The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology will host the Partab T. Varandani Memorial Lecture, "Neuroendocrine Regulation of Nutrient Metabolism by FGF21," on Thursday, April 14, at 2 p.m., in the Gandhi Auditorium of White Hall. The lecture is free and open to the public.
The speaker will be David Mangelsdorf, Ph.D., a leader in the field of nuclear receptors, a family of transcription factors that have universal roles governing transcriptional programs during development, reproduction and metabolism. These receptors have become important therapeutic targets for diseases such as cancer, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, atherosclerosis and parasitism.
Mangelsdorf received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Arizona in Tucson and conducted his postdoctoral studies at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies. He is Alfred G. Gilman Distinguished Chair in Pharmacology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He also holds the Raymond and Ellen Willie Distinguished Chair in Molecular Neuropharmacology at UT Southwestern Medical center and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
The Partab T. Varandani Memorial Lecture honors the late Partab T. Varandani, Ph.D., who was professor and chief of the endocrinology section in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology until his death in 1987. Dr. Varandani received the Wright State President's Award for Excellence in Research for 1985–86 and an Outstanding Achievement in Medical Research and Education Award (Senior Faculty) from the Wright State Academy of Medicine in 1985.
The Varandani Lecture is cosponsored by the College of Science and Mathematics, the Boonshoft School of Medicine, the Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. Program, the Office of the Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School and the Office of the Provost.
