Nobel laureate Mello stresses importance of embracing challenges without fear of failure
Craig C. Mello, a 2006 Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine and professor at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, delivers a lecture at Sungkyunkwan University’s Natural Sciences Campus in Suwon, just south of Seoul, Sept. 10. Courtesy of Sungkyunkwan University
Seminar explores future of RNA-based precision therapeutics
Sungkyunkwan University’s Biomedical Institute for Convergence hosted a special seminar featuring Craig C. Mello, a 2006 Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine and professor at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, on Sept. 10.
In his lecture, titled “RNAi: A Molecular Spark in an Information Inferno,” Mello recounted the discovery of RNA interference and how basic research evolved into therapies that can save patients’ lives.
Addressing students and young researchers in particular, he repeatedly emphasized the importance of embracing challenges without fear of failure.
A university official quoted Mello as saying, “Great discoveries do not come from finding predetermined answers, but from a process of constantly asking questions and going through countless failures.”
Professor Mello is a world-renowned scientist who discovered RNA interference (RNAi), a “gene-silencing” mechanism that can switch off the activity of specific genes inside cells.
Genes serve as blueprints for our bodies, and his discovery that specific genetic instructions could be selectively silenced revolutionized modern genetics. Today, RNAi serves as a key foundation for developing innovative therapeutics for cancer and rare genetic diseases.
Faculty members, researchers and students pose with Craig C. Mello, a 2006 Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine and professor at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, after his lecture at Sungkyunkwan University’s Natural Sciences Campus in Suwon, south of Seoul, Sept. 10. Courtesy of Sungkyunkwan University
Sungkyunkwan University said the seminar was organized to explore the future directions of RNA-based precision therapeutics, which are gaining attention as a next-generation approach to disease treatment.
The event was also designed to expand international academic exchanges with leading researchers from around the world.
About 180 faculty members, researchers and students attended the event in the auditorium of Samsung Library on the university’s Natural Sciences Campus in Suwon.
During the seminar, professor Shim Jae-hyuck of the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School introduced his latest research on RNA-based precision medicine, aimed at treating Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva — a rare and intractable disease in which muscle tissue gradually turns into bone. The presentation drew considerable interest from the audience.
An in-depth discussion also took place among researchers at Sungkyunkwan University, beginning with a presentation on current research activities by Kim Kyeong-kyu, director of the university’s Biomedical Institute for Convergence.
Participants discussed advances in biotechnology, including technologies for safely delivering therapeutics to specific sites in the body, gene-editing therapies and cancer-targeting treatments, as well as ways to promote collaborative research.