Nobel Prize Laureate Professor Joachim Frank Delivers Special Lecture on Cutting-Edge Chemistry
Professor Joachim Frank, the Noble Prize Laureate in Chemistry in 2017, gave a special talk with the theme “Single-Particle Cryo-EM and Visualization of Biological Molecules” in the Third Next Intelligence Forum (NIF) held at the Kim Yang-hyun Hall of the KU Auditorium at 11 a.m. on September 16 (Saturday).
The NIF is a program for inviting Noble Prize Laureates and eminent personages to provide special lectures in celebration of the 120th anniversary of KU in 2025. The event of the day was held also to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the College of Science of KU. KU’s NIF program is supported by Centroid Investment Partners.
The Third NIF was attended by about 300 participants including the President of KU Kim Dong-One, KU’s faculty members, emeritus professors, KU students, and high school students.
In the welcoming speech before the lecture, the President of KU Kim Dong-One said, “Dr. Frank won the Noble Prize Laureate in Chemistry in 2017 for the superb research accomplishments of his studies on the cryo-electronic microscope, which provided an important clue to the development of new drugs. KU recognized the significance of basic sciences even in the perilous situation of the Korean War and founded the Department of Mathematics, Department of Chemistry, and Department of Biology in 1953. In the following 70 years, the College of Science has continued to grow, making brilliant contributions to the advancement of basic sciences in Korea. I hope that the lecture by Dr. Frank today will be of special significance to the professors and researchers of the College of Science at KU.”
In his lecture, Dr. Frank introduced the history of the cryo-electronic microscope. In particular, he explained the essential research accomplishments leading to his Nobel Prize, that is, the mathematical algorithm for converting 2D images into 3D images and its application to the cryo-electronic microscope, which plays a critical role in elucidating the high-resolution structures of biological molecules.
A student in the Department of Molecular Medical Science at the KU Graduate School said, “It was good that I was able to have a better understanding of the cryo-electronic microscope. I only knew about the theoretical parts of the research accomplishments for his Nobel Prize, and it was a great honor for me to hear the lecture directly from the Noble Prize Laureate.”
The lecture was given in English without interpretation. After the lecture, there was an autograph event where Dr. Frank himself autographed his own book of research papers, Single Particle Cryo-Electron Microscopy. The book will be exhibited at the KU Library for a certain period of time and then will be permitted to be lent to the KU members.
Professor Joachim Frank shared the Noble Prize in Chemistry for 2017 with Professor Jacques Dubochet and Professor Richard Henderson as their contributions were recognized for paving the way for the observation of the 3D structure of biological molecules at the atomic level using Cryo-EM.
