Tsinghua News Network 65438+February 65438+February (correspondent? Li Guangyuan? Photography? Liu Chunhong) On the evening of February 6th, 65438, the 30th "Summit Dialogue" in Tsinghua University was held in the New Biology Hall of the School of Life Sciences. Professor Peter Agre, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2003, as a guest of this activity, told the story of the discovery of aquaporin and its medical application, and discussed the relationship between basic research and clinical application of life science with Tsinghua students. Professor Bailu, researcher Xiao Bailong and 150 students from Tsinghua University Pharmaceutical University participated in the activity.
Professor agray gave a keynote speech.
Professor Agray began with the discovery of aquaporin, and gradually described the specific functions of aquaporin and its family members, and summarized its application and development trend in clinical medicine. The discovery of aquaporins is based on chance. The small peptides obtained at first were considered as pollutants, but it was later found that the existence of protein would greatly promote the water permeability of cell membrane. Professor Agre thinks that this polypeptide is a membrane channel protein specially assisting water transport, so he started the follow-up work and named it aquaporin-1 (AQP- 1).
Professor Agray then talked about the functions of aquaporins in various tissues and organs. In the kidney, aquaporins participate in various forms of water transport and complete normal metabolic urinary function. In the brain, trauma, stroke and other conditions will lead to brain edema, which will seriously endanger brain function. At this time, inhibiting the function of aquaporin can reduce the occurrence of brain edema.
Finally, Professor aguirre mentioned that life sciences are developing very rapidly in the world, and the progress of science and technology has greatly promoted social progress and economic development, and the speed of scientific development in China is also amazing. Professor Agray hopes that young people in China will continue to work hard and devote themselves to scientific research.
On-site students enthusiastically asked questions.
In the subsequent questioning session, Professor Agre started a dialogue with his classmates. The students had an in-depth exchange and discussion on the research prospect of aquaporin, its role in embryo development, the present situation of medical transformation and the future development direction.
The students listened carefully to the speech.
Tsinghua University's "Top Talk on Tsinghua" is a multi-disciplinary academic forum initiated and hosted by Tsinghua University Graduate Association on 20 13. "Summit Dialogue" aims at inviting academic masters from various disciplines (mainly Nobel Prize winners, Turing Prize winners and Fields Prize winners) to have a dialogue with Tsinghua students, encouraging students to question academic authority, challenging the existing academic paradigm, striving to "stimulate innovation through dialogue" and building a high-level academic exchange platform for students.
Contributed by: Association of Graduate Schools
Editor: Li Chenhui
Audit: Zhou Xiangnan