Spectrum - Volume 19 Issue 22 February 28, 1997 - Wellcome scientist to lecture here

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Wellcome scientist to lecture here

By Susan Trulove

Spectrum Volume 19 Issue 22 - February 28, 1997

Helmut Beinert of the Institute for Enzyme Research at the University of Wisconsin and a world leader in biochemistry and biophysics, will give a public lecture at Virginia Tech on Monday, March 3, at 3:30 p.m. in 223 Engel.

He is a Wellcome visiting professor, an honor that recognizes both the lecturer's and the host university's outstanding research programs.

Beinert discovered iron-sulfur proteins and their involvement in the respiratory chain through which energy is produced at the cellular level in living organisms. He pioneered the use of magnetic-resonance techniques at low temperatures for the study of biological processes and materials. This work subsequently led to the development of many of the new techniques now being applied in biology and medicine.

He went on to discover that iron-sulfur proteins are at the catalytic centers of a number of enzymes and has collaborated in studies that have since revealed that iron-sulfur proteins are also involved in the regulation of gene expression-turning genes on and off-as exemplified by the iron-regulatory proteins that control iron flux in cells.

He has earned awards from professional societies world-wide, such as the Senior Scientist Award from the Humboldt Foundation, the Keilin Medal, the Sir Hans Krebs Medal in Europe, and the Fritz Lipmann Award in the United States. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

As the Wellcome visiting professor at Virginia Tech, Beinert will also meet with students and faculty members and will participate in an all-day retreat with students and faculty members from the biochemistry, chemistry, and biology departments to exchange research findings.

For more information about Beinert's visit, call William Newton, biochemistry department head, at 1-6351. The visit is sponsored by the department, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Virginia Tech Research and Graduate Studies, and supported by a grant from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.