06/07/2003 11:00 AM Kresge
Rudolf Jaenisch, Professor of Biology, MIT Founding Member, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research

Description: In this talk, leading genetist Rudolf Jaenisch delivers a clear overview of the challenges facing the cloning, dispelling many of the misconceptions about cloning that are pervasive in popular media. The Q&A session with the alumni audience led to animated discussions about the ethics of cloning. Jaenisch has been a leader in expressing the ethical issues connected to cloning and is strongly against the practice of human cloning.

About the Speaker(s): Jaenisch is one of the founders of transgenic science (gene transfer to create mouse models of human disease). His lab has produced mouse models leading to new understanding of cancers and various neurological diseases. He received his doctorate in medicine from the University of Munich in 1967. He came to the Whitehead from the University of Hamburg in Germany, where he was head of the Department of Tumor Virology at the Heinrich Pette Institute. Jaenisch received the 2002 Robert Koch Prize for Excellence in Scientific Achievement. In 2003, he was awarded the Charles Rodolphe Brupbacher Prize for basic research in oncology and was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Jaenisch is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Academy of Microbiology, and a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Host(s): Alumni Association, Alumni Association

Tape #: 16604 and 16605