Katsuhiko Mikoshiba giving 2013 Rodbell Lecture(Photo courtesy of Steve McCaw)
Dr. Katsuhiko Mikoshiba, team leader of the Laboratory for Developmental Neurobiology at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute, delivered the prestigious Rodbell Lecture on April 30th at the American National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). Mikoshiba was the fifteenth speaker to give the lecture, named after the Nobel prize-winning biochemist Dr. Martin Rodbell, who served as scientific director of the NIEHS from 1985 to 1988.
In his talk, Dr. Mikoshiba described the path leading to his discovery of the inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate (IP3) receptor, whose isoforms regulate a wide variety of cellular mechanisms including cell division, neuronal development, digestive functions, and protection against cellular stress.
Describing the presentation, James Putney, who hosted the lecture, described Mikoshiba's career path as very similar to that of Dr. Rodbell: “[B]oth of these scientists made an observation very early on that they did not initially understand. Nonetheless, with relentless dedication, they subsequently developed them into the definition of the entire field of biomedical research.”
For more details on the lecture, see this article at the NIEHS website.