TAIPEI: A 2006 Nobel laureate in chemistry will deliver three keynote speeches in Taiwan as part of a prestigious lecture series organized by Taiwan's leading academic institute, Academia Sinica, according to a press statement released yesterday by the institute.

According to the press release, Roger David Kornberg will deliver the lectures at Academia Sinica in Taipei and at National Tsing Hua University in Hsinchu during his December 21-23 visit.

Titled Beyond Genes: The Molecular Basis of Transcription, Genetic Chemistry at Near-Atomic Resolution and The Expression of Genetic Information, Kornberg's lectures are part of an Academia Sinica lecture series that officially opened December 11 with speeches given by Roger Yonchien Tsien, the 2008 Nobel laureate in chemistry.

Kornberg, a biochemist and professor at the Department of Structural Biology at Stanford University, was awarded the Nobel Prize for his fundamental studies concerning how the information stored in genes is copied and then transferred to those parts of the cells that produce proteins.

"Dr. Kornberg was the first to create an actual picture of this process at the molecular level, in the important group of organisms called eukaryotes," the press release said.

The lecture series is organized by Academia Sinica President Wong Chi-huey in an effort to build on the spirit of research and free exchange of scholarly knowledge fostered at its "Academy President's Forum" held last year to mark the 80th anniversary of the establishment of Academia Sinica.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 12/15/2009 page2)