Athens, Ga. – Mario Capecchi, co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, will deliver a lecture on the University of Georgia campus on Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 11 a.m. in room 404D of the Biological Sciences Building.
His speech is titled “Modeling Human Cancers in the Mouse” and is open and free to the public. The event is sponsored by the Cellular Biology Graduate Student Association.
Capecchi is Distinguished Professor of Human Genetics and Biology at the University of Utah School of Medicine, which he joined in 1973. Capecchi is also an investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
“Capecchi is credited with developing a powerful technology known as gene targeting,” says his biography on the Hughes web site. “This technology has allowed scientists to engineer mice with conditions such as cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, cystic fibrosis and high blood pressure-a feat that has revolutionized the study of human disease.
“Gene targeting allows scientists to manipulate the genetic material of mice with amazing precision to create desired mutations in virtually any gene. By controlling the way a gene’s DNA sequence is modified, researchers can completely disrupt-or ‘knock out’-the function of a gene or modify its activity. Refinements in the technique over the years now enable scientists to restrict a particular genetic modification so that it affects only certain tissues or occurs only during certain stages of life.”