Institute of Advanced Studies
The history of the
Central Dogma:
DNA to RNA to
proteins
Professor Erling Norrby
Former Nobel Foundation Board Member
ABOUT THE TALK
All organisms have very similar mechanisms by which they handle their genetic information
and use it to create the building blocks of a cell. Organisms store information as DNA, release
or carry information as RNA, and transform information into the proteins that perform most
of the functions of cells. This central dogma of molecular biology is an extremely simplistic
model, but useful for following the flow of information in biological systems.
Using materials from his three books on the Nobel Prizes in the life sciences, Prof Norrby
will describe the dramatic and most important discoveries in biochemistry and molecular
biology in the mid 20th century. The origin of revolutionary new concepts will be discussed
and exciting areas for future developments will be evaluated.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Erling Norrby has an M.D. from the Karolinska Institute, the School of Medicine in Stockholm.
He is a world authority on viruses and was professor and chairman at the Institute for 25 years.
During this time he was President of the Division of Virology representing all the virologists of
the world for three years. He has also served as the Dean of the Medical Faculty for six years
and has been heavily involved in various ways for more than 20 years in the selection of the
recipients of Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine. He then left to become the Permanent
Secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for six years. During this time he had
overriding responsibility for the Nobel Prizes in Physics and in Chemistry and was a member
of the Board of the Nobel Foundation. He is presently at the Center for History of Science at
the Academy and writes about Nobel Prizes by using archival materials. He has previously
published two books Nobel Prizes and Life Sciences (2010) and Nobel Prizes and Nature’s
Surprises (2013).
Currently he is the Vice-Chairman of the Board of the J. Craig Venter Institute. He also has
one of the leading functions at the Royal Swedish Court as Lord Chamberlain-in-Waiting.
13 May 2016
Friday, 4 pm
School of Biological
Sciences (SBS),
Class Room 3 (SBS-01N-23)
Nanyang Technological University
60 Nanyang Drive,
Singapore 637551
Admission is free.
Light refreshments will be provided.
Please register online at
http://www.ntu.edu.sg/ias/ptreg
For enquiries, please email us at
[email protected]