2014
The TNQ Distinguished Lectures in the Life Sciences Series I. 4th Edition.
Huda Zoghbi
A Journey from the Clinic to Laboratory to Understanding Brain Disorders
Featured
Speaker
Huda Zoghbi, a physician-scientist in the field of neurogenetics and the recipient of the 2013 pearl Meister Greengard Prize, the 2013 Dickson Prize in Medicine, and the 2011 Gruber Prize in neuroscience was selected as the Featured Speaker of the Cell Press-TNQ India Distinguished Lectureship Series 2014.
This lecture was dedicated to Professor Obaid Siddiqi, visionary scientist and institution builder. Professor Huda Zoghbi’s seminal research on the genetic and molecular mechanisms of neurological diseases and the implication of these findings on the development of treatments for disorders were presented in open lectures in January 2014.
About the Speaker
Born Huda El-Hibri in Beirut, Lebanon, Zoghbi did her schooling in that country. She studied the biological sciences at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and entered the medical programme at the AUB’s medical school in 1975. When civil war broke out in Lebanon, Zoghbi transferred to a medical college in the United States.
Huda Zoghbi is currently Professor of Pediatrics, Neurology, Molecular and Human Genetics, and Neuroscience, at the Baylor College of Medicine and Director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute, a joint endeavour of Baylor and the Texas Children’s Hospital. She is also an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Huda Zoghbi, a physician-scientist in the field of neurogenetics and the recipient of the 2013 pearl Meister Greengard Prize, the 2013 Dickson Prize in Medicine, and the 2011 Gruber Prize in neuroscience was selected as the Featured Speaker of the Cell Press-TNQ India Distinguished Lectureship Series 2014. Professor Huda Zoghbi’s seminal research on the genetic and molecular mechanisms of neurological diseases and the implication of these findings on the development of treatments for disorders were presented in open lectures in January 2014.
She has made a series of notable contributions to our understanding of several distinct classes of inherited neurological disorders. Together with her collaborator, Harry Orr, she has led the polyglutamine field in understanding the role of protein misfolding in pathogenesis and provided a molecular mechanism to explain how diseases such as Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 1 and Huntington Disease can involve both a gain and loss of function. Zoghbi then discovered that the sporadic disease Rett Syndrome is caused by mutations in MECP2.
When she realized that slight increases or decreases in expression of the normal protein can also cause neurological phenotypes in mice, she predicted that duplications of the gene will cause disease and indeed she and others tested clinical populations and identified human children with progressive neuropsychiatric syndrome. Zoghbi’s work in neurodevelopment led to the discovery of the gene Math 1, which governs the development of several components of the proprioceptive, balance, hearing, and vestibular pathways, and is critical for the central regulation of respiratory rhythm.
Zoghbi is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine. She is a trustee at the American University of Beirut.
Awards & Honours
1994
Michael E. Debakey Excellence in Research Award, Baylor College of Medicine
1995
Kilby Award for Extraordinary Contributions to Society
1996
E. Mead Johnson Award, Society of Pediatric Research
1998
Sidney Carter Award, American Academy of Neurology
2001
Bernard Sachs Award, Child Neurology Society
2001
Elected to Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences
2002
Fellow, AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science)
2002
Raymond D. Adams Award, American Neurological Association
2004
Elected to the National Academy of Sciences
2004
Neuronal Plasticity Prize, 4th Forum of European Science, IPSEN Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal
2004
Bristol Myers-Squibb Neuroscience Distinguished Achievement Awardrnational Award
2006
Bristol Myers-Squibb Neuroscience Distinguished Achievement Award
2009
Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Research
2011
Gruber Prize in Neuroscience, The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation
2013
Dickson Prize in Medicine
2013
Pearl Meister Greengard Prize
Lecture
Schedule
Bengaluru
January 27, 2014. 4.30 pm.
JN Tata Auditorium (IISc.)
Introduction by
Professor Satyajit Mayor
Director, National Centre for Biological Sciences
Chennai
January 29, 2014. 4.30 pm
The Music Academy, 168 TTK Road, Royapettah, Chennai.
Introduction by
N Ram
Chairman & Publisher, The Hindu Group of Publications
New Delhi
January 31, 2014. 4.30 pm
Teen Murti Auditorium, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, Teen Murti House, New Delhi.
Introduction by
Shri Kapil Sibal
Hon. Minister of Communications & Information Technology and
Law & Justice
