural biology at the School of Medicine at Stanford University. He was the recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and is globally recognized for his breakthrough progress in the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription, allowing for a molecular understanding of transcription and its regulation in eukaryotic cells. The findings of that study have contributed to the understanding of disease emergence when errors occur during DNA transcription. His research has also increased the potential of unlocking new treatments for cancers, heart disease and inflammation.
Today, climate change and epidemics are threatening forces felt by the entire global population. Although recently COVID-19 has become less threatening to a certain degree, outbreaks remain a global challenge, posing a major concern to public health and public policy sectors that more dangerous outbreaks are potentially looming, and thereby causing global-scale impacts.
Professor Roger D Kornberg has proposed a remarkable solution for future outbreaks that will mitigate detrimental effects to the health and well-being of humanity, as well as preventative measures and solutions to enhance the self-protective capacity of people around the world to achieve sustainable well-being conveniently at a lower cost.