Public lecture presented by Hasan DeMirci
Lecture Date: Tuesday March 25, 2014. The ribosome, found in all living cells, is the molecular machine that builds proteins. It faithfully attaches together amino acids – the building blocks of proteins – in the order determined by messenger RNA molecules, which in turn follow the instructions contained in DNA. The ribosome also plays a crucial role in medicine. Most antibiotics attack bacteria by disabling their ribosomes, and the bacteria fight back with compensating mutations. Using X-rays, scientists can observe the setup of the ribosome's machinery and the changes in its structure caused by antibiotics and mutations. In this talk, Hasan DeMirci explores how the ribosome is thought to translate the DNA and RNA codes into the amino acid language of proteins, and how the altered structures of the mutants give clues about how the machine operates.
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