The talk will feature Ron Vale, Vice President of Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Ashburn, Virginia, and Executive Director of its Janelia Research Campus. Vale describes “The World’s Smallest Machines”. This is an internal look at how the cells found in all living things are equipped with incredibly complex moving parts that behave like robots. Vale is also Professor Emeritus in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco.

The talk will take place via Zoom webinar at 7:30 PM at the Holzmann Alumni Center Auditorium on the Blacksburg Campus. Registration required. It is open to the public for free.

Commenting on his talk, Vale said: what do you see? they are moving Birds fly, lions pounce, soccer players gallop across the field. Movement is a fundamental property of living things. Now look at it under a microscope. Pond water is full of single-celled organisms that swim and spin in all directions. Let’s increase the magnification and look inside the cell. Small packets of building blocks called organelles are moving everywhere, acting like freight trucks to deliver goods within cities. Even the yeast that makes beer has to move its DNA when it divides. ”

He added: [that] It drives bio-motion. These motors drive the contraction of muscles, the beating of lung cilia, the flagella of sperm, and the movement of substances within cells. I will tell you about my discovery of one of these machines called kinesins, explain how these machines work, and explain why they are important to medicine and biotechnology.

Daniela Cimini, a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, part of the Faculty of Science, invited Vale to visit as Sowers’ lecturer. “We owe a lot of our knowledge about molecular motors and their function to Ron’s work,” she said. “One of Ron’s strengths as a scientist is her ability to use a wide range of approaches, from biochemistry to cell biology to physics.

Vale has a Ph.D. She received her doctorate in neuroscience from Stanford University in 1985, and from 1985 until 1986 she was a staff member of the National Institutes of Health stationed at the Institute of Marine Biology in Woods, Massachusetts. was. He began his faculty appointment in 1987 in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco.

He has worked with many people and organizations to make science more accessible to the wider scientific community and the general public, Cimini said.

Vale founded iBiology, a non-profit organization that creates videos of scientific talks by leading scientists and makes them available to the public free of charge. Vale also founded XBio (The Explorer’s Guide to Biology), a new type of learning resource for undergraduate biology. He also founded his ASAPbio, a non-profit organization to improve scientific publishing in the life sciences.

In addition, he co-founded biotechnology companies Cytokinetics, Faze, and Myeloid Therapeutics.

Other ventures he has started include IndiaBioscience, an Indian life sciences network organization, and the annual Young Investigator Meeting for young scientists in India. He previously co-directed the physiology course at the Institute of Marine Biology for his 5 years and founded/directed the Bangalore Microscopy course.

His awards and honors include the Canadian Gardner International Award, the Lasker Prize in Basic Medical Research, the Shaw Prize, the Massley Prize, the Wiley Prize in Life Sciences, and the Pfizer Prize in Enzyme Chemistry. He is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, the US National Academy of Medicine, the US Academy of Arts and Sciences, the European Organization for Molecular Biology, and the Indian National Academy of Sciences.

The J. Mark Sowers Distinguished Lecture Series in the Virginia Tech School of Science is a forum for the exchange of new and innovative ideas in science. In total, 15 of his lectures have been held in person and virtually since the series began in February 2017.

Generously supported by Mark Sowers and Debi Sowers, the series provides an opportunity for the university community and the general public to interact and learn from eminent academics and industry experts.

Sowers is a Richmond, Virginia-based businessman, developer, and longtime supporter of the Faculty of Science. He sponsors the series and shares his fascination with science, especially the physical sciences, with others.