The Lectureship will begin at 2:00 p.m. in the Van Nuys Medical Science Building (MS 326) and can be joined virtually via Zoom. Attendees are also invited to join a reception following the lecture. Additional details about the event can be found on the IU School of Medicine events calendar and the event flier.
Peter J. Roach, PhD, was an Indiana University distinguished professor, IUPUI Chancellor’s Professor, and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology professor at IU School of Medicine who passed away on March 11, 2022. His wife Anna DePaoli-Roach, PhD, established an Endowed Lectureship in her late husband’s name to commemorate his scientific accomplishments and to help keep his memory alive for future researchers. The opportunity was made possible thanks to generous donations from several trainees, family members, colleagues and friends to the IU Foundation in Dr. Roach’s honor.
Throughout Dr. Roach’s career, he received many awards and accolades for his impact on the field of glycogen metabolism and its regulation, which led to outstanding contributions to the pathogenesis of Lafora Disease, a deadly childhood disorder. He was a strong believer in the value of basic research and published over 200 peer-reviewed papers and held the longest-funded National Institutes of Health grant at IU for 41 years. He was also a mentor to many students, earning international recognition for his approach to student training, with 18 students earning PhD or master's degrees and 20 postdoctoral fellows studying under his direction. A summary of Dr. Roach’s incredible contributions to science was published in Cell Metabolism in July 2022.
Sir Philip Cohen was selected as the second Lectureship speaker due to his contributions to glycogen metabolism and the understanding of how protein phosphorylation and dephosphorylation regulate cell life. They include the dissection of part of the insulin signal transduction pathway, the identification, classification and regulation of protein phosphatases, and the dissection of mitogen-activated protein kinase cascades. More recently his research has focused on how the interplay between protein phosphorylation and protein ubiquitylation regulate innate immunity. According to the Institute of Scientific Information Philadelphia, Cohen was the world’s second most cited scientist in the field of biology and biochemistry from 1992-2003. His Hirsch (H) index is 179 and 27 of his papers have been cited over 1,000 times.Sir Philip Cohen will also be on the IU School of Medicine campus on June 6, 2024, for an additional seminar presentation titled, “ROSAH Syndrome and Spiradenocarcinoma, the first human diseases caused by loss of specificity of a protein kinase for its allosteric activator?” at noon at the Herman B Wells Center for Pediatric Research building (R4 101) or virtually via Zoom. Additional details about the presentation are also on the IU School of Medicine events calendar and the event flier.