İhsan Doğramacı Commemorated, Science Celebrated

On December 4, Nobel laureate biochemist and researcher Sir Timothy Hunt delivered the İhsan Doğramacı Memorial Lecture entitled "Switches and Latches: Getting In and Out of Mitosis." The lecture was preceded by the film İhsan Doğramacı: Connecting the Past to the Future, which showed his accomplishments at home and abroad from the founding of Hacettepe and Bilkent Universities to the founding of the World Health Organization. İhsan Doğramacı touched the lives of many children, scholars, and scientists as a pioneer and reformer in child health and higher education. The story of his remarkable life and his international stature as a tireless campaigner for world peace was portrayed. The film also gave examples of his energetic character, appreciation of music, multicultural personality, and his desire to help the less fortunate.

Dr. Hunt began his talk by underlining the importance of education and the invaluable contributions of pioneers such as İhsan Doğramacı who have made lasting contributions. In his lecture, he presented the research for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and shared the results of his most recent work on the regulators of cell cycle. In the 1980s, he and several others identified proteins (cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases) that regulate cell division.  Cyclins were named thus because their concentration in the cell vary periodically with the cell cycle. Dr. Hunt made the initial discovery of these molecules in the eggs of sea urchins (genus Arbacia), but later these proteins were found to also exist in a variety of other organisms, including humans.

Chairman of the Board of Trustees Prof. Ali Doğramacı presented Dr. Hunt with a silver plate as a symbol of the Bilkent community's gratitude for accepting the invitation to speak at this important event.

The lecture was followed by a reception where Bilkent students and faculty were able to ask questions and exchange ideas with the distinguished guest.

The Bilkent community owes thanks to BilGenT and the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics for making this inspiring lecture happen.

Deniz Günceler (Physics/VI)