Nobel Laureate Addresses Huge Crowd In Hyderabad

The University of Hyderabad (UoH) today organised a Distinguished Lecture titled "The Path to the Nobel Prize" by Nobel laureate Sir Professor Richard J Roberts, New England Biolabs, Ipswich, Massachusetts, in the School of Life Sciences Auditorium.

The lecture was part of "BioAnveshana 2024 - International Conference on Frontiers in Basic Biology, Biotechnology and Bioinformatics" hosted by the Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics.

Dr Roberts delivered the lecture to a packed enthusiastic audience of faculty, young researchers, students and guests from the city. He gave interesting anecdotes of his journey from being a mathematician to a chemist, and shared with the audience his research over the years in collaboration with other fellow scientists and how it helped him win the Nobel Prize.

"Wherever we go, science brings us together. My interest in chemistry plus a fascination with games and puzzles led me to pursue a career in research. It was a chance to be a detective and solve chemical puzzles in the world of science," he said, and urged the young students and researchers to use problem-solving to make learning fun, rather than take it as a chore.

Richard J Roberts is the Chief Scientific Officer at New England Biolabs, Ipswich, Massachusetts. He received a Ph D in Organic Chemistry in 1968 from Sheffield University, and then moved to Harvard as a postdoctoral fellow. From 1972 to 1992 he worked at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, eventually becoming Assistant Director for Research under Dr J D Watson. He began work on the newly discovered Type II restriction enzymes in 1972, and the enzymes have been a major research theme. He received the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology / Medicine.

The lecture was presided over by Prof B J Rao, Vice Chancellor, University of Hyderabad, who said that it was an honour and quite exciting for him to listen to the story of success of Professor Roberts, and expressed hope that the young students and researchers would take inspiration from his journey.