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The 2015-2016 Hoch Family Lecture in Health Sciences
The Hoch Family Lectureship in Health
Sciences was made possible by a gift from
Dr. James Hoch (’61 B.S. Bacteriology) in
recognition of the outstanding undergraduate academic education he and his
siblings received at South Dakota State
University. Dr. Hoch hopes that the
visiting lecturers will inspire undergraduates at SDSU to seek greater
knowledge and explore aspects of the health sciences not currently
offered in the existing curriculum. Jim has enjoyed an extensive
research career at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., and
honors his brother George Hoch’s (’53 B.S. Chemistry) successful
career in biophysics at the University of Rochester (New York) and
the memory of his late sister, Rita Hoch Jewell (’49 Pharmacy),
who graduated with magna cum laude while being very engaged
in orchestra and band at State. South Dakota State University and
the SDSU Foundation are honored and deeply appreciative of the
generosity of Dr. James Hoch.
The Hoch Family Lecture in Health Sciences is one of many ways
in which alumni from South Dakota State University are impacting students, faculty, and the university at large. If you wish to learn
more about making an impact through a gift of scholarships, capital
improvements, or a creative program like tonight’s lectureship,
contact Rina Reynolds at the SDSU Foundation.
T H E
2 0 1 5 - 2 0 1 6
Hoch Family
L
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C
T
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H E A LT H
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E
S C I E N C E S
“HOW CELLS TRAFFIC
AND EXPORT PROTEINS”
featuring
Dr. Randy W. Schekman
2013 Nobel
Laureate in
Physiology
or Medicine
W E D N E S DAY
7:30PM
●
April 13, 2016
PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Rina Reynolds
Office: (605) 697-7475, Ext.1007
Cell: (605) 695-7378
Toll-free: (888) 747-7378
Fax: (605) 697-5641
[email protected]
www.SDStateFoundation.org
South Dakota State University
South Dakota
State University
S P O N S O R E D
B Y
S D S U
Department of Biology and Microbiology
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
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The 2015-2016 Hoch Family Lecture in Health Sciences
The 2015-2016 Hoch Family Lecture in Health Sciences
How Cells Traffic and Export Proteins
Dr. Randy W. Schekman
Human cells manufacture thousands of different protein molecules
that are responsible for all the reactions needed to duplicate a cell and
it’s chromosomes. Most of these proteins are designed to work inside
of the cell whereas others must escape by an export process called
secretion. Proteins such as insulin, growth factors and antibodies are
encapsulated within cells into membrane-enclosed packets called
vesicles. Vesicles travel around in the cell to many different destinations but some are delivered to the cell perimeter where by a process
of membrane merging, called fusion, the vesicle joins the cell surface
and discharges its content to the cell exterior. This fusion event governs diverse cell functions such as hormone secretion and the export
of chemical neuro-transmitters that allow nerve cells to communicate
with each other or that control muscle contraction.
Many of the genes that guide this process were discovered in baker’s
yeast, which shares an export mechanism conserved over a billion
years of evolution. The fundamental conservation of this process has
allowed the biotech industry to exploit yeast as a production platform
for the secretion of human proteins such as recombinant insulin.
Industrial growth of recombinant yeast accounts for one third of the
world supply of human insulin. Human diseases have been found in
the same genes that control secretion in baker’s yeast. Proteins that
guide the process in yeast do much the same thing in human cells
and mutations in these genes cause diverse problems in bone growth,
blood cell development, lipoprotein manufacture and brain development. These processes could not be understood without the basic
research that allows life scientists to explore the inner workings of
simple cells such as baker’s yeast.
Copyright © www.nobelmuseum.se/en/blogg/the-nobel-prize-2013, www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/
2013/schekman-facts
2013 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine
Dr. Randy W. Schekman is a Minnesota native.
He graduated with a B.A. in molecular biology
from the University of California in Los Angeles in
1971 and earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry from
Stanford University in 1975. He is currently a
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and
Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the
University of California, Berkeley. Research in Dr.
Schekman’s lab focuses on molecular description
of the process of membrane assembly and vesicular traffic in eukaryotic cells. Basic principles that emerged from these studies in
yeast are now being applied to studies of genetic diseases of protein
transport.
Dr. Schekman shared the 2013 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with James Rothman and Thomas C. Südhof for their discoveries
of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in
our cells. In addition to the Nobel prize, he also received Albert Lasker
Basic Medical Research Award, Eli Lilly and Company Research
Award from American Society for Microbiology, Lewis S. Rosenstiel
Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Research, Canada
Gairdner International Award, Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize for Biology or Biochemistry from Columbia University, Dickson Prize in
Medicine from University of Pittsburgh, E. B. Wilson Medal from
American Society for Cell Biology, and Otto Warburg Medal of the
German Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.