A Nobel Experience with Dr. Craig Mello

I've posted about Nobel prizes quite recently, and now I can add another Nobel experience that was absolutely sublime.

On Thursday, the 25th of October, I came face-to-face with some real "Nobelity." Craig Mello, a researcher at the University of Massachusetts, won the Nobel Prize in Medicine/Physiology last year along with his friend and colleague, Andrew Fire, now at Stanford. They were recognized for their groundbreaking work in the roundworm C. elegans that uncovered RNAi, or RNA interference, a cellular defense mechanism that is conserved across species and offers a new and profound insight into the way genes are regulated and foreign pathogens are fought. The laboratory technique derived from this work is one I will quite likely be doing in the lab myself. It has virtually transformed expression studies around the world. Dr. Mello's lecture, titled "How a worm won five Nobel Prizes in Medicine," was quite entertaining and it was neat to see pictures from the Nobel ceremony. Some notes:

• He could not stress the importance of collaboration and communication in science enough. It may sound obvious, but the cutthroat competition to get published in major journals often becomes more of a priority for some scientists than sharing valuable results and information with fellow researchers
• Life exists on a cosmic timescale and in continuum---&> evolution; look for conservation and relationships between diverse species
• "Defective genes do not actually look like cheese puffs"- in response to a CBS 15-second spot attempting to explain how RNAi works
• Even his daughter, only 7 years old, can understand RNAi, so it's not a profoundly complex idea, but one with profound implications for medicine and such
• RNAi shows heritable, systemic, and amplified transmission
• It's an active/responsive mechanism that requires many genes but can respond faster than DNA mutation
• miRNA (microRNA) was not fully appreciated until entire genomes were sequenced and the level of homology between organisms recognized
• RNAi's implications for medicine: 1) better understanding of gene regulation (in cancer, for example), 2) identifying genetic pathways in disease, 3) developing drug platforms that directly target gene expression with minimal side effects, 4) personalized medicine
• His daughter is a Type-I diabetic who's alive and healthy today thanks to genetic engineering. I know that many people recoil at the thought of GMOs (genetically modified organisms), but I believe many do not appreciate how much good has been done thanks to them. Hardier crop strains, insulin from bacteria, etc.
• Winning a Nobel Prize makes your neighbors appreciate the work you do in worms more. They will actually listen to you.

After the lecture (which, by the way, almost NO ONE attended despite press delivered to the entire scientific community of Chicago), I was lucky enough to get to meet Dr. Mello, have him forgive my fumbling attempt at asking a question and giving me a patient answer, get his autograph, and get my picture taken with him! A couple of other UC students were there (not from my program), and when they saw my camera they asked for a picture as well. I obliged and think I made a couple of guys extremely happy. I had a wicked midterm the next day to study for so I left for home right after the lecture (though of course I took some pictures of the inside and outside of the Field while leaving). See Facebook for the pictures.

I walked on air all the way home.