Date: Thursday 14 May 2009
Venue: Institute of  Molecular Medicine (IMM), Trinity Health Sciences Building, St James's Hospital  

Eurolife Distinguished Faculty Lecture

As part of CANCER 2009, the International Cancer Conference (Please click here for further information or click www.cancerconference.ie), Prof Pierre Chambon will deliver the prestiguous Eurolife Distinguished Faculty Lecture. This represents a unique opportunity to hear one of the foremost scientists of his generation, reflecting on a career of unsurpassed excellence, in which he contributed significantly to some of the main discoveries in gene expression and transcriptional control, which inform our understanding of the molecular biology of the cell and the development of human disease. We encourage you to attend this premier event, a significant occasion to mark the important contribution of Pierre Chambon to modern science and medicine.

Schedule:
Chairperson: Prof Dermot Kelleher, Head of School of Medicine and Vice Dean for Medical Affairs, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland 

17.45 Introduction
Prof Frank Gannon, Director General, Science Foundation Ireland.

17.50 “How I moved malignant diseases in the nuclear receptor field”
Prof Pierre Chambon, Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Strasbourg, France 
 
If you wish more information on Eurolife, please click here

Pierre Chambon is Honorary Professor at the College de France (Paris), and Emeritus Professor at the Faculté de Médecine of the Strasbourg University. He was Founder and former Director of the IGBMC, and also Founder and former Director of the Institut Clinique de la Souris (ICS/MCI), in Strasbourg. He is a world expert in the fields of gene structure, transcriptional control of gene expression. During the last 25 years, his studies on the structure and function of nuclear receptors has changed our concept of signal transduction and endocrinology. By cloning the estrogen and progesterone receptors, and discovering the retinoic acid receptor family, he markedly contributed to the discovery of the superfamily of nuclear receptors and to the elucidation of their universal mechanism of action. The discoveries of Pierre Chambon have revolutionized the fields of development, endocrinology and metabolism, and their disorders, pointing to new tactics for drug discovery, and finding important applications in biotechnology and modern medicine. These scientific achievements are logically inscribed in an uninterrupted series of discoveries made by Pierre Chambon over the last 45 years: discovery of PolyADPribose  contribution to elucidation of chromatin structure: the Nucleosome, discovery of animal split genes, discovery of enhancer elements, discovery of multiple promoter elements and their cognate factors. He has received numerous international awards, including the 2004 Lasker Basic Medical Research Award. He is author of more than 900 publications. He has been ranked fourth among most prominent life scientists for the 1983-2002 period.