Why our proteins have to die so we shall live (Aaron Ciechanover, Nobel Prize winner, Technion, Israel)
Why our proteins have to die so we shall live
A lecture for the general public
Aaron Ciechanover, Nobel Prize winner
Cancer and Vascular Biology Research Center, Faculty of Medicine,
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
Faculty of Economics, Split, Large Amphiteather, Tuesday, September 16th 2008, 6pm
Proteins are the machines that drive our body. They are responsible for all our activities such as walking, seeing, hearing, heart beeping, digestion, respiration, secretion of waste materials. Unlike the items that surround us and that we use daily, like furniture and our clothes, the body proteins are in a dynamic state, they are being destroyed and renewed all the time and in an extensive manner. We are destroying daily up to 10% of our proteins and generating new ones instead. The obvious questions are (i) why this occurs, (ii) what is the mechanism that carries out this function, (iii) what are the diseases that result if the mechanism does not work properly, and (iv) how can we cure these disease. In the lecture we shall try to shed light on these problems, and understand the value of basic research for the development of drugs to target many diseases that affect us in the Western world - cancer and neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease, for example. No doubt research of the system will yield practical implications to diseases of the developing world as well – infectious diseases, for example, but researchers need proper investment to explore these new venues.