Sir John Gurdon Speaks at the iCeMS

November 29, 2010

On November 26th, Sir John B. Gurdon, FRS, professor at and founder of the Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute at the University of Cambridge, visited Kyoto Uiniversity's Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS) to deliver a seminar on reprogramming of cell nuclei in eggs and oocytes.

Co-hosted with Kyoto University's Institute for Virus Research and Center for iPS Research and Application (CiRA), the seminar attracted over 100 iCeMS and other university department participants. During the course of the presentation, iCeMS Director Prof. Norio Nakatsuji, CiRA Director and iCeMS Professor Shinya Yamanaka, and numerous young researchers engaged Prof. Gurdon in active discussions.

iCeMS Prof. Akihiro Kusumi, chief sponsor of the seminar, and Adj. Assoc. Prof. Kazuto Kato, who previously conducted post-doctoral research in the Gurdon lab at Cambridge, also made contributions to the debate.

Prof. Gurdon is likely best known for his work in the late 1950s and early 1960s showing that the nuclei of differentiated somatic cells retain the potential to develop into all cell types, a finding derived from experiments with South African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis). In 2009 he received the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Award together with Prof. Yamanaka, for "discoveries concerning nuclear reprogramming, the process that instructs specialized adult cells to form early stem cells -- creating the potential to become any type of mature cell for experimental or therapeutic purposes".

Following the seminar, participants and members of the press enjoyed speaking with Prof. Gurdon over a luncheon which included researchers from various departments and research fields.

At the end of his visit, Prof. Nakatsuji took Prof. Gurdon on a tour of the iCeMS Main Building, where they observed the institute's extensive shared laboratories and open offices.

Capacity crowd in the Seminar Room, iCeMS Main Building
Live broadcast of the seminar in the adjacent exhibition area
iCeMS Director Nakatsuji (left) asking a question		Prof. Shinya Yamanaka (center) listening intently
Prof. Nakatsuji (center facing camera), joined by Prof. Kusumi and others in conversation with Prof. Gurdon at the luncheon		Researchers from various departments and research fields sharing lunch
Prof. Nakatsuji and Prof. Gurdon touring the iCeMS Main Building		Touring a lab